Michael Jefry Stevens

Pianist, composer and Steinway Artist, Michael Jefry Stevens (born 1951 in NYC), performs extensively in Europe, Latin America and North America. Stevens has composed over 350 works for both large and small ensembles. As an active band-leader for over 40 years, Mr. Stevens working musical ensembles include the Conference Call Quartet, the Fonda/Stevens Group, the Eastern Boundary Quartet (Hungary), the Mountain Chamber Jazz Ensemble, the MJS trio and MJS Quartet. Mr. Stevens’ music has been released on more than 100 CDs. Michael has performed and recorded with some of the top names in jazz, including Dave Liebman, Dave Douglas, Valery Ponomarev, Cecil Bridgewater, Han Bennink, Leo Smith, Perry Robinson, Matt Wilson, Gerry Hemingway, Mark Feldman and many others. Stevens was the “Margaret Lee Crofts Fellow” for 2000-2001 at the MacDowell Colony, was a 2006 Centrum Arts composer fellow, was a member of the BMI Jazz Composers' Workshop, and was voted runner-up Jazz musician of the year (2009) by Chicago JazzNet. In 2011 the Penguin Jazz Guide voted the Fonda/Stevens Group's CD “Evolution” one of the top 100 important modern jazz recordings.

Michael's most recent grant (2021) was a $10,000 Doris Duke Foundation Performing Artist Recovery Fund Grant administered by the New York Community Trust Fund. In 2020 I received a MusiCares Grant from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Foundation based in Santa Monica, California, as well as a South Arts Jazz Road Quick Assist Grant, in Atlanta, Georgia, during the pandemic. I received a Regional Artist Performance Grant administered by the Toe River Arts Council, North Carolina, in 2017. The Tennessee Arts Commission gave Stevens a professional development support grant in 2007. In 1999 I received a Virginia Commission for the Arts Grant as Composer in residence at Virginia Intermont College.

• 2009 – 2011 - Private piano instruction with Sheila Paige. 
  
• 1995 – 98 - Member of BMI Jazz Composer’s Workshop.  Studies in Jazz Composition and Arranging with Manny Albam and Jim McNeely.
• 1991-92 - Composition studies with Thea Musgrave,  Henry Weinberg, Jimmy Heath and Sol Berkowitz. Piano instruction with Sir Roland Hanna.             
• 1983-89 - Private Piano Instruction with Stephen Masi of  the Julliard School of Music, New York, New York. 
• 1985-86 - Jazz Piano studies with Jazz Master Jaki Byard. 
• 1983-85 - Composition instruction with Edgar Grana and Stanley Wolfe of  Julliard School, New York, New York. 
• 1979-80 - Piano studies with Chuck Marohnic, Director of Jazz Studies, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. 
• 1977 - Studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. 
• 1975 - Bachelors of Arts Degree from Florida International University, South Miami, Florida. Composition studies with Dr. John Swan.
• 1975 - Studies at the Creative Music Center, Woodstock, New York. Classes with Jack DeJohnette, Karl Berger, Anthony Braxton and Dave Holland.
  

• AWARDS/PRIZES/GRANTS/COMMISSIONS
• 2021 - Release "Music for Percussion and Piano" CD on ARC Recordings.
• 2021 - Release "Forgotten Wish" CD with Art Lillard on ARC Recordings.
• 2021 - Release "Original Music for Septet" with Art Lillard on ARC Recordings.
• 2020 - Release "Prism" CD by Conference Call Quartet on "Nottwo Records".
• 2019 - Release "The Poet is in the House" CD featuring the "Mountain Chamber Jazz Ensemble"
• 2019 - Release "Live from Hinton Hall" Duo CD with Don Aliquo. List in "Top 10 CD's of 2019" by Cadence Magazine.
• 2018 - Release CD with Dame Evelyne Glennie (all improvised music)
• 2017 - Received Regional 2017 Regional Artist Performance Grant.
• 2016 - Voted "Best Composer" by Mountain Express magazine in Asheville, NC.
• 2010 - Voted top 100 jazz CD’s by Penguin Jazz Guide for Fonda/Stevens Group’s CD “Evolution”.
• 2007 - Added to Steinway Artists Performance Roster. First Steinway Artist in the history of Memphis.
• 2007 - Tennessee Arts Commission Professional Development Support Grant.
• 2005 - Composer Fellow at Centrum Arts, Port Townsend, Washington.
• 2002 – Selected to the Artist Roster at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia.
• 2002 - Composer in Residence at Oxford Music Academy, Oxford, New York.
• 2001 - Top 10 CD releases of the Year in Danish Jazz Magazine, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• 2000 - Margaret Lee Crofts Fellow at the MacDowell Artists Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire.
• 1999 - Virginia Commission on the Arts Grant. Composer in Residence at Virginia Intermont College, Bristol, Virginia.
• 1998 - Top Ten Records of the Year at Cadence Magazine
• 1996 - Second prize in the International Monaco Jazz Composition Contest.
• 1994 - Selected to the Mid Atlantic Artists Touring Roster for Jazz.
• 1993-97 - Member of BMI Jazz Composer’s Workshop, New York, New York.
• 1992 - Eubie Blake Scholar at Queens College, Queens, New York.
• 1991 - Semi-Finalist at the International Hennessey Jazz Search in New York, New York.
• 1990-2007 - Numerous Meet the Composer Grants from Meet the Composer Foundation in New York, New York.
• Performance Highlights
• 2021 - Solo piano performance of excerpts from the Brubeck's "Ansel Adams" at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
• 2019 - Concert tour of Europe with "Eastern Boundary Quartet".
• 2018 - Concert tour of Eastern USA with "Eastern Boundary Quartet".
• 2018 - Upcoming Fall European concert tour with "Conference Call Quartet".
• 2017 - April European concert tour with the "Fonda/Stevens Group".
• 2016 - Fall USA concert tour with "Conference Call Quartet". Performance at the Edgefest (Ann Arbor, MI).
• 2016 - Spring European concert tour with "Eastern Boundary Quartet". Performance at the Mediawave Festival in Hungary.
• 2014 - CD Recording and concert tour in Warsaw, Poland with Polish saxophonist Irek Wojtczak.
• 2014 - Generations Quartet featuring Oliver Lake - European tour.
• 2012- Generations Trio – Appearance at Chilli Jazz Festival (Austria) and Koktebel Jazz Festival (Ukraine).
• 2011 - Performance at NASA/TED Conference in Norfolk, VA.
• 2009 - Concert tour of Argentina. Performances in La Plata and Buenos Aires.
• 2008 - Griffith/Stevens Quartet European tour. Zurich Radio Broadcast and recording.
• 2008 - Fonda/Stevens Group performance at “Jazz Goes to Town” Festival in Czech Republic and the Cerkno Jazz Festival in Slovenia.
• 2006 - Conference Call Quartet festival performances at Bolzano International Jazz Festival (Italy) and Nattjazz Festival (Norway).
• 2005 - Conference Call Quartet performance at Braga International Jazz Festival (Portugal).
  

• Member of International Association of Schools of Jazz (IASJ)
• Member of Jazz Educator's Network
• Member of International Society of Improvising Musicians (ISIM)
• Member of GEMA (German Performance Rights Organization)
• Member of BMI
• Member of AAPF (Asheville Area Piano Forum)
• Member of Chamber Music of America