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Check your pulse, because Doc Stewart’s Code Blue! is just what the doctor ordered, a powerful performance from an orchestra loaded with talent-rich players delivering the finest in big band jazz.
-EDWARD BLANCO AllAboutJazz.com
If Denny Zeitlin was a few years younger and played sax instead of piano and hung with Toni Tennille as well as Matt Catingub, he might have been Doc Stewart. A hot shot at Mayo Clinic, Stewart was a muso before he was a docto and he still plays with the passion of someone that would do this whether or not he could make a living at it or not. Far from being the usual busman’s holiday record, Stewart was a pro before he settled on a day job and he’s never lost his chops. Straight ahead stuff with an edge that that really cuts to the chase, even without a scalpel. Hot stuff.
– Chris Spector – Midwest Record
 TRACK LISTING
1. Code Blue Suite (Tom Kubis/Chris Doc Stewart)
Code Pink – Born to See Blues (6:08)
Ironman Blues – But Seriously, Dig Me Man! (6:59)
The Last Breath Blues – All Alone Now (5:01)
Code Jesus – New Life! (5:41)
2. The Sticks (Julian Adderley) (5:25)
3. Homage to Bud Shank (Tom Kubis) (4:44)
4. Snakin’ the Grass (Hal Galper) (6:26)
5. Patty’s Bossa (Doc Stewart) (5:05)
6. Dis Here (Bobby Timmons) (5:59)
7. Introduction to a Samba (Julian Adderley) (5:11)
8. Poor Butterfly (Raymond Hubbell) (6:04)
9. Song My Lady Sings (Charles Lloyd) (5:07)
10. The Way You Look Tonight (Jerome Kern) (5:32)
11. Bohemia After Dark (Oscar Pettiford) (5:17)
Recorded at East West Studio, Los Angeles
Personnel:
Woodwinds: DOC STEWART; DAN HIGGINS; BILL LISTON; RUSTY HIGGINS; GREG HUCKINS; ALEX BUDMAN
Trumpets: WAYNE BERGERON ; DAN FORNERO; JEFF BUNNELL; RON STOUT; KYE PALMER; LARRY HALL
Trombones: ANDY MARTIN; ALEX ILES; SCOTT KYLE; BILL REICHENBACH; Piano & Keyboards: MATT CATINGUB
Acoustic & Electric Bass: KEVIN AXT; Drums: STEVE MORETTI.
Chris “Doc” Stewart, prominent ER Doctor for the Mayo Clinic Hospital, is also a world class technician on the alto saxophone. Having said that, Stewart could well be one of the best jazz saxophonists you will ever hear. Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1960, and raised on a farm in Rockford, Stewart was the sixth of nine musical children; everybody in the family played an instrument. Stewart picked up his lifetime instrument, the alto saxophone, when he was just ten. In eighth grade, his family moved to Anaheim, California just three doors down from his future wife. While in high school, Stewart received jazz and classical awards on both the flute and saxophone. Winning a talent contest at Disneyland, gave Stewart the opportunity to be a part of the then vibrant music scene at the Magic Kingdom.
The concept of Code Blue originally came from an idea to follow-up the 2005 CD Phoenix: A Tribute to Cannonball Adderley. Its popularity and success were attributed to the whole doctor-jazz musician thing. Therefore the follow-up CD would have a bent towards medicine and in particular emergency medicine – which is what Doc Stewart has been practicing for twenty-four years. Code Blue!, which is what is called out when a patient has a cardiac or respiratory arrest, seemed a good fit to merge emergency medicine with jazz.
The big band Resuscitation reunites the band members of Doc Stewart’s “pre-medicine” era who have gone on to become top studio and jazz musicians in the LA scene. The album features Doc on an eclectic collection of arrangements integrating the CD’s original Code Blue Suite with a variety of favorite tunes chosen for their special meaning to Doc Stewart. This is especially true with the Cannonball Adderley Quintet arrangements.
Upcoming Appearances
June 27 interview with KPOO San Francisco 7:00 PM PST
July 13 with Charlie Shoemake Cambria, CA
July 29 Mayo Clinic Hospital noon concert
July 30 Mayo Clinic Scottsdale noon concert
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