Interviews
RADIO INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL JEFRY STEVENS (5/15/04) ON WNTI
- WNTI interview part 1
- WNTI interview part 2
- WNTI interview part 3
- WNTI interview part 4
- WNTI interview part 5
BELGIAN RADIO INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL JEFRY STEVENS (2000)
- About Mark Whitecage Belgian Interview
- About Dave Douglas/Mosaic Sextet Belgian Interview
- About Conference Call Belgian Interview
USA radio show on F/S Group (2005)
About F/S Group
"Interview with myself" from CD "HAIKU" - 1995, Leo Records
Tell us about yourself.
Well, I was born in NYC, March 13, 1951, lived there till age 8, moved to Florida, went away to college, dropped out of college at age 20 to play jazz. Moved to NYC in 1980 and have been living in Brooklyn since then.
You dropped out of college...
Yes. I had started playing piano at age 4 or 5, on my own initiative and stopped studying piano when my family moved to Florida. Then I became a rock and roll Farfisa organ player until age 17 or 18 when I heard my first jazz recordings.
What recordings were those?
Kind of Blue by Miles Davis (with Bill Evans on piano); Mose Allison trio recording and some John Coltrane.
What kind of effect did this music have on you?
I was literally in shock. I could not believe that there existed such incredibly beautiful and powerful music. This music changed my life and by the time I reached age 20 I just wanted to play jazz. I quit college and spent several years in the shed about 12 hours per day. By the way, I do not advise this as a healthy course of action to take, but this is what happened to me. (I did eventually get a Master's Degree in Music).
Do you consider this CD featuring yourself on piano and Mark Feldman on violin to be jazz?
I don't want to get hung upon semantics. At the same time as I got involved in Miles Davis, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Andrew Hill, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea (just to name a few influences) I was also strongly attracted and influenced with my first listening ventures into Mahler, Bartok, Stravinsky, Satie, Debussy, Ravel and Berg. So I would have to say that in my development as a jazz musician I have come to accept and include all the influences that have entered my heart and mind.
What do you mean heart and mind?
For me music is first and foremost an expression of beauty. That is what I am trying to do. Express beauty. This beauty can and will take different shapes and forms. There is beauty in a triad and there is a different but no less exotic beauty in a dissonant interval or sound. Along with the expression of beauty I am trying to express my heartfelt emotions at the moment. It is the expression or improvisation of music at a precise moment of time that to me defines that essence of jazz. Now in the 40's and 50's that expression has been titled bebop. For myself as a jazz musician and improviser living in the 90's I feel the strenght and freedom to express myself as an improvisor using as my pallette all my influences, classical, rock, jazz, blues, funk etc. This is my freedom and from these choices I am beginning to develop my own unique expression within the structures of tonal music.
Please elaborate on what you mean by tonal music.
I am referring to Western music. Music that is defined by the octave divided