Alvin "Stumpy" Robinson, the band director at Washington Jr High School, was also influential in Stewart's development.

The problem solved itself when he joined the Bama State Collegians, a dance band formed in 1929 who at various times featured Erskine Hawkins, Avery Parrish, Joe Newman, Sam Taylor, Julian Dash, Benny Powell, and Vernall Fournier.

Other musicians who attended Alabama State are Clarence Carter, Fred Wesley (James Brown), and Walter Orange (Commodores).

Stewart also studied arranging under John Duncan, a classical composer and teacher at Alabama State University.

Tommy pledged Omega Psi Phi at the Gamma Sigma Chapter located on the Alabama State University Campus.

In 1969 he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and taught in Fayetteville, Ga; he also worked for Morris Brown College doing band arrangements.

He arranged music for Eula Cooper, The Mighty Hannibal, Sandy Gaye, and Langston-French Duo (Langston is an ex-Pip and Gladys Knight's cousin).

In the late 1970s Stewart collaborated with Marlon McNichols, a producer from Detroit, Michigan, to record disco with Final Approach, Cream De CoCo, Tamiko Jones, Moses Davis, and Stewart's album, which included the song "Bump & Hustle Music".

It was around this time that he produced Ripple, a band who recorded the song "The Beat Goes On," and Southside Coalition, made up of some of Stewart's former students from Archer High School in Atlanta.