Isaiah Stewart Releases Thrill Ride, Fourth Studio Album Features Guitarist for Jon Anderson, Jean-Luc Ponty, Chick Corea, Quincy Jones and Bryan Adams

Salt Lake City, July 20, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Jazz-rock drummer and worldwide recording artist Isaiah Stewart announces the release of his fourth album Thrill Ride.

Thrill Ride features Jamie Glaser, the world-renowned jazz-rock guitarist famous for his work with Jon Anderson (Yes), Jean-Luc Ponty, Chick Corea, Manhattan Transfer, Quincy Jones and Bryan Adams.

"Working with Isaiah was indeed a special musical journey, and I am honored to be someone he trusted with his vision," Glaser says. "Isaiah's music is always packed with so much energy, melody and groove, and this new album captures the essence of what is so great about this seasoned artist. Thrill Ride is music that kicks; music that moves you; and music that enables you to discover exciting new things no matter how often you listen."

Jamie Glaser, guitarist

“Having Jamie Glaser as a featured guest artist on this album is a wonderful honor,” Stewart says. “I have been a diehard fan of his phenomenal guitar playing for many years and collaborating with one of my musical idols is truly a dream come true.”

Glaser says it was an enjoyable and rewarding experience to work with Stewart.

"Working with Isaiah was indeed a special musical journey, and I am honored to be someone he trusted with his vision,” Glaser says. “Isaiah's music is always packed with so much energy, melody and groove, and this new album captures the essence of what is so great about this seasoned artist. Thrill Ride is music that kicks; music that moves you; and music that enables you to discover exciting new things no matter how often you listen."

Thrill Ride is available at cdbaby, iTunes and Amazon.

During the past 16 years, Listeners around the world have streamed and/or downloaded music from Stewart’s prior albums more than 6.5 million times. Thrill Ride is similar in style to past efforts but, according to Stewart, will be more “upbeat” and “hard-rocking,” offering listeners even more diversity: “everything from smooth jazz to heavy metal - from fusion to funky vocal pop – from old school psychedelic rock to tribal hip hop.”

The musically diverse vision for Thrill Ride is the result of a conversation between Stewart and the late jazz legend Tony Williams.

"I was hanging with Tony late one night and he was his usual sarcastic raconteur self, making irreverent jokes about pretty much everything," Stewart explains. "Tony is typically upbeat, witty and funny, however he stopped joking when I told him how much I loved his musical diversity.

“Tony is, of course, world renowned for jazz but was equally skilled at playing rock ‘n’ roll with two bass drums and had even performed heavy metal with Ronnie Montrose and Edgar Winter,” Stewart continues. “When I told Tony how amazing it was that he could play everything from swing to thrashing heavy metal his humor and sarcasm subsided, and he says to me in a very thoughtful, serious manner, ‘Yeah, well, it’s not about labels. An artist should never care about labels? It’s about music. There are only 12 notes. If you like it … play it.’”

To Stewart, having his idol Williams speak those words to him was akin to an army private receiving orders from a commanding officer.

"I took Tony’s words to heart," Stewart says. "The music on this album is about Tony’s free spirit. It's about being true to all the different genres of music that I love – from dreamy smooth jazz to in-your-face thrashing heavy metal – and everything in between. Tony had incredible diversity as both a drummer and artist and his words inspired me to follow his example.”

But while Williams provided the musical creative spark for Thrill Ride, jazz legend Chick Corea – who often creates concept albums where the songs provide individual chapters to a single musical narrative – inspired the larger thematic tapestry of the album.

“Like Corea, I love science fiction,” Stewart says, “but rather than borrow from popular sci-fi writers, I opted to brainstorm my own storyline. I had this crazy idea for a jazz-rock concept album that combined: a futuristic urban landscape; a cool, rebellious hero; a fiery-red muscle car; ominous approaching storm clouds; and an alien invasion.”

A serendipitous coincidence was that Glaser, one of the original guitarists for the Chick Corea Elektric Band, wound up as a special guest performer on Thrill Ride.

“This was not planned but ended up being a wonderful surprise,” Stewart says. “It’s terrific to have one of Chick’s most talented sidemen along for my musical journey – especially when the idea for a sci-fi narrative was inspired by so many of Corea’s albums.”

A jazz-trained pianist and professional drummer since age 6, Isaiah has studied both acoustic and electronic drums with many of the world's most renowned players and is known for his technically impressive yet groove-oriented approach.

Since releasing his previous three albums: Life Games (2000), Urban Playground (2005), and Groove Garden (2010), Stewart has maintained a unique worldwide position with listeners throughout more than 30 different countries. He says his success as an independent artist is largely due to fundamental changes occurring in the music industry.

“It’s a brave new world in the music industry today. There are literally more varieties of music available than ever before, and the Internet has made it so listeners can seek out the music they love most with the click of a button. It’s a very exciting time for music lovers and a terrific time to be an indy musician.”

Still there are challenges for independent artists like Stewart as major record labels and a slew of independents vie to promote their artists to a global sea of online consumers.

"The challenges seem insurmountable at times but that’s what keeps me going," Stewart says. "I stay positive and focus on the victories. For example there are fans throughout China, India and the Middle East listening to my music and I constantly get fan mail from around the world in languages I don’t even understand. My wife translates all the Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French and German. The rest I read and answer with Google Translate.”

Also helping Stewart “stay positive” are the special guest artists featured on Thrill Ride in addition to Glaser: Joshua Stewart (piano solos), Terence Hansen (guitars), Dave Chisholm (trumpet), John Flanders (saxophones and flute), David Halliday (saxophones), Shawn Vincent (6-string bass), Carter Black (lead vocals), and My Bad (freestyle rapping).

“All the guest artists on this album have their own successful music careers,” Stewart says, “and I consider myself their biggest fan. There is nothing more awe-inspiring than listening to all these musical virtuosos perform in studio, and when I collaborate with them I try to think like an audience member rather than a producer.”

Comprising 76 minutes of all-original music, Thrill Ride stands as an extraordinary musical achievement for Stewart and he has the highest possible hopes for the project.

 “When I make music, my hopes are always about one thing and one thing only: to make people’s lives better,” Stewart says. “I want my music to have the same effect on my listeners as it does on me: I want to excite and inspire, and the music on Thrill Ride joins the seasoned talents of artists like Jamie Glaser with inspiration from jazz greats like Tony Williams and Chick Corea to deliver the best musical experience possible.”