One of the most impressive hard bop tenor saxophonists to emerge during the 1990s, Oakland, CA, native Robert Stewart did not take even take up the instrument until the age of 17; however, he so completely immersed himself in the music of Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins, and John Coltrane -- as well as the work of his own personal mentor, Pharoah Sanders -- that he quickly developed his own muscular tone. After debuting in 1994 with Judgement, Stewart returned a year later with In the Gutta. ~ Jason Ankeny