Bill Stewart, in the trio with Larry Goldings and Peter Bernstein, will be playing in Dorking (16 April) and London (17 & 18 April). Canadian musician writer T Bruce Wittet explores in depth Bill Stewart’s sound and influences…

I have it on good authority that the weather and the airlines will smile fondly on Larry Goldings, Bill Stewart and Peter Bernstein and will carry them to London and Dorking in a scant few weeks. The trio, comprised of organ, drums and guitar, respectively, are incontrovertibly one of the the top outfits working. They’ve been at it for thirty-five years, delivering stunning performances just about everywhere they touch down.

If you’ve seen the man as many times as I have, you’ll know that Bill Stewart easily merits mention in the same breath as Roy Haynes, who just turned 99 and must be tickled pink to see his concepts so thoroughly explored by a drummer who plays with more than a little of that trademark snap – and who shares allegiance to the credo that cleanliness is next to Godliness. Speaking of which, he’s got Tony Williams coursing through his veins, meaning he’s developed an innate ability to mobilise the entire human body in service of those flurries of notes at both pp and ff. Drummers cannot live by bounce alone, especially when a rainstorm outside leaves calf [drum] heads so sloppy-loose they’re barely capable of emitting tone, forget about bounce. 

Bill Stewart plays the drums – not vice versa. This much he’s appropriated from Tony Williams, knowing that he was making a conscious decision to push aside 70% of the drum instructional manuals that buy into petty arguments about press rolls consisting of three bounces per hand vs. four. Once you begin this level of execution you play nothing unintentionally. You will each stroke to the drumhead. Even those unintended, trailing flutters from a hard bass drum beater fall silent.

Bill Stewart has worked his capacity to swing to the point where nothing will disturb his focus. We are getting very close to Bruce Lee at this juncture – and that’ll do for now.

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An Organ Trio – Really?

I have to take exception to a handful of articles describing Goldings et al. as an organ trio. It’s not an organ trio relative to my memories of the Jimmy Smith experience, to name but one of the jazzy organ trios extant. As a Canadian youth living within a couple of hours of the USA border, I got to hear the last gasp of a lot of true jazz organ trios on the circuit that began in the States and often terminated in Toronto. I got to play with a Hammond player from one of them and luckily I knew the territory from vinyl albums and plenty of book-learnin’.

To call Goldings, Stewart and Bernstein an organ trio is not quite accurate, given the established jazz and blues repertoires of the famous organ trios starting with Jimmy Smith. And let’s call off any parallels between Larry Goldings and Brother Jack McDuff. While to equate Bill Stewart even casually with drummer Joe Dukes – McDuff’s illustrious drummer – well, that ain’t right, plain and simple. Again, this determination is based on repertoire. 

Sorry: Goldings, Keltner and Bernstein?

Pardon my stepping off the beaten path for a few moments, but the following will be tremendously instructive for those seeking to understand Stewart’s gilded reputation by checking out his band, Goldings and Bernstein, settling in with drummer Jim Keltner for an unrehearsed jam at a California nightclub. The contrast between Bill Stewart’s style and Jim Keltner’s is immediately obvious and shows what flows, both stylistically and in terms of making accommodations, with a radically different drummer.

Keltner told me of his relationship with Goldings, who was becoming familiar on the session scene, especially after joining James Taylor’s lineup. “If you’re a musician you ought to listen to Larry Goldings play the Hammond. You owe it to yourself to investigate closely what he does. And if the chance arises that you can play with him, that’s icing on the cake. I love that cat. And Bill Stewart, I regret not having time to hang out with him. He’s a top-of-the-line musician. There’s not many who sit up there with him.”

Bill’s Tips on Getting Sounds on Brushes and Cymbals

I thought I had a firm grasp on this guy but there he was, for the first time, so I thought, doing what I was taught to do from the age of twelve onwards. When playing brushes old-school style, Bill was disengaging the snare wires by releasing the lever holding flush to the bottom head of the snare drum.  

“I turn the snares off most of the time,” he says. “I don’t have a rule about it, but I think that when I play brushes the snares are off most of the time. That’s the classic way, but you get a lot of great brush players like Philly Joe Jones, Roy Haynes and Elvin Jones who play brushes with snares on. I like to keep them off when playing quiet music, where they’ll rattle away in sympathy with the bass.”

When he was younger, before Zildjian came to his aid, Stewart was restlessly searching for the Holy Grail of rides. This is a common drummers’ pastime and is somewhat analogous to wine tasting. The first three wines are distinct, what with a nibble of bread and a chunk of cheese between sips. Then the senses take a hike, including the ears. 

Zildjian’s then master cymbal smith Paul Francis, who has since left the fold to form Royal Cymbals, helped Stewart cobble the ideal ride from known materials copper and tin, which turn into liquid at temperatures so extreme that your house and car keys are gone in under a second. When cool it’s a new solid: bronze. It’s a sign of Stewart’s status in the cymbal world that he is offered the rare chance to design, build, and test prototypes until he’s satisfied.

The cymbal that emerged informally gained the title of the Bill Stewart Ride, but took to the catalogue as the K Zildjian Dry Complex Ride. It lasted a few years until drummers wanting to come close to Stewart’s dry, raspy, caw-like-a-crow tone, were satisfied. Then, like other Zildjian cymbals that have fallen from favour or fashion, they were de-catalogued, while the balance unsold were cut up and recycled.

Don’t Sweat the Kit du Jour

When Stewart arrives at the Dorking and London venues, he’ll encounter drums that a backline company, a shop, or a private collector consents to share. Concerned and confused Stewart fans will wonder why Bill would advertise for Gretsch then turn around and play gigs on Yamahas or maybe Canopus or Ludwigs. They feel hurt having gone out and purchased Gretsch solely on the recommendations made in advertisements about the players who endorse said products. With his preferred Gretsch unavailable, Bill will be faced with the prospect of playing a kit in the right sizes but wrong brand . . . or not performing. This latter option has been written-out of contemporary contracts and, thus, we see him playing kits des jours on Youtube. His cymbals, however, always travel on the plane, although with modern baggage provisions he keeps their numbers down to what’s necessary.

Goldings, Stewart and Bernstein at the End of the Day

After 35 years, this band has outlasted most and they keep it interesting in that they all write (Stewart on piano), and they shuffle the deck so that everybody leads. For Stewart, fleeing Des Moines for New York was an out-and-out blessing. He discovered that those green rows that go on forever and feed corn to the nation were no fields of dreams for him. 
This is but one of the lineups in which Bill performs. His own band’s album Band Menu is available. The popular guitarist John Scofield has a trio album out as we speak consisting of jazz titles, originals, and some surprising jazz renditions of popular sixties refrains (eg, “Hey Mr Tambourine Man,” or who could forget, “Old Man, Look At My Life”).

LINKS: 

Tickets for Goldings/Bernstein/Stewart in Dorking, 16 April
Tickets for Goldings/Bernstein/Stewart Pizza Express Dean Street, London, 17 & 18 April

T Bruce Wittet’s tribute to Charlie Watts from 2021
Interview with Kevin Hays about his duo with Bill Stewart