Chuck Stewart
| Chuck Stewart | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Charles Hugh Stewart May 21, 1927 Henrietta, Texas |
| Died | January 20, 2017 (aged 89) Teaneck, New Jersey |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Ohio University |
| Known for | Jazz Photographer |
| Spouse(s) | Mae Bailey |
| Children | Marsha David Christopher |
| Parents |
|
Charles Stewart (May 21, 1927 – January 20, 2017) was an American photographer best known for his portraits of jazz singers and musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, and Miles Davis, as well as artists in the R&B and salsa genres. Stewart's photographs have graced more than 2,000 album covers.
Stewart was born in Henrietta, Texas on May 21, 1927, and grew up in Tucson, Arizona. His father, Hugh Paris Stewart, was a chef while his mother, Anne Harris, was a domestic worker. He received an Kodak Brownie camera as a present when he was 13 years old and used it that same day to take photos of Marian Anderson, who had come to visit his school. After they were developed, he was able to sell his photos for two dollars, making him a professional photographer from his first day he took pictures. He attended Ohio University as a photography major, one of the only two universities in the United States that offered the program at the collegiate level and the only one that would then accept African American students. He would graduate in 1949. He was drafted into Army and worked as a military photographer, photographing atomic bomb tests in 1952.
While in college, his friendship with photographer Herman Leonard helped him make connections with record companies in New York City. His clients would include Impulse, Mercury, Reprise and Verve, for whom he took cover photos of artists such jazz and R&B icons as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Lionel Hampton, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, appearing on more than 2,000 albums and in publications including Esquire, Paris Match and The New York Times, as well as in the Encyclopedia of Jazz by jazz journalist Leonard Feather. He also worked for Chess Records in Chicago (and its Argo subsidiary).
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