R.I.P. Kerby Stewart

[JSngry]

http://www.legacy.com/DallasMorningNews/Ob...sonID=103596791

Kerby Stewart, 60, passed away on February 12, 2008 in Desoto, Texas after a bout with pneumonia. He is survived by his wife Mickey; son Kerby Eli; and stepchildren, Alex, Michael, and Cami. Kerby was a popular recording engineer and double bassist who performed regularly with the N'Awlins Gumbo Kings. He was a founding member of the music faculty at Cedar Valley College in Lancaster. Kerby was one of the most respected bassists in the DFW area. During a career that spanned more than 40 years, he toured with the NORAD band, the Stan Kenton Orchestra, the Woody Herman Orchestra and the UNT 1:00 Lab Band. He performed with the Dallas and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras, the Ft. Worth Fat Stock Show Rodeo Band, the Ice Capades, Dallas Summer Musicals, conventions, banquets, and concerts, and most recently, as a member of the N'Awlins Gumbo Kings. Kerby developed the recording courses and helped develop the curriculum for the Recording Technology option of the commercial music program at Cedar Valley College. He is a graduate of Texas Christian University with a BFA degree in Radio/Television/Film. After TCU, he studied at the University of North Texas in Music and Computer Science. Kerby's audio engineering experience led him to record everything from solo recitals to symphony orchestras, pipe organ and chorus projects. He designed and ran a recording studio while at NORAD and was part owner and engineer for a jingle company in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Kerby has been a freelance engineer in Dallas for 25 years and has engineered and performed on many albums, jingles, film sound tracks and television programs. He joined Fort Worth Local 72 on May 30, 1965. The family has requested donations to the Kerby Stewart Memorial Fund, located at Musicians Federal Credit Union, in lieu of flowers.

As can be surmised from the above, Kerby Stewart was the type of musician that ran in circles that I neither aspired to nor would have been capable of entering. And yet, last year, I began playing a series of trio/quartet gigs with him under the leadership of a Ft. Worth guitarist who had known Kerby forever & met me on a Miles tribute gig a few years ago, liked what he heard, & decided to get me in on some of his gigs sooner or later. It was later than sooner, but hey, I'm used to that by now. When I heard that Kerby was the bassist, I was a little nervous. After all, I'm in no way a "formal" player, the only rules I follow are the ones that make sense at any given moment. This area is overflowing with people of similar backgrounds to Kerby's who have their heads up their ass and their snoots up in the air about "proper" ways to play all musics, especially jazz.

To my relief, Kerby was not one of those type guys. He heard where I was coming from immediately, dug in, and made sure that it was all good, which it most certainly ended up being. On the breaks, I found him to be a borderline surrealist in his humor, which also fit in with my "comfort zone". A real down to earth family guy with a keen sense of humor about the bizarre and morbid, who could also play bass the way you wanted it played. No problems there! We probably played another 5-6 gigs together, all of them a gas, and had a few more booked in the coming months. Not now.

In no way will I claim that I "got to know" this man, but I will say that it was a blast knowing him in the little time that I spent with him.

Here's a clip of Kerby w/Woody's band of the mid-1970s, w/Lyle Mays on Rhodes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC8bitR838o

Life is short...