Judy Stuart

Vocalist, songwriter/composer, and visual artist.  Active in the New York City from the late 1950s through her death in 2018.

Biography

Vocalist and songwriter Judy Stuart (Judith Rodger, b. Pizzarelli, d. 2018) came up in the New York City area; she and her sister were early standouts and as radio performers and child talent contest award-winners. Stuart graduated to be a song stylist attached to some of the last of the big bands in the late 1950s. In the Sixties she found her voice as a singer/songwriter in domains where Free Jazz, protest folk and acid rock overlapped in unpredictable ways.

By the Woodstock era, Stuart had written the first of six off-off-Broadway musical theater presentations that she would contribute to. Though she got very little professional traction she continued to write, perform and record her original songs in clubs and on stage into the early 2000s, along with producing visual and sculptural art pieces.

In production when she died in 2018 was the primary published recording to document her writing and singing; that 1969 studio effort was released in 2019 as Judy Stuart: The Apostolic Session (Inky Dot Media IDM EP002), a 10" 45 rpm vinyl record and deluxe pamphlet. Also produced but unreleased was an earlier LP in early 1960s-era traditional jazz combo style.

After Stuart's death, through the aegis of the New York City Administrator, Stuart's career materials were given into the care o f producer, bassist, and composer Steve Tintweiss, her friend and collaborator. Crossing Tones is honored t o shepherd these materials into greater worldwide visibility.

Collection Overview

The Steve Tintweiss collection of Judy Stuart materials documents Stuart's songs, poems, musicals, concept sketches, artwork, and performances from the mid-Sixties into the 21st century.