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Leroy Eliot "Slam" Stewart (September 21, 1914December 10, 1987) was an American jazz double bass player, whose trademark style was his ability to bow the bass (arco) and simultaneously hum or sing an
Stewart was born in
www.myspace.com/slamstewart - Fan page with music, videos, more
* ttp://backbeatmagazine.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/transcription-slam-stewart-i-got-rhythm/ Slam Stewart solo transcription on "I Got Rhythm" at Back Beat Magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Slam 1914 births 1987 deaths American jazz bandleaders American jazz double-bassists Male double-bassists Boston Conservatory at Berklee alumni American jazz composers American male jazz composers Musicians from New Jersey Dwight Morrow High School alumni People from Englewood, New Jersey Savoy Records artists Swing double-bassists Manor Records artists 20th-century American composers Binghamton University faculty 20th-century double-bassists 20th-century American male musicians Slim & Slam members Black & Blue Records artists 20th-century jazz composers 20th-century African-American musicians>Slam Stewart at AllMusicbr>Audio of Slam Stuart improvising at a 1970 Binghamton Symphony concertwww.myspace.com/slamstewart - Fan page with music, videos, more
* ttp://backbeatmagazine.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/transcription-slam-stewart-i-got-rhythm/ Slam Stewart solo transcription on "I Got Rhythm" at Back Beat Magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Slam 1914 births 1987 deaths American jazz bandleaders American jazz double-bassists Male double-bassists Boston Conservatory at Berklee alumni American jazz composers American male jazz composers Musicians from New Jersey Dwight Morrow High School alumni People from Englewood, New Jersey Savoy Records artists Swing double-bassists Manor Records artists 20th-century American composers Binghamton University faculty 20th-century double-bassists 20th-century American male musicians Slim & Slam members Black & Blue Records artists 20th-century jazz composers 20th-century African-American musicians
octave
In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...
higher. He was a violinist before switching to bass at the age of 20.
Biography
Stewart was born in Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from por ...
, United States and began playing string bass while attending Dwight Morrow High School. While attending the Boston Conservatory, he heard Ray Perry
Ray Perry (February 25, 1915 – 1950) was an American jazz violinist and saxophonist.
Perry was born in 1915 to a musical family and began playing the violin at a young age, while his brothers Joe and Bay became a baritonist and drummer, respec ...
singing along with his violin. This gave him the inspiration to follow suit with his bass. In 1937, Stewart teamed with Slim Gaillard
Bulee "Slim" Gaillard (January 9, 1911 – February 26, 1991), also known as McVouty, was an American jazz singer and songwriter who played piano, guitar, vibraphone, and tenor saxophone.
Gaillard was noted for his comedic vocalese singing ...
to form the novelty jazz act Slim and Slam
Slim & Slam was a musical partnership in the late 1930s and early 1940s consisting of Bulee "Slim" Gaillard (vocals, guitar, vibes and piano) and Leroy Elliott "Slam" Stewart (bass and vocals). They produced novelty jazz numbers featuring Slim's ...
. The duo's biggest hit was "Flat Foot Floogie (with a Floy Floy)
"Flat Foot Floogie (with a Floy Floy)" (also "The Flat Foot Floogee") is a 1938 jazz song, written by Slim Gaillard, Slam Stewart, and Bud Green, and performed by Gaillard and Stewart as Slim & Slam.
"Flat Foot Floogie" was Slim & Slam's first a ...
" in 1938.
Stewart found regular session work throughout the 1940s with Lester Young, Fats Waller
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...
, Coleman Hawkins, Erroll Garner, Art Tatum, Johnny Guarnieri, Red Norvo, Don Byas, Benny Goodman
Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing".
From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...
, and Beryl Booker. One of the most famous sessions he played on took place in 1945, when Stewart played with Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...
's group (which featured Charlie Parker). Out of those sessions came some of the classics of bebop such as " Groovin' High" and " Dizzy Atmosphere".
He taught at Binghamton University
The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...
in Binghamton, New York
Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...
, and at Yale University. He died of congestive heart failure on December 10, 1987, in Binghamton, aged 73.
Discography
Studio albums
* ''Slam Stewart'' (1946) * ''Slam Bam'' (1971) * ''Slamboree'' (1972) * ''Fish Scales'' (1975) * ''Two Big Mice'' (1977) * ''Dialogue'' (1978) * ''Shut Yo' Mouth!
''Shut Yo' Mouth'' is a 1981 collaboration album by bassists Major Holley and Slam Stewart, released on PM Records and Delos Records.
Track listing
#" Tomorrow"
#" I Love You"
#" Would You Like To Take A Walk"
#" Side By Side"
#" Close Your Eyes"
...
'' (1981) with Major Holley
* ''The Cats Are Swingin' '' (1987)
As sideman
* ''Slipped Disc, 1945–46'' (1990, Benny Goodman Sextet) * ''Art Tatum Live 1951–1953 Volume 6'' (2004) * ''Big Joe Turner, Texas Style'' (Black and Blue, 1971)Filmography
*'' Hellzapoppin''' (1941) *'' Almost Married'' (1942) *''Boy! What a Girl!
''Boy! What a Girl!'' is a 1947 race film directed by Arthur H. Leonard and starring Tim Moore, with guest appearances by the Brown Dots, Slam Stewart, Sid Catlett and Gene Krupa.
Plot
Would-be theatrical producer Jim Walton (Elwood Smith) is ...
'' (1947)
References
External links
* Audio of Slam Stuart improvising at a 1970 Binghamton Symphony concert* ttp://backbeatmagazine.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/transcription-slam-stewart-i-got-rhythm/ Slam Stewart solo transcription on "I Got Rhythm" at Back Beat Magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Slam 1914 births 1987 deaths American jazz bandleaders American jazz double-bassists Male double-bassists Boston Conservatory at Berklee alumni American jazz composers American male jazz composers Musicians from New Jersey Dwight Morrow High School alumni People from Englewood, New Jersey Savoy Records artists Swing double-bassists Manor Records artists 20th-century American composers Binghamton University faculty 20th-century double-bassists 20th-century American male musicians Slim & Slam members Black & Blue Records artists 20th-century jazz composers 20th-century African-American musicians>Slam Stewart at AllMusicbr>Audio of Slam Stuart improvising at a 1970 Binghamton Symphony concert
* ttp://backbeatmagazine.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/transcription-slam-stewart-i-got-rhythm/ Slam Stewart solo transcription on "I Got Rhythm" at Back Beat Magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Slam 1914 births 1987 deaths American jazz bandleaders American jazz double-bassists Male double-bassists Boston Conservatory at Berklee alumni American jazz composers American male jazz composers Musicians from New Jersey Dwight Morrow High School alumni People from Englewood, New Jersey Savoy Records artists Swing double-bassists Manor Records artists 20th-century American composers Binghamton University faculty 20th-century double-bassists 20th-century American male musicians Slim & Slam members Black & Blue Records artists 20th-century jazz composers 20th-century African-American musicians