Aaron Keith Stewart photo provided Aaron Keith Stewart

Aaron Keith Stewart’s name may not be one of the most familiar when it comes to Twin Cities’ male vocalists. But it should be. His timing, phrasing, interpretation of lyric and melody all put him in a category occupied by only a handful of the area’s singing jazzmen. Aaron Keith’s relatively low profile might be due to the demands of a day job in research, or perhaps because he was slow to issue a full-length recording. But that has been remedied now with the release of Stewart’s Live! Friday Night at the G, recorded a few years ago during Gabbert’s dearly departed series of mostly vocal gigs at the Galleria in Edina. Live marks a stunning if delayed introduction to a multi-faceted vocal talent. 

Aaron Keith Stewart came to Minnesota from his native Parsons, Kansas when he enrolled at St. Johns’ University in Collegeville, earning a degree in Peace Studies. But he had always been surrounded by music, and his singing career has roots going back to the 1920s and 30s when his aunts and uncle toured as the Silver Voice Quartet. "Music has very much been a part of my life and my upbringing from my family, for sure," he said recently in an interview for his hometown newspaper. He began performing in elementary school when his music teacher gave him solo roles in school productions. His older brother first introduced him to jazz, but Stewart “thought it was stupid.”  At the time, his interests leaned toward punk and Motown. Meeting a jazz musician when he moved to Minnesota changed all that. “I just really fell in love with his style of playing,” Stewart said. And in his spare time, he became involved in the jazz scene surrounding the Twin Cities, became a lead singer in the traveling show band, Temporary Heroes, joined the Jazz Vocalists of Minnesota, and recently joined a gospel group. He’s had some public solo gigs, including the Selby Avenue Jazz Festival and at clubs like Sophia’s, and has contributed tracks and arrangements for compilation albums.  

Aaron Keith is well aware of the limited opportunities for students to encounter jazz, especially in smaller communities. With the launch of his debut recording, he decided to fund a music scholarship for Parsons High School seniors interested in studying jazz, using proceeds from the sale of his CD. Each year, he will donate 10% of his sales to the Aaron Keith Stewart Music Scholarship. "It's just a way of giving back to the town and the high school that developed me," he said. "I just want people who really have that passion to be able to pursue that passion." Stewart hopes to sell a lot of CDs at a fund raiser for the scholarship fund on April 1st at Dunn Brothers Coffee in St. Paul.  

Live! Friday Night Jazz at the G

“Jazz at the G” was a great way to spend a Friday night and this recording is a wonderful way to document that period when free jazz came to the Galleria in the relaxed setting of Gabbert’s lower level. You could grab a sandwich or salad at a nearby mall eatery and sit back with a cup of free coffee or tea while the best in town crooned a tune, strummed a guitar, or engaged in small ensemble interplay. On one of those nights during the G’s last season, KBEM’s Craig Eichorn and Reid Kruger of Waterbury Music captured Aaron Keith Stewart’s set, with Jason Craft on piano, Clay Moore on guitar, Jason Weismann on sax, Michael O’Brien on bass, and Greg Schutte on drums. Debbie Duncan guests on two tracks. That alone would make any recording a special event, but Live! is further elevated to “special” status since Moore (to Texas) and O’Brien (to New York) have since left the Twin Cities. 

There are many strong points to this recording, not the least of which is Aaron Keith Stewart himself, with a mesmerizing voice and elastic phrasing that make the lyric come alive. His high-end baritone voice has an “old soul” quality with a bit of smoke in the vibrato. From the git-go, he  shows himself to be a true improviser, often without scat or vocalese, varying phrasing, pauses, pitches and melodic elements. Stewart’s selection of material is not standard fare for Friday night at the mall, running the gamut from Broadway (“If I Only Had a Brain”) to Ellington (“Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me”) to Monk (“Round Midnight” and “Straight No Chaser”), with great standards (“Fly Me to the Moon,” “My Romance”) and classic jazz (“Nature Boy”) in between. And the arrangements are not the usual for a vocal gig, often stretching out (8, 9, even nearly 12 minutes) to allow the instrumentalists full play. Stewart leads the show but he gives ample space to his cohorts. 

