Michael Jefry Stevens
Pianist/composer Michael Jefry Stevens is a musician at the forefront of both modern mainstream jazz and creative improvised musics. Born March 13, 1951, in New York City, he took early piano studies at five years of age, moved with his family to Florida at age eight, and after many years of practice, took up rock & roll as a teenager playing the Farfisa organ. But he heard modern jazz, specifically Miles Davis and John Coltrane, and it transformed his style. After a short and uninspired stint in college, Stevens returned to N.Y.C. in 1980; studied at Queens College with Sir Roland Hanna, Jimmy Heath, and Donald Byrd; and eventually received a master's degree in music in 1992. But Stevens was already quite active on the Big Apple music scene as of the late '80s, working alongside saxophonist Mark Whitecage in the ensemble Liquid Time. The most prolific group the pianist played with was the Mosaic Sextet, which included a young Dave Douglas on trumpet, violinist Mark Feldman, Michael Rabinowitz on bassoon, bassist Joe Fonda, and drummer Harvey Sorgen. Subsequent collaborations and partnerships were with the Stevens, Siegel & Ferguson trio, several other ensembles with Fonda and Sorgen (most prominently the Fonda-Stevens Group with Whitecage and trumpeter Herb Robertson), and the cooperative ensemble Conference Call with Fonda and featuring saxophonist/clarinetist Gebhard Ullmann. He has also worked with guitarist Dom Minasi; bassist Dominic Duval; saxophonist Daunik Lazro; drummers Matt Wilson, George Schuller, and Jay Rosen; and guitarist Jon Hemmersam.
Stevens was artist in residence on the keyboard faculty of the National Guitar Workshops in New Milford, CT, from 1990-2002; was on the faculty of Five Towns College from 1992-1995; was artist in residence at the Virginia Intermont College in 1999; and received a Margaret Lee Croft Fellowship in 2000. He has also served as a composition fellow at the Centrum Arts Colony in Port Townsend, WA, and was active at the Royal Music Academy in Denmark in 2002. Stevens has conducted regular workshops in La Plata, Argentina, as well as Lichtenstein and Mexico, and since 2002 has been on the faculty of Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. The recordings of Stevens are available on the Konnex, GM, Leo, Soul Note, and 482 labels. He has written over 400 compositions ranging from solo to string quartet to big-band styles for concert and dance performance, and has toured worldwide for three decades. His recent ensembles include the band In Transit and the Songbook Project with vocalist Miles Griffith.
© Michael G. Nastos /TiVo
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Discography
16 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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The Core-tet Project
Evelyn Glennie, Jon Hemmersam, Szilárd Mezei, Michael Jefry Stevens
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 12 jan. 2018
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Survivor's Suite
Jazz - Released by Jazz Halo on 1 jan. 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Decade
Harvey Sorgen, Steve Rust, Michael Jefry Stevens
Jazz - Released by NotTwo on 15 jul. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brass Tactics
Alternative en Indie - Released by Konnex Records on 21 feb. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Duets
Michael Jefry Stevens, Jason Decristofaro
Moderne jazz - Released by Artists Recording Collective on 1 jan. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Seven / Live at Firehouse 12 (Live)
Jazz - Released by NotTwo on 22 okt. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Trio
Michael Jefry Stevens, Joe Fonda, Harvey Sorgan
Jazz - Released by NotTwo on 15 jul. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
3. The Precipice
Jazz - Released by Artists Recording Collective on 29 mei 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Portrait in Red
Jazz - Released by Cactus Records on 1 jan. 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Red's blues
Jazz - Released by 573852 Records DK on 10 jan. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Frederique
Wereldmuziek - Released by Artists Recording Collective on 29 mei 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Supreme Cost
Jazz - Released by Artists Recording Collective on 31 mei 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Elegy for Planet Earth
Jazz - Released by Artists Recording Collective on 30 mei 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
We Miss you Eliot
Jazz - Released by Artists Recording Collective on 24 mei 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo