Pianist/Composer Michael Jefry Stevens (born 1951 in NYC) performs extensively in Europe, Latin America and North America. He has composed over 350 works for both large and small ensemble. As an active band-leader for over 30 years his working musical ensembles include the Conference Call Quartet, The Fonda/Stevens Group, the Hungarian Eastern Boundary Quartet, the Griffith/Stevens Quartet, The Finnish “Brain Inventory Trio”, and most recently a quartet featuring New Orleans saxophonist Brian “Breeze” Cayolle.  Mr. Stevens’ music has been released on more than 80 cds under his name. He has performed and/or recorded with some of the top names in Jazz including, Dave Liebman, Dave Douglas, Valery Ponomarev, Cecil Bridgewater, Dakota Staton, Bill McHenry, Leo Smith, Perry Robinson, Matt Wilson, Gerry Hemingway, Mark Feldman, Han Bennink and many others.  He 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 Composer’s 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 “Evolution” one of the top 100 important modern jazz recordings.

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