Saxophonist brings 6 decades of musical dedication to Monroeville concert

[Dr. Nelson Harrison]

 

Saxophonist brings 6 decades of musical dedication to Monroeville concert

HARRY FUNK  | Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023 7:15 p.m.

HARRY FUNK | TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Calvin Stemley plays tenor saxophone with Mixxtape at the Monroeville Jazz Festival on Sept. 2, flanked by keyboard player Sean Baker and vocalist Lailonny Yvonne.

COURTESY OF CALVIN STEMLEY

Calvin Stemley will perform Nov. 19 at Monroeville Public Library.

 

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The sounds emerging from his father’s bedroom prompted young Calvin Stemley to knock on the door one day.

How was it, the boy wondered, that Zackery Stemley Jr. could produce dazzling melodies just by using the three buttons on his trumpet?

“Instead of him answering the question, he said, ‘Have a seat,’” his son recalled. “He pulled a drawer open and got a mouthpiece out. And he said, ‘I want you to do this’:

“Bvvvvvvvvvp!”

Calvin’s attempts at emulation marked the beginning of nearly six decades’ worth of dedication to music that he brings to Monroeville Public Library for a free concert at 7 p.m. Nov. 15 in the Elaine Biondi Gallery Space.

Along with playing saxophone and the occasional clarinet with an impressive array of Pittsburgh-area bands, Stemley had a 25-year career teaching music for Pittsburgh Public Schools. And although he’s retired, the Wilkins Township resident continues his efforts to provide education through performance art.

For example, he collaborates with the instrumental-vocal group Mixxtape, which will stage its Black History Show at 6 p.m. Nov. 19 at Carrone Baptist Church, 7119 Frankstown Ave., Homewood. The free event features inspirational readings, poetry, dance and other elements to help enlighten the audience.

Members of Mixxtape — led by drummer Terrance Levels, who worked with percussionists in Westinghouse High School’s marching band when Stemley taught there — hope to bring a similar performance to Gateway High School for Black History Month.

A musical legacy

Regarding his own history, Stemley carries on the legacy of his father, whose musical pursuits went far beyond practicing trumpet in the bedroom. He was a member the Soul Crusaders, which served as “the backup band for every major act that was coming through Chicago” circa the ’60sat the city’s famed Regal Theater, according to his son.

Leading the Soul Crusaders was another trumpet player, Burgess Gardner, who had the pedigree of performing with the likes of Count Basie, Horace Silver and Ray Charles. Gardner also happened to be the band director at Calvin Stemley’s school when he decided to join.

No trumpets were available for Calvin to play, so Gardner started him on clarinet.

“I was so enthralled by it, I practiced and I practiced and I practiced,” Stemley said. “Three or four weeks later, I had practiced so much that I was moved from beginners’ band to intermediate band. And when that happened, I realized this was the thing that I really wanted to do.”

An early introduction to performance was with a 14-piece combo of classmates called the Soulful Exotics, which placed second in an amateur competition at the Regal.

“At the time, I was really into James Brown,” Stemley recalled. “As part of that band, I played the clarinet. I also was the dancer in that band, and I was doing all the James moves and the splits and all that kind of stuff.”

He went on to attend Grambling State University in Louisiana, earning a bachelor’s degree in music education and accolades including the Institute of Black American Music Award and Grambling’s Theory and Composition Award.

Coming to Pittsburgh

In 1976, Stemley enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh. He earned his master’s in ethnomusicology, the study of the music of different cultures, especially non-Western ones.

“My emphasis was on jazz, and I wrote my master’s thesis on the great Dexter Gordon,” he said about the bebop-pioneering saxophonist, naming Sonny Rollins, Lester Young, Charlie Parker and John Coltrane as other influences.

Stemley takes pride in the musical contributions of Pittsburgh natives, especially those who called Westinghouse their alma mater: pianists Erroll Garner, Ahmad Jamal and Mary Lou Williams, and singers Dakota Staton and Adam Wade.

On Nov. 6, Stemley will host Joy of Sax — an annual event celebrating the birthday of instrument inventor Adolphe Sax, who would have been 209 years old — from 6 to 11 p.m. at the Blue Sky Restaurant in East Liberty. A highlight is the honoring of several mainstays of Pittsburgh’s musician scene, among them retired Court of Common Pleas Judge Warren Watson, age 100.

Approaching his 70th birthday in December, Calvin looks back on trying Zackery Stemley’s trumpet and playing for Burgess Gardner as defining his role in life.

“It really affected me in a great way. The first five years of school were different than when I got involved with band. And every positive type of association in my life was after I got involved with music,” he said. “So I guess I was getting musical therapy as a sixth-grader.”

Harry Funk is a Tribune-Review news editor. You can contact Harry at [e-mail].