“Fly Me to the Moon” opens the door with an extended track, his longest at nearly 12 minutes. Weismann’s mellow sax sets the tone and proves to be a perfect foil for Stewart as his sax voice, too, is touched with smoke and a slight grit in the otherwise smooth vibrato. The stretched out arrangement gives plenty of space to Jason Craft, a fine young pianist with a sure and smooth touch and swinging finesse. We’re reminded how much we miss guitarist Clay Moore, his clean articulation and fleet fingering, as well as the showcased improvisations of bassist Michael O’Brien. Stewart scats back and forth with Greg Schutte, and we have been flown to the moon and back. Harold Arlen’s “If I Only Had a Brain” is the first jazzed version of this Wizard of Oz tune I’ve heard. The band gives it a heavy syncopated beat, while Weismann gives it a sassy overtone. Stewart’s final coda shows off his jazz sensibilities with repeated phrases and bent notes, sounding much like another horn. 

Debbie Duncan joins Aaron Keith on two tracks, and they are among the best of the recording. On Ellington’s “Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me,” a “well-crafted” keyboard introduction sets up a series of traded verses among the vocalists, Debbie taking the bridge as a master class in scatting. The two voices fit well in tandem, an exciting and artful blend that leaves one wishing for a real scat-a-thon. The duo also closes the recording a la Gershwin with “Our Love Is Here to Stay.” Debbie has never sounded better on songbook standards. After trading verses, she weaves scat around Aaron Keith’s lyrics, forming a strong and swinging partnership. The band is at its best as well, Weismann’s sax skipping and swaying, Moore and Craft swinging for the fences. The final interweaving of voices is as good as it gets with a vocal duo. 

Stewart includes two Monk tunes that typically reflect the composer’s diverse output, from slinky ballad to quirky up-tempo. But these are not typical arrangements. “Round Midnight” is given a tropical rhythm with hints of R & B, faster paced and brighter than usual—maybe less “Monkified.” Here I found the sax counterpoint running a bit too counterclockwise, enjoyable in solo and distracting as comping. Schutte offers some graceful touches with the mallets but it is Stewart’s elegant reading that carries the track. A bold choice, “Straight No Chaser” requires elastic articulation to keep up with the rapid-fire melodic line. Stewart opts for a slower than usual pace, giving the lyric a chance to be absorbed by the listener. The instrumentalists shine, first Weismann, then Clay Moore who bounces around like silly putty, a perfect interpreter of Monk for guitar. Bassist O’Brien adds an electrified coda here, creating sounds even Monk never considered and including a segment of bowed wails—seeming somewhat out of place on an otherwise very acoustic, straight-ahead album, but then, this is Monk! Considering Monk was “out of his time,” the passage flows better conceptually than musically. 

The often-performed “Nature Boy” was another bold choice, if only because so many male vocalists have interpreted it. And again, Stewart offers an unfamiliar arrangement of a familiar tune. Jason Craft provides a near-classical introduction with the feel of a Chopin Etude. Stewart takes a very slow pace supported by a deeply bowed bass and subtle, light percussion. It’s a polyrhythmic approach with piano and bass in classical mode offsetting a lightly syncopated vocal. The instrumental interlude—a showcase for Jason Craft-- continues in a Romantic vein, the guitar adding a vibrating quality to the mix. A surge of percussion recedes to reintroduce Stewart, closing a very effective track. 

But if I have a favorite here, it is “My Romance,” performed essentially as a duet between Stewart and Moore. Aaron Keith barely sings the lyric, very light and relaxed with passion rising with his intonation and phrasing. Clay Moore recalls Joe Pass and leaves the listener breathless with a virtuosic solo. A duet album would be a welcome follow-up. 

If the quality of this recording is not enough reason to buy it, consider that Aaron Keith Stewart is giving back to his community, seeking to help open the door to a career in music for young jazz musicians in his home town. On April 1st at Dunn Brothers Coffee in St. Paul, he will perform with proceeds going to the Aaron Keith Stewart Music Scholarship Fund. He’ll be backed by pianist Chris Lomheim and bassist Daniel Duke. 

Aaron Keith Stewart performs at Dunn Brothers Coffee (1569 Grand, St. Paul) on April 1st, 8:30 -10:30 pm. His CD, Live! Friday Night Jazz at the G (Silver Voice Productions) can also be purchases at the Electric Fetus in Minneapolis (www.electricfetus.com), Barnes and Noble (Har Mar Mall location) and online at CD Baby (http://cdbaby.com/cd/aaronkeithstewart) and Cheapo Discs (http://www.cheapodiscs.com/mn.htm). Aaron Keith will donate 10% of all CD sales to the Aaron Keith Stewart Music Scholarship Fund to support graduates of his hometown high school in Parsons, KS.