Home » Jazz Musicians » Michael Jefry Stevens

Michael Jefry Stevens

I was born in New York City in 1951 and received my MA in Music from Queens College in 1992 where I studied with Jimmy Heath, Sir Roland Hanna, Thea Musgrave, Sol Berkowitz and Donald Byrd. I was the Margaret Lee Crofts Fellow at "The MacDowell Colony" in the summer of 2000 and received 2nd prize in the Monaco International Jazz Composition. In 2006 I was a Composer Fellow at Centrum Arts in Port Townsend, WA. I am a "Steinway Artist". I have been and continue to be an active pianist/composer and band leader for the past 40 years. I have released over 100 cds of my original music on numerous jazz record labels including Leo Records (England), Drimala Records (VA), Soul Note Records (Italy), Konnex Records Germany), Music and Arts (CA), Cadence Records (NY), Red Toucan Records (Canada), GM Recordings (MA) 482 Music (NY), Unit Records (Switzerland), Nottwo Records (Poland), Cadence Jazz (USA), Playscape recordings, ForTune Records (Poland), Artist's Recording Collective (USA) and several other labels. Over 100 of my more than 350 original composed works have been recorded and are regularly broadcast throughout the world. My music has been featured in live radio concerts throughout Europe, Japan, South America and North America including BRTN (Belgium), Saarbrucken Rundfunk (Germany), WDR Radio (Germany), Radio Bremen (Germany), Radio Zurich (Switzerland), VPRO Radio Amsterdam (Holland), BRF Radio (Belgium), Danmarks Radio (Arhus, Denmark) and Radio Nurnberg (Germany). I currently co-lead several working musical ensembles including the Eastern Boundary Quartet, the the Lillard/Stevens Group and the Cayolle/Stevens Group as well as several regional groups in and around my home town of Black Mountain, NC. I frequently tour both Europe, Latin America and North America and have performed at numerous international jazz festivals including the Edgefest in Ann Arbor (MI), the Earshot Jazz Festival in Seattle (WA, the Hurth Jazznacht (Hurth, Germany), Guelph Jazz Festival (Canada), the Ottawa International Jazz Festival (Canada), Jazzmeille Thuringen (Germany), San Sebastian International Jazz Festival (Spain), Jazz Halo (Belgium), the Kaunas International Jazz Festival (Lithuania), Cerkno Jazz Festival (Slovenia) and many others.

Awards

Numerous Meet the Composer Grants; MacDowell Artist Colony Fellow; 2nd Prize Monaco International Jazz Composition Contest; Eubie Blake Scholars Award; Semifinalist Heineken Jazz Contest; Tennessee Arts Commission Travel Grant; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts - Artist Roste Steinway Piano Concert Artist WNC Best Composer 2016 Recipient of 2017 Regional Artist Grant

Gear

Steinway Piano Concert Artist, Nord Electro V keyboard, Kawai Novus NV10 Hybrid Digital Piano

Conference Call: Prism

by Mark Corroto
February 3, 2021

Conference Call is a quartet, but could also be described as a trio+ because the core members—saxophonist and bass clarinetist Gebhard Ullmann, pianist Michael Jefry Stevens, and bassist Joe Fonda—have been touring and recording together for more than two decades. The plus moniker derives from the quartet's interchange of drummers. Early on, the seat was occupied by Matt Wilson, then Han Bennink, Gerry Hemingway, and George Schuller. The quartet's latest edition is Swiss drummer Dieter Ulrich, who you might have ...

Album Review

Conference Call: Prism

by Jerome Wilson
November 17, 2020

Most jazz groups that stay together for a long time, such as The Modern Jazz Quartet or The Art Ensemble of Chicago, achieve a certain prominence. It is a surprise then to realize that the lesser-known band, Conference Call, has been around since 1999 and is here releasing its eighth album. The group's core members are saxophonist Gebhard Ullmann, pianist Michael Jefry Stevens and bassist Joe Fonda. They have had a succession of drummers over the years; Matt ...

