Louis Stewart: I Thought About You

For jazz guitar fans, and for aficionados of Irish guitarist Louis Stewart in particular, the 2022 relaunch of '70s label Livia Records has been manna from heaven. This is the born-again label's fifth reissue of the great Dublin six-stringer's out-of-print recordings since the series launched with Stewart's other 1977 album Out on His Own (Livia Records, 2023). That album is widely viewed by guitarists past and present as a solo jazz guitar album for the ages. I Thought About You probably would not have happened in the first place but for Stewart's connection to Ronnie Scott's—London's most celebrated jazz club.

For Stewart, Ronnie Scott's was more than just a hallowed venue. The Soho jazz club helped launch Stewart's international career when, in 1975, the 33-year-old guitarist joined Ronnie Scott's Quintet. Scott's combo typically opened for big-name headliners and toured internationally. Moreover, Stewart had played in the club's house band since the late '60s, a role that saw him accompany some of the most celebrated jazz musicians of the era. It was all in a day's work for Stewart to accompany the likes of Joe Henderson, Zoot Sims, Ben Webster or Art Farmer.

It was at Ronnie Scott's that Stewart came to open for Cedar Walton, whose band included Billy Higgins, Sam Jones and Bob Berg. After his opening slot with Ronnie Scott's Quintet, Stewart sat back to watch Walton's band. So blown away was Stewart by the American rhythm section that he expressed a desire to record with them. That wish would come true before the week was out, with Azimuth pianist John Taylor bolstering the line-up. This album bears the fruit of that session.

True to his straight-ahead genes, Stewart leads a session dominated by standards. The only original tune is Sam Jones' swinging "Unit 7"—penned for the album Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley (Capitol, 1962). Nods to more contemporary fare come with a rip-roaring version of Miles Davis' "All Blues"—on which Stewart and Taylor excel—and Chick Corea's "Litha." On the latter, Jones and Higgins bedevil with some sharp switches in tempi, with Stewart rising to the occasion with some lightning quick cadenzas.

Though Higgins and Jones run like a well-oiled engine on a breathless take of Thelonious Monk's "Straight No Chaser" and purr unobtrusively at more relaxed tempi, their roles feel a little workaday. For sure, their playing is immaculate, but despite its palpable energy the quartet does not really catch fire, which is perhaps to be expected from a one-off collaboration, recorded in one day. This is very much a Stewart vehicle, the guitarist basking in one scintillating solo after another. His precision, fluidity and bite are remarkable. But it is on the mid-tempo swing of Van Heusen/Mercer classic "I Thought About You" and on the dreamy Boland/Woode ballad "November Girl" that Stewart's Wes Montgomery-esque finesse, and aching blues feel really shine.

Livia's production standards are, as ever, top-notch. Excellent sound quality courtesy of Sean Mac Erlaine —check out his wonderful alt-folk band This Is How We Fly—and a fourteen-page glossy booklet add the ribbons and bows to another Stewart masterclass.

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