Rex Stewart

Vocation

Traits

Family

American jazz cornetist best remembered for his work with the Duke Ellington orchestra which he joined in 1934. Ellington arranged many of his pieces to showcase Stewart's half-valve effects, muted sound, and forceful style. Stewart co-wrote "Boy Meets Horn" and "Morning Glory" while with Ellington, and frequently supervised outside recording sessions by members of the Ellington band. After eleven years Stewart left to lead his own groups - "little swing bands, that were a perfect setting for his solo playing." He also toured Europe and Australia with Jazz at the Philharmonic from 1947 to 1951. He made a cameo appearance in Jacques Becker's 1949 film Rendezvous in July. From the early 1950s on he worked in radio and television and published highly regarded jazz criticism, a selection of which features in the book Jazz Masters of the Thirties. Rex Stewart was one of the regular studio musicians seen on the Steve Allen TV show. He hosted and co-produced (with George Cole) two radio shows about jazz music from his era, Dixieland Doings and Things Aint What They Used To Be. He died on 7 September 1967, aged 60. Link to Wikipedia biography