Violinist Curtis Stewart discusses his new album “Of Power,” performing from a personal and political place, and pushing the boundaries of contemporary classical music with a world of influences.

New York-based violinist Curtis J Stewart released his post-classical coming of age album “Of Power” on June 18. Inspired by Black Lives Matter and featuring songs of resistance and resilience for violin, voice, and electronics. “Of Power” features original compositions as well as reimagined works by Charlie Parker, J.S. Bach, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Childish Gambino, John Coltrane, Paganini, Elektra Kurtis, Ysaÿe, and Stevie Wonder. Created entirely during the COVID-19 lockdown releasing on the Bright Shiny Things label with five tracks mastered by Prince’s sound engineer Derek Linzy from Paisley Park.

Colleen Kennedy: Congratulations on your new album “Of Power”!

Curtis Stewart: Thanks! “Of Power” just came out Friday, June 18th, the day before Juneteenth so I was so proud to be able to celebrate that holiday that way. It's funny that there is a national kind of commotion, a backlash against the proposal of Juneteenth as a federal holiday. And I had planned on releasing this album on that date back in August or September 2020. I just wanted to celebrate that holiday by being myself and presenting this music in a very personal and heartfelt way.

CK: This album is both incredibly personal and politically charged, too. First, can we talk about the personal inspirations for “Of Power”?

CS: The album is just a set of personal stories and reactions to histories I've heard my whole life. My dad [avante jazz tuba pioneer Bob Stewart]

 was a classical trumpeter not allowed to practice jazz in a classical conservatory. He felt compelled to quit his instrument to go to tuba, and created a whole world of music, touring the world with amazing jazz musicians. My mom [jazz violinist] Elektra Kurtis

 too, who is Greek used to tell me, “Don’t tell them you improvise. Don't tell them you play this other kind of music.” Because there is a sense of that jazz and classical music are separate. I’m trying to own this language that I've spoken my whole life through my both of my parents who are improvisers.

CK: Let’s talk more about improvisation and classical music. This album has a wealth of influences and new settings of artists from Childish Gambino to Charlie Parker to Paganini. What starts off as a formal composition and what’s improvisation? How are you pushing the boundaries of what we consider classical?

CS: Hopefully, it's not just a chip on my shoulder that my music somehow doesn't belong in a classical lens. What I try to do is pose problems for people to solve conceptually as they're listening. So, the music itself is convincing enough to show that there can be electronics, hip hop, improvisation, and still be classical music. I've been trying to address this question and pose as many conceptual problems for people to solve in their own heads. I’m still playing Paganini, and if I happen to be improvising, it's still a classical piece of music. But there's a certain amount of searching for new ways to just be expressing, expressing and interacting with the band. And so, I've always kind of compared my classical playing to improvising.

And it's really funny that when I put “Louisiana Blues Strut-A Cakewalk”—which is an entirely composed piece in the music video that I created—I made sure to put a picture of the score at the end. Because you know, so many people say, “I love that improvisation you did,” which I should just take that as an honor. But it's the second something sounds bluesy or refers to the melodic rhythmic idioms of jazz, suddenly, people assume it’s an improvisation that couldn't have been written down. It’s as though with improvisation you must have an innate feeling for it. But that is just as true for Mozart and Beethoven. Stevie Wonder is a huge influence of mine, and essentially, I just composed a set of variations on the theme of “Isn't she lovely?” Isn’t that something that composers have done since forever? And if I am, in fact, doing that it must be from this tradition. It's not just that I have a feeling for this music. There are so many violinists that play the music of jazz artists, Black artists, blues artists, folk artists, and it still sounds “classical.” And my thought on that is not that they don't necessarily have a feeling for the thing, but maybe they studied with a certain person, to embrace the performance practice of that music. And it's like, why is there not a performance practice of Black American art music within the world of classical music?

CK: And the album brings together all of your different musical ancestors—from your family members to classical composers and performers to modern Black musicians in jazz, blues, soul, R&B—and it’s so personal and it’s  so political in songs like “Shook,” “#HerName,” “StayWoke,” and more.

CS: Because I'm talking about being a caretaker. Part of what I'm talking about on the album is being a person of color and living during these times. I'm talking about playing music that really relates to me. I was trying to do that in the album and I hope it's very clear. I tried to engage my violin playing as intensely as I possibly can just to distinguish myself as a performer as much as possible. And I work really hard to do that.

CK: And how was it working with Derek Lindsey, legendary producer for Prince? Did you get to go to Paisley Park?

CS: My quartet PUBLIQuartet was nominated for a Grammy [Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2019] for the album called Freedom and Faith, and before the ceremony Louis Levitt—who owns the record label Bright Shiny Things—was in line. And right behind him was Derek. They started talking. When it came time to record and produce “Of Power,” Louis introduced me to Derek, and that’s how that worked out. He's great. He was like a mentor in a way. I could ask him questions. I recorded all of it in my apartment where we are talking today. He was so gentle, and he just helped me to structure my own process for going through it. He was so organized and he helped me select tracks. So, I really appreciate him. And he keeps in touch with me every few months. He's like, “How's it going?” “Okay, good.”

CK: The album begins and ends with medical beeping, like a heart monitor or other hospital device. Can you explain what the intro and outro sound is?

CS: I mean, the beeps were literally recorded. During the pandemic, instead of taking the train I had to bike to visit my mother—from Inwood to the Upper West Side—every day, for a period because her home health aides had trouble getting in due to travel and COVID fears. Her situation, all of our situations, were just stressful. I was often awake at night. A lot. Anxious, just like everybody else was, and tired. That beeping was just my soundtrack for a little while. I try to leave that open so that people can put their own story onto what is happening; I try not to make it extremely clear on purpose.

And meanwhile, while that's happening and I'm trying to take care of my mom, there's a lot of political and social things happening. It’s kind of like what happens in operas where there is both a personal story happening but there’s also all this happening outside of it, that guides the characters to make choices. That being said, there's no characters and there's no choices made in the album. It's mostly confessional. I hope that people listen to the whole thing, they feel it, and by seeing someone else's experience, maybe they feel lighter or just see themselves. That’s my that's the ultimate goal. I guess it’s a little bit of therapy, musical therapy.

CK: Finally, speaking of the healing power of performing and listening to music—we are all looking forward to seeing live performances again. Will you be touring this fall? 

CS: I took my first post-pandemic flight to Utah for a show, and then went down to South Carolina to Spoleto Festival just the other week. I have shows lined up in October; we’ll head down to Virginia soon. And I’ll be heading back to my alma mater Eastman School of Music. They asked me to come back up in October to perform there. I wasn't intending to tour with this much. I just wanted to do a gig here and there, which is crazy. I was doing a lot of concerts in New York when the New York Philharmonic did some outside concerts and for the New York Pops Up series, and I did some concerts through the state, but in the last few months things kept popping up. I look forward to getting back out there more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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