Album Review

Conference Call: Prism

Read "Prism" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
September 21, 2020

Prism, by the band Conference Call, sounds, on the set's opening tune, “F.J.D.," like a bunch of guys who might mug you: a brash, turbulent, confrontational crowd with a “we-don't-take-no-mess-from-nobody" approach to making music. Credit reedman Gebhard Ullmann with his grouchy, working-man-roused-from-his-afternoon-nap tenor sax sound, and the powerful bass (which you can feel in your bones) of Joe Fonda, accompanied by the aggressive clamor of, Dieter Ulrich--the group's third drummer in its twenty year tenure—along with pianist Michael Jefry Stevens' ...

Album Review

Conference Call: Prism

by Mike Jurkovic
September 19, 2020

During the roiling twenty years that Conference Call has willfully crisscrossed the broad Atlantic, the individual drummers haven't participated in all of the round trips. The pre-2020 drummer rotation was Matt Wilson, who left the band prior to its first tour in 2001 to prep for the delivery of triplets, Han Bennink, George Schuller, and Gerry Hemingway. But the core players remain. As does the key aesthetic: creative art as spontaneous geometry. So how you fit the individual pieces together ...

Album Review

Michael Jefry Stevens: Red's Blues

Read "Red's Blues" reviewed by Maurizio Zerbo

by Maurizio Zerbo
August 14, 2019

Il dinamismo culturale di Michael Jefry Stevens ci ha abituati a progetti diversi, dal free-jazz al mainstream senza soluzione di continuità. Il musicista statunitense ha elevato a regola un principio aureo del jazz: la capacità di trasformazione della propria cifra espressiva, per rivelare di continuo nuove sfaccettature stilistiche. In questo CD live se ne apprezzano le doti compositive orientate verso lo swing, ancorate alle solide basi del jazz. Si spazia dalle reminiscenze monkiane del terzo brano ...

Album Review

Michael Jefry Stevens: Live at Streamside

Read "Live at Streamside" reviewed by Maurizio Zerbo

by Maurizio Zerbo
August 14, 2019

Ecco un grande CD regalatoci da un artista riservato, meritevole di ben altre attenzioni mediatiche. È un concentrato di buon gusto e passione, con pregevoli interventi solistici, sempre lineari e cantabili. A differenza di altri colleghi di livello, Michael Jefry Stevens guarda solo alle ragioni del cuore, per realizzare album all'insegna della poetica progettualità. Oltre alla pregevole cura per le dinamiche, emerge la creativa disposizione timbrica messa in campo dal sessantanovenne musicista. Inediti contrappunti per violino-voce-vibrafono impreziosiscono una raffinata cifra ...

Multiple Reviews

Poker di Michael Jefry Stevens

by Giuseppe Segala
October 10, 2016

Il pianista, compositore, teorico e didatta Michael Jefry Stevens ha impresso il proprio significativo contributo al jazz contemporaneo attraverso un lavoro che dura da circa quarant'anni, associato a un ampio ventaglio di musicisti e a formazioni di grande interesse, tra cui Mosaic Sextet e Liquid Time con Dave Douglas, The Fonda/Stevens Group con Joe Fonda, Conference Call Quartet con Gebhard Ullmann. I quattro CD in esame illustrano la recente produzione del pianista, dando una visione articolata del suo lavoro ...

