Sunday Jazz at Brunch Time January Duos featuring Michael Jefry Stevens and Jason DeCristofaro
Sunday, January 08, 2012, 12:00pm - 02:30pm
January 8th
Sunday Jazz at BrunchTime January Duosfeaturing Michael Jefry Stevens, Piano and Jason DeCrisofaro on Vibes
Tickets $8 at the Door
12:00pm to 2:30pm
Over the past 35 years Pianist/Composer Michael Jefry Stevens has been associated with some of the most important figures in modern jazz. Beginning with his first CD release in 1991 as a member of Mark Whitecage's Liquid Time Group, Mr. Stevens has been in the forefront of the NYC and international improvised music scene. Between 1988-1990 he co-led the now legendary "Mosaic Sextet" with Dave Douglas. This group included Mark Feldman on violin, Michael Rabinowitz on bassoon, and the rhythm section of Harvey Sorgen on drums and Joe Fonda on bass. Their "Today This Moment" CD release on Konnex Records and re-release on GM Recordings is considered one of the classic modern jazz recordings of the 1990’s and was recently voted one of the best 1000 jazz recordings by the Penguin Guide to Jazz. This rhythm section went on to become the nucleus for Mr. Stevens working quartet the Fonda/Stevens Group. Since the quartet's inception in 1992, the Fonda/Stevens Group has released 10 cds, repeatedly toured Europe and is one of the premier working modern jazz groups on the international scene. Mr. Stevens also began a very fruitful and fulfilling relationship with Leo Records with his duo "Haiku" CD release in 1994, featuring Mark Feldman on violin. These piano/violin improvisations proved to be a
pivotal link between Mr. Stevens work in both the composed and improvised music worlds. Mr. Stevens has currently released nine cd’s on Leo Records, including "Elements" with bassist Dominic Duval, and "Twelve Improvisations" with the Fonda/Stevens Group. To date he has released over 70 cds.
Michael Jefry Stevens has composed over 400 works for various ensembles, including big band, string quartet, music for voice, music for solo instruments and various small group compositions. Mr. Stevens was the Margaret Lee Crofts Fellow at "The MacDowell Colony" in the summer of 2000, received 2nd prize in the prestigious Monaco International Jazz Composition in 1998, and was a composer fellow at the Centrum Arts Colony in Port Townsend, WA in June 2005. In 2007 he received a “Professional Development Support Grant” from the Tennesee Art's Commission. He has been Composer-in-Residence at Virginia Intermont College (1999) where he scored music in collaboration with the dance department and was composer –in–residence at the Oxford Music Academy Summer workshop in 2002. In 2009 Mr. Stevens was named a “Steinway” Performing Artist (the first ever for the City of Memphis). He is currently resides in Asheville, NC and is artist-in-residence every November at the jazz workshop at EMU in La Plata, Argentina. He has been on the performing artist roster of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts since 1998. In 1999 Mr. Stevens began the Conference Call Quartet, featuring his partner of many years, bassist Joe Fonda, in collaboration with German saxophonist Gebhard Ullmann and George Schuller on drums. This quartet has released 6 cd's, including their latest CD "What About ...???" on the Polish "Nottwo" Record Label (2011). The Conference Call Quartet has appeared in recent years at the Bolzano Jazz Festival in Italy, the Nattjazz festival in Norway, the Braga Jazz Festival in Portugal, the Discover US Jazz Festival in Berlin, Germany and most recently the NOEWA Jazz Workshop Series in Hungary.
A proponent of the philosophy that there are only 2 kinds of music "good and bad", Mr. Stevens has also been working in a standard jazz piano trio setting for the past 20 years. His collaborative trio "Stevens, Siegel & Ferguson" has released 6 cd's and toured Europe and the United States continuously for the past two decades. They have worked with such jazz luminaries as Steve Turre, Cecil Bridgewater and Valery Ponamerev. His Swiss "In Transit" Quartet, featuring drummer Dieter Ulrich, Bassist Daniel Studer and saxophonist Juerg Solothurnmann was recently recorded by Swiss Radio in Zurich and released on Unit Records in Switzerland. Their latest CD "Moving Stills" was released in 2011 on Konnex Records. Since 2005 he has released 3 cds on the Polish Nottwo Record Label: Decade featuring the Sorgen-Rust-Stevens Trio and most recently the Fonda/Stevens Group "TRIO" CD. Other new projects include a duo with Serbian violist Szilard Mezei, the quartet project "Eastern Boundary" featuring Hungarian drummer Balazs Bagyi and Hungarian saxophonist Mihaly Borbely, and most recently a Quintet project with Danish guitarist Jon Hemmersam featuring Dave Liebman on saxophone. Upcoming collaborations include concerts with Finnish saxophonist Esa Pietela and a new Polish Quintet Project with several young Polish musicians.
Michael Jefry Stevens is truly a believer in the global music community and a vocal exponent of an international music. He is a member of the IASJ (International Association of Schools of Jazz), ISIM (International Society of Impovised Music) and JEN (Jazz Educators Network).
