Connections - Mind The Gap

Connections Mind The Gap is a varied collection of pieces that range from a five movement piece entitled In Color that Stewart commissioned from young composer Jessie Montgomery to pieces written by or performed by talented musicians the tuba player has played with over his forty year career. Though the compositions span classical, blues and jazz, the common denominator and uniting element is the tuba. Stewart is joined by his regular First Line Band, and a string quartet initiated by his son Curtis, the PUBLIQuartet. Stewart hardly needs an introduction. His career has been one of seeking challenges and passing on knowledge. His tuba has been featured on recordings from the jazz mastery of musicians like Gil Evans, Charles Mingus and Lester Bowie to the rock and blues inflections of Taj Mahal and Elvis Costello. Stewart has also been an active educator for just as long and has recently become a faculty member at the Juilliard School in New York City. Bob Stewart has been a proponent for the development of tuba repertoire and experimentation for quite some time. His new recording Connections Mind The Gap is a tremendous collection of compositions that shows the vast musical landscape the horn can cover while in the expert hands of a tuba pioneer like Stewart.