Luke Stewart – Silt Trio

Brian Settles, tenor saxophone; Luke Stewart, double bass and composition; Gerald Cleaver, drums

US bassist Luke Stewart had already made his mark in the jazz landscape when in the time of COVID-19 the magazine Downbeat selected him as one of the '25 for the Future', key figures of the current generation who will determine the future of jazz. At the time he was a vital component of about 11 bands, including playing in the prominent trio of saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, being one half of the experimental duo Blacks' Myths, leading his own Exposure Quintet and working in the bands he co-started, Irreversible Entanglements and Trio 000 (incidentally, he previously appeared on our stage in the group Irreversible Entanglements alongside saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and the poetess Moor Mother at the 63rd Jazz festival Ljubljana in 2022). He has performed with artists including Archie Shepp, Hamiet Bluiett, Wadada Leo Smith, Miriam Parker and Ken Vandermark. Despite being involved in various projects, his musical and moral compass has always pointed in the same direction; to review everything – even the fundamental basis of how we perceive music, and some of the oppressive influences that have been imposed on those perceptions.

Luke Stewart grew up in Mississippi and played saxophone, violin and guitar as a child before switching to electric bass in high school. He studied International Relations in Washington DC, worked at the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and, after college, co-founded CapitalBop, a non-profit dedicated to promoting jazz in the US capital. He hosted a weekly Jazz and Justice radio programme and wrote music reviews, thus co-shaping a vision of an independent and experimental music scene in Washington DC.

He is at home in a variety of musical settings, from avant-garde jazz and post-bop to art punk and rock. This time appearing at the CD Club with his current Silt Trio, the combo leans towards spiritual jazz in the tradition of Albert Ayler, which entails undertones of the blues from Stewart’s birthplace Mississippi. In composing all the songs fluidly, with free rhythms and grooves, Stewart gave ample improvisational room to his bandmates Brian Settles on saxophone and Gerald Cleaver on drums. The concert is to exemplify his musical idea: highlighting the non-hierarchical nature of free improvisational music and challenging the concept of the capital-C composer and how it affects our perceptions of music. 

The Cankarjevi torki concerts are available at a discounted price as part of the AD HOC subscription series.