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Bright Shiny Things releases Grammy®-nominated violinist Curtis Stewart’s Of Power
Bright Shiny Things releases
GRAMMY®-nominated violinist Curtis Stewart’s
Of Power
A post-classical coming of agency album inspired by #BLM featuring songs of resistance and resilience for violin, voice, and electronics with five tracks mastered by Prince’s sound engineer Derek Linzy from Paisley Park
The album is comprised of original compositions and reimagined works by
Charlie Parker, J.S. Bach, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Childish Gambino, John Coltrane, Paganini, Elektra Kurtis, Ysaÿe, & Stevie Wonder.
JUNE 18th 2021: Curtis Stewart releases Of Power, [BSTC-0155] a post-classical creation inspired by personal adversity and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Created entirely during the COVID-19 lockdown releasing on the Bright Shiny Things label with the intention to coincide with Juneteenth - African American Freedom Day.
Mastered by Dave Veslocki & Prince’s on-demand sound engineer Derek Linzy, - Of Power is a contemporary coming of agency story about resistance, resilience, and the nature of power. Told through violin, verse, and electronics, Curtis’ original songs and reimagined works by Charlie Parker, Bach, John Coltrane, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Beethoven, Childish Gambino, Elektra Kurtis, Paganini, Ysaÿe, and Stevie Wonder weave a confessional narrative through the lens of a Black man searching for authenticity in the classical music world. Each track is accompanied by an original video available on all major streaming platforms.
“I wanted to tear down the practiced facade of a classical violinist to translate personal hardship, protest, and demands for social justice into sustained action and vigilance for the classical community and beyond,” Curtis says. “Of Power treats art as a battery for powering and realizing citizenship.”
Of Power’s inspirations are a mix of public and personal: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the protests surrounding their murders; Curtis’ parents, jazz tubist Bob Stewart and violinist Elektra Kurtis-Stewart; and Curtis’ decade performing in PUBLIQuartet and hip hop poetry trio The Mighty Third Rail.
The album viscerally captures the shock, fear, sorrow, and outrage following George Floyd’s death, feelings that Curtis bottled up over months of isolation juxtaposed with moments of lyrical beauty, such as his solo take on Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely?”
Track Listing
- “Louisiana Blues Strut - A Cakewalk”
The first time I performed this work, written by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson in 2012, was on the main stage of Carnegie Hall, stomping across the front tier — audience clapping, laughing, and cheering mid-performance. It was a conversation. When I got off stage, everyone loved my “improvisation.” The acceptance of varying forms of “Folk” in classical music has always been a fertile ground — from Russian, to Turkish, to Americana, to Hungarian, etc... This piece is a tour de force of “Black Folk” in classical music.
This was one of the first pieces I recorded on the album during quarantine, instead of looking for production perfection, I tried to capture a sort of “field recording” quality, hisses, recording scratches et all - almost like found sounds in my living room...
- “Improvisation on Paganini Caprice #11: Andante”
- “Improvisation on Paganini Caprice #11: Presto”
These are early quarantine compositions with classical music in electronics settings. I try not to back down from the technical and musical challenge of Paganini's work while still having some fun with this age old Caprice - hopefully not at the risk of irreverence! Before working through his Caprices in this way, I didn’t think of Paganini as an amazing composer but just a master magician of the violin- I want the brilliance and beauty of the original text to shine through a new light - Old wine, new digital audio workstation....
- “Scrapple” – based on Charlie Parker’s “Scrapple from the Apple”
I have always been enamored with the complexity of Charlie Parker, the way the peaks and pops of the melody slash and dance with the cymbal, and fly around the thump of the bass. During this time of quarantine, we have all been spending more time with our computers and I have been getting deeper and deeper into creating electronic music — whose construction reminds me a lot of that interlocked and rhythmic counterpoint. “Scrapple,” based on Bird's composition, is somewhere between bebop...and trap music.
- “Lift Every Voice and Sing” - JJ Rosamund Johnson, James Weldon Johnson for violin and electronics
‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ is a call for silence, a call for ringing - a distinct moment to listen for the faint, constant, shuffling whispers of our ancestor's ‘weary feet’ - an inspiration to tap into our own ‘steady beat’ toward a collective future. Not a call to militarism and nationalism, but perseverance, hard work and hope
- “8:46” - for violin, verse and electronics - based on Eugene Ysaye Solo Sonata #2 i. Obsession
A touch of Classical Graffiti - Why does it take someone dying for a new thought process to emerge in politics and the mass consciousness? Why does it take violence? Must revolution “sell?”
- “SHOOK – Sum1”
Our politics are a constant action and reaction. It is the job of our authorities to set the tone - when outcries for justice fly out, a violent reaction from our governing body is the most base and childish retort. It is a sign that fear is deeply seeded within that authority, and causes us to question its legitimacy.
- “StayWoke.”
Where does the aesthetic of Hip Hop and other Black art music fit in the scope of classical music? I am constantly thinking about Bartok, Copeland, Mozart etc… and their approaches to using material of folk music, its immediacy and visceral nature - for aristocratic or intelligentsia audiences. Who is our contemporary classical music for, if not just ourselves?
- “Mangas – None”
My mother always equated the “Mangas” of Greek culture to Figaro, or a Rastafari - the man of the ‘hood, of the people. This is a classic rembetiko song with a reggae (and trap) twist, she always referred to rembetiko as Greek Blues. This is one of my favorite songs of hers. I remember singing along to it, sitting under the tables of the Cornelia Street Cafe in the West Village, before it closed.
- “Magic Might”
Three years ago, I became a relatively young caretaker, and was thrown headfirst into learning the ropes of what that means: the anxieties, losses, navigating a massive healthcare system, and learning to fight for what I love. My mom has shown me what strength and magic really are my whole life. I learn that more and more every day we battle together.
- “#HerName” – based on J.S. Bach Sonata No. 3 in C major, BW 1005 – Adagio
Breonna Taylor's death was a shocking and heartbreaking reality of the American Justice System. It echoes many similar deaths of Black people throughout American History. Based on the Adagio from Bach’s solo sonata #3, this is an ode to loss, to brutality, and injustice. A meager attempt to make space for her and to make space for action.
- “Until the Glass Breaks”
This composition is about finding shades of change in oneself - and dealing with the
implications of darkness that come with looking into the mirror - I have heard that a first
step to change is acceptance or at least acknowledgement of the now - lyrically, I attempt
to acknowledge my own contribution to the status quo and potentially become available
to alter it within myself
- “Beethoven2020” – Based on Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 26 in E flat major, Op. 81a “Les Adieux”
I got 99 Problems, and $ is most of them...I am both grateful to and driven crazy by the United States Healthcare system. Incorporated samples and a “chopped and screwed” version of my own playing of “Les Adieux” the intent is to create a musical space around the concept of parting
- “Our Past is a Privilege”
To have a past to be proud of is a privilege that many of us do not acknowledge. Ignoring a past we are ashamed of is something we all have a tendency to do; but what would it look like to dig beyond pride and shame, and release the ego of “history.” I don’t know if that is possible - or even desirable…?
- “After the Rain” – John Coltrane
This is one of the most beautiful, healing melodies I know. - here's to creating moments of
breath for ourselves, through art music.
- “Don’t you worry about a THANG” – based on Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing”
Because humor does Wonders.
- “Isn’t She Lovely?” – Stevie Wonder
Because she is.
I have always loved this song for its simplicity, sweetness, and depth. I remember being backstage with Stevie Wonder for the few shows, (I was in the string section of his band) — feeling the energy emanating off the stage, the diversity of the people sending that energy right back ten-fold. Centuries ago Paganini, Sarasate, Kreisler, and Heiftetz would write arrangements based on popular, opera, or folk melodies. Here’s to bringing that tradition into the 21st century.
Grammy-nominated violinist Curtis Stewart enjoys an eclectic career bouncing between various realms of music: from MTV specials with Wyclef Jean and sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden with Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, and Seal; to stints at the Kennedy Center with the Jimmy Heath Big Band and performance installations at the Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, and Museum of Modern Art.
Curtis has performed as a classical soloist at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, as a special guest soloist/curator with the New York Philharmonic, and has made chamber music appearances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Newport Jazz Festival. His ensembles PUBLIQuartet and The Mighty Third Rail realize a vision to find personal and powerful connections between styles, cultures, and music. Curtis has worked with today’s forward-thinking musicians, including Henry Threadgill, Alicia Hall-Moran and Jason Moran, Mark O’Connor, members of International Contemporary Ensemble, Billy Childs, Diane Monroe, JACK Quartet, members of Snarky Puppy, Don Byron, Linda Oh, Ari Hoenig, Matt Wilson, and many others.
An avid teacher, he has taught chamber music and Cultural Equity and Performance Practice at The Juilliard School, directed several orchestras and levels of music theory at Laguardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts for ten years, and is currently the Chamber Music and New Juilliard Ensemble Manager at The Juilliard School. Curtis graduated magna cum laude from Eastman School of Music with a BA in mathematics from the University of Rochester.
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