Rex Stewart (1907-1967), an American jazz cornetist, is best known for his work as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Stewart joined the Ellington orchestra in 1934 after stints with Elmer Snowden and Fletcher Henderson. Ellington orchestrated many of Stewart’s pieces to show his half-valve effects and muted sound. Stewart wrote “Boy Meets Horn” as well as “Morning Glory”, and was often supervised by Ellington musicians outside of recording sessions. Stewart decided to start his own bands after eleven years. From 1947 to 1951, he toured Europe and Australia as Jazz at the Philharmonic. He worked in radio and television from the 1950s and was a highly respected critic of jazz music. Jazz Masters of the Thirties contains a selection of his critiques. Text contributed by users is available under Creative Commons By–SA License. It may also be available under GNU FDL.
