José Stewart Band

Jose Stewart Band was born in 2013 in the southernmost town in the province of Pontevedra, a natural border where two of the richest traditions, Portuguese and Galician, converge. The band, intensely collaborative, is constantly seeking rules to break and boundaries to surpass, combining genres and techniques while exploring the endless possibilities of its musicians. It is led by José Stewart on drums in the creation of the music. Understanding music as a whole, and rooted in jazz, the exploration walks hand in hand with the extensive previous experience of its founders: Celtic, Jazz, Latin and Middle Eastern music; all this, “… keeping our roots in sight.” This sum of experiences and traditions, along with the broad musical training of its members, is what gives the band its unique and special sound far from a definite genre, and making their live performances a journey of styles with a highlighted hallmark.

Jose Stewart bio

The first musical memories of Jose “Stewart” come from the traditional festivals in his native village, A Guarda (Galicia), where he began to teach himself to play. He complemented his initial training with the lessons of professor Luís Castellanos, allowing him to continue his musical education in “L’AULA de música moderna i Jazz”, a branch of Barcelona’s “Conservatori del Liceu”. In 2010 he received an education scholarship and moved to Boston (MA) where he completed a degree at “Berklee College of Music” under the supervision of renowned and important musicians such as Kim Plainfield, Casey Scheurell, Terri Lyne Carrington, Jerry Leake and Jamie Haddad, among others.

Stewart then settled down in Miami, which allowed him to delve into styles and genres in which he always showed a great interest: Rock, Jazz, Funk, Latin, African, Indian, as well as Celtic music. He began to work professionally as a session musician (live and recording studio) for diverse artists including Rodrigo Cárdenas (Los Temerarios), Frans Banfield & Los Hijos del RIgor, Damián Sánchez (The Glenn Miller Orchestra), and Chin Sheng Huang (renowned Taiwanese musician and producer), combined with a period of intense self-study.

Finalist of the “Euro Drummer Competition” (2006), Jose Stewart possesses considerable experience playing in bands such as “Los Toreros Muertos”, “Eladio y los Seres Queridos” “Heissel”, “Phantom Club”, and “Inmigrantes y Legales,” along with many other collaborations.

Upon his return to Galicia, he created the project Alén do Son with Arturo Rúa on piano, Jaime Moreno on guitar, and Kike Morillas on the bass, merging the experiences of each musician into their own musical language. His most recent musical journey has taken him to Taipei City, Taiwan, where he continues his project playing original music, and working on the creation of new projects “Sonus de Gaya” with guitarist ChinSheng Huang and international artista as Eduardo Paniagua, Tali Rubinstein, Eduardo Tami and Will’z Cheng.