Paul Smith Stewart is a composer, professional musician and music educator. While studying music at Cal Poly Paul joined the Central Coast band Still Time. Beginning in 2004, Still Time steadily expanded from a local college band to a national touring act and successfully released four albums on their independent record label, When It Hits Records. In 2012 Paul became the Director of Performing Arts at his alma mater Marin Catholic College Preparatory in Marin County, CA. Along with his colleagues, Paul helped to create a contemporary performing arts model which has since led to many graduates pursuing music and acting in both the collegiate and professional worlds.
After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 2017, Paul released his first EP Transitions with Oak Ring Records. Paul continues to release music with his jazz group: his second EP Renewal in April of 2018, and released a new single in collaboration with Bay Area vocalist/composer Rebecca Mimiaga entitled Autumn Has Come in the fall of 2019.
Paul completed his Master’s degree in Music Composition at Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2020. During his time in the program he premiered pieces for percussion trio, string quartet, two jazz fusion pieces, as well as theme songs for several podcasts. He began collaborating on a contemporary performance piece entitled Salvage Rituals that unfortunately was not able to premier due to the global pandemic. The music from that show continues to be collaborated on by members of the ensemble with hopes of recording and performing it in the coming years.
In 2018, Paul was diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). In the subsequent years Paul’s health deteriorated to the point where he was physically unable to play or teach music anymore. In 2022, after finding some successful alternative treatments, Paul traveled Mt. Shasta, CA to continue his healing journey. He began to regain his ability to play music again and finished recording an EP with a new group called The Shasta Trio, with plans to release the recordings in June of 2024. He currently resides in Arcata, CA and continues to work on his health and reimagining his music career.