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Luke Stewart
Luke Stewart 2020.jpg
Background information
Born Ocean Springs, Mississippi
Genres experimental, free jazz, avant-garde jazz, free improvisation, post-rock, noise, art punk
Occupation(s) composer, improviser, bassist, multi-instrumentalist
Instruments Double bass, bass guitar, alto saxophone
Labels Astral Spirits, International Anthem, Atlantic Rhythms

Luke Stewart is a composer-improviser, bassist, multi-instrumentalist, and organizer known for his work as a soloist; leader of his Exposure Quintet, with Edward Wilkerson, Jr., Ken Vandermark, Jim Baker, and Avreeayl Ra; and member of groups including Blacks' Myths, Heart of the Ghost, Six Six, Irreversible Entanglements, and Heroes Are Gang Leaders, a literary free jazz ensemble that was awarded the 2018 American Book Award for Oral Literature.

Stewart has co-run DC jazz advocacy nonprofit CapitalBop since 2010, curating the organization's longstanding "Loft Jazz" concert series and writing music criticism for its website. In 2020, he was included among DownBeat's "25 for the Future" as an artist who "shapes the artistic landscape".

He has performed or recorded with artists including Camae Ayewa, Keir Neuringer, Aquiles Navarro, Tcheser Holmes, Archie Shepp, Warren "Trae" Crudup, III, Miriam Parker, Daniel Carter, Fay Victor, Hamiet Bluiett, Wadada Leo Smith, Jarrett Gilgore, Ian McColm, Anthony Pirog, Jaimie Branch, Thurston Moore, Leila Bordreuil, and Priests.

Early life and career

Stewart grew up in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, where he studied saxophone, violin, and guitar before he began playing electric bass in high school. Stewart began his undergraduate degree as an international studies major at the University of Mississippi. In 2005, as he prepared to begin an internship at the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty in Washington, D.C., Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Stewart decided to stay in D.C. and transferred to American University, where his studies expanded to include audio engineering. In addition to his bachelor's from American, Stewart completed a master's in Arts Management and Entrepreneurship at The New School in 2019.

After moving to D.C., Stewart began frequently attending and performing at avant-garde jazz and rock gigs. He also interned at "Jazz and Justice" radio station WPFW, eventually hosting his own weekly jazz radio show and working as a production coordinator.

In 2010, Stewart met Giovanni Russonello, who had recently founded jazz advocacy organization and website CapitalBop. Stewart began writing for and then co-running the organization, which was awarded a $100,000 grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in 2019.

Stewart met Camae Ayewa (also known as Moor Mother) while playing with Laughing Man, an art-punk band that shared bills with Ayewa's group the Mighty Paradocs. One year after the 2014 "People Issue" of the Washington City Paper called Stewart a "jazz revolutionary", he joined Ayewa, Keir Neuringer, Aquiles Navarro, and Tcheser Holmes in forming the "liberation-oriented free-jazz collective" Irreversible Entanglements. The group performed in the inaugural season of the Kennedy Center's "Direct Current" contemporary culture showcase, and their releases have been included in best-of lists in Magnet, NPR Music, The Quietus, and Stereogum's "20 Best Jazz Albums Of The 2010s".

Stewart has said he wants his collaborative work to "highlight the non-hierarchical nature of free improvisational music" and to challenge "the concept of the capital-C composer and how it affects our perceptions of music".

In 2021, he was a Resident Composer at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn.

Discography

As leader / co-leader

Release year Artist Title Label Personnel
2013 Trio OOO Live for Trayvon Aaron Martin, Sam Lohman, Stewart
2015 Trio OOO Days To Be Told New Atlantis Martin, Lohman, Stewart
2017 Irreversible Entanglements Irreversible Entanglements International Anthem / Don Giovanni Camae Ayewa, Keir Neuringer, Aquiles Navarro, Stewart, Tcheser Holmes
2018 Blacks' Myths Blacks' Myths Atlantic Rhythms Stewart, Warren "Trae" Crudup, III
2018 Heart Of The Ghost Heart Of The Ghost Pidgeon Jarrett Gilgore, Stewart, Ian McColm
2018 Luke Stewart Works for Upright Bass and Amplifier Astral Spirits Stewart
2019 Blacks' Myths Blacks' Myths II Atlantic Rhythms Stewart, Crudup, Dr. Thomas "Bushmeat" Stanley, Cedar and Lu
2019 Heart of the Ghost Heart of the Ghost II Dagoretti Gilgore, Stewart, McColm
2019 Heart of the Ghost Live In Chicago Catalytic Sound Gilgore, Stewart, McColm
2020 Irreversible Entanglements Who Sent You? International Anthem / Don Giovanni Ayewa, Neuringer, Navarro, Stewart, Holmes
2020 Luke Stewart, Brian Settles, Warren "Trae" Crudup, III No Treaspassing Stewart, Settles, Crudup
2020 Six Six Six Six Atlantic Rhythms Anthony Pirog, Stewart
2020 Irreversible Entanglements Live in Italy Ayewa, Neuringer, Navarro, Stewart, Holmes
2020 Heart of the Ghost Live in Detroit Dagoretti Gilgore, Stewart, McColm
2020 Irreversible Entanglements Live in Berlin Ayewa, Neuringer, Navarro, Stewart, Holmes
2020 Heart of the Ghost with Dave Ballou Live at Rhizome Dagoretti / Bulb Gilgore, Stewart, McColm, Ballou
2020 Luke Stewart & Tashi Dorji Phases Stewart, Tashi Dorji
2020 Luke Stewart Gaps Stewart
2020 Luke Stewart Exposure Quintet Luke Stewart Exposure Quintet Astral Spirits Stewart, Edward Wilkerson, Jr., Ken Vandermark, Jim Baker, Avreeayl Ra
2021 Luke Stewart / Patrick Shiroishi Luke Stewart / Patrick Shiroishi Profane Illuminations Stewart, Shiroishi
2021 !MOFAYA! Like One Long Dream Trost Records jaimie branch, John Dikeman, Stewart, Aleksandar Škorić
2021 Irreversible Entanglements Open the Gates International Anthem / Don Giovanni Ayewa, Neuringer, Navarro, Stewart, Holmes
2022 Luke Stewart's Silt Trio The Bottom Cuneiform Records L Stewart, B Settles, C Taylor

As sideperson

Release year Artist Title Label
2010 Laughing Man The Lovings Sockets Records
2014 Laughing Man Be Black Baby Bad Friend / BLIGHT
2015 Ross Hammond Mean Crow Prescott Records
2016 James Brandon Lewis Trio No Filter BNS Sessions
2017 Priests Nothing Feels Natural Sister Polygon Records
2017 Heroes Are Gang Leaders The Avant-Age Garde I Ams Of The Gal Luxury Fast Speaking Music
2018 William Hooker Pillars... At the Portal Mulatta Records
2019 James Brandon Lewis An UnRuly Manifesto Relative Pitch
2019 Brahja Brahja RR Gems
2019 J. R. Bohannon Dusk Figureight
2020 Elliott Levin Trio with Chad Taylor and Luke Stewart Tin - Tabu - Latin' - Rhyth - Hymn
2020 Archie Shepp, Raw Poetic, & Damu the Fudgemunk Ocean Bridges Redefinition Records
2020 Heroes Are Gang Leaders Artificial Happiness Button Ropeadope Records
2020 Moor Mother Circuit City Don Giovanni Records
2020 Anthony Pirog Terry Riley's In C Sonic Mass
2021 Bob Bellerue Radioactive Desire Elevator Bath
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