Recording

Announcing 'The Innocence Of Spring' By Don Aliquo + Michael Jefry Stevens Live At Hinton Hall On The Arc Label

Source: Artists Recording Collective + the ARC Record Label
November 20, 2019

Announcing The Innocence Of Spring By Don Aliquo + Michael Jefry Stevens Live At Hinton Hall on the ARC Label. Recorded live at Middle Tennessee State University’s Hinton Hall, the release of The Innocence Of Spring (ARC-0736) brings together two veterans of the US jazz scene in saxophonist Don Aliquo and pianist Michael Jefry Stevens. In a live performance of raw improvisational clarity and sensitivity, inspiration from the jazz greats of years gone past is evident. Not just in the ...
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Recording

Debut Recording 'The Poet Is In The House' By Michael Jefry Stevens And The Mountain Chamber Jazz Ensemble On The ARC Label

Source: Artists Recording Collective + the ARC Record Label
November 19, 2019

The debut recording of The Mountain Chamber Jazz Ensemble is titled The Poet is in the House (ARC-0774) and features the following musicians: Christian Howes, Candace English, Anya Yarbrough Brigid Hopkins, Bill Berg, Jason DeCristofaro, Doran Heck, Frank Southecorvo, Jason Moore, Charles Elliot, Katie Cilluffo, Justice Mann, Michael Jefry Stevens, Bill Fouty, and Danny Iannucci. The Mountain Chamber Jazz Ensemble is a hybrid ensemble consisting of a string section (violin, viola, cello, contrabass), a percussion section (drums set, percussionist, vibraphone ...
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Recording

Joyce Cobb & Michael Jefry Stevens CD Release Thursday August 19th

Source: Chris M. Slawecki
August 3, 2010

Joyce Cobb & Michael Jefry Stevens CD Release on Thursday August 19th Joyce Cobb: vocals & harmonica; Michael Jefrey Stevens: piano; Jonathan Wires: bass Renaldo Ward: drums.

Special event in celebration of our CD release on Archer Records. CDs will be available for purchase at that time and the event is free to the public. AMRO Music: 2918 Poplar Avenue, Memphis, TN 38111-2722 (901) 325-6406 | http://www.amromusic.com/

On their resultant self-titled album Joyce Cobb with the Michael Jefry ...
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Performance / Tour

Michael Jefry Stevens and Malcolm Lynn Baker in an Exclusive Duo Concert

Source: Michael Ricci
March 9, 2010

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Performance / Tour

Katie Bull/Michael Jefry Stevens/Joe Fonda/Harvey Sorgen/Jeff Lederer Thursday, August 2nd 55bar 7:00 PM

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
August 1, 2007

"Over the past fifteen years and the course of ten CD’s, the Fonda/Stevens Group has evolved into one of Jazz/improvised music’s most accomplished ensembles. Straddling the line between post-bob and free, they have come up with consistently satisfying albums. What’s impressive is how these four create a cohesive unit without grandstanding egos getting in the way." ~ Cadence Magazine "Michael - You and your band are awesome. Several people came up to tell me how your concert last week was one of the most enjoyable events they’ve ever experienced at the Vermont Jazz Center; the music conveyed a deep sense of purpose, humor and warmth, plus it was delivered with a superb sense of musicianship and communication

Primary Instrument

Piano

Location

Asheville

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Credentials/Background

MA from Queens College in Jazz Performance. I currently am adjunct faculty at Eastern Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. I was adjunct faculty at Rhodes College in Memphis, TN between 2007-2010. I was on the faculty of Five Towns College between 1992-95, and was head of the keyboard department at the National Guitar Workshop between 1990-2002 in New Milford, CT. I have been guest clinician and artist in residence at numerous educational institutions both here and abroad including the Royal Academy of Music in Arhus, Denmark, "Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico City (Mexico), Arizona State University in Tempe (AZ), SUNY at New Paltz (NY), Lichtenstein Big Band Workshop in Eschen (Lichtenstein), Syracuse University (NY), The University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Indiana University (Bloomington), University of Iowa (Iowa City), Northern Illinois University (DeKalb), University of Richmond (VA), University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA, the University of Michigan, and most recently conducted a workshop with vocalist Miles Griffith at Taler de Musics in Barcelona, Spain as well as at the Pannonica Jazz club in Nantes, France (March 2008).