Professor, jazz studies and ethnomusicology

Before joining UVM's music department in 1999, Dr. Stewart was a freelance saxophonist and woodwind player in New York City. Currently he directs the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival Big Band and performs with Jazzismo as well as other jazz groups. During 2006-07, he was a Fulbright Scholar researching Afro-Mexican music and culture in Oaxaca, Mexico. Additionally, he has served as a consultant in music copyright and intellectual property issues.

Groups accompanied: Alex Stewart has toured Europe and North America with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra (accompanying guest artists such as Dizzy Gillespie and Dee Dee Bridgewater) and has appeared at major jazz festivals in Nice, Montreal, Biarritz, Saratoga, New York (JVC) and the North Sea. In 1999, along with members of the Funk Filharmonik, he accompanied Ray Charles in Sweden. More recently, he performed in Mexico with the Latin Jazz group Rick Davies and Jazzismo.

 

Alex Stewart in the News

10/28/2021 - Alex Stewart Weighs In On Music Sampling - Kaufman, Gil Billboard Magazine 

1/24/2022 -Soundbites: Omicron Closes Clubs, Jazz Generation, and the Doug Perkins House Fire - Chris Farnsworth Seven Days

Publications

He has performed on recordings by Bill Warfield, Dave Stryker, Anne Hampton Callaway and Peter Herborn that have featured Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, Wynton Marsalis and many other renowned jazz musicians. He has also appeared on network television (Bravo, BBC, BET, Fox, etc.) with Manhattan Transfer, Nnenna Freelon and Lionel Hampton. His book, Making the Scene: Contemporary New York City Big Band Jazz was published in 2007 by University of California Press. He has also performed and written about Latin, popular and "world" music genres. His articles and entries appear in Popular Music, Ethnomusicology, Yearbook of Traditional Music, Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Annual Review of Jazz Studies, and Jazz Perspectives.

Alex Stewart

Areas of Expertise and/or Research

Jazz studies, improvisation, ethnomusicology

Education

  • Ph.D. (Ethnomusicology), Graduate Center of the City University of New York
  • M.M. (Jazz and Commercial Studies), Manhattan School of Music
  • B.F.A. (Music Education), Long Island University, C.W. Post

Contact

Email:

Alexander.Stewart@uvm.edu

Phone:
  • (802) 656-7766
Office Location:

Music Building A312

Courses Taught

MU 007 - Intro to World Music Cultures

MU 107 - World Music Cultures

MU 113 - Seminar in Ethnomusicology

MU 124 - University Jazz Ensemble

MU 185 - Music Business and Copyright

MU 195 - Culture and Politics of Latin American Music

MU 259 - Theory and Practicum of Jazz Improv II