Bill Stewart is a jazz drummer and composer from Des Moines, Iowa, who began teaching himself how to play drums at the age of 7. Inspired by the jazz and rhythm and blues records his parents would play for him, he spent his school years immersing himself in various outfits and, after college, moved to New York City where he quickly developed a reputation as a preeminent jazz drummer with John Scofield's quartet. He went on to form a trio with Larry Goldings and Peter Bernstein, his longest running project that continues on into the 21st century, in 1989, the same year he released his debut album as a band leader, Think Before You Think. Stewart formed his own group, The Bill Stewart Trio, in 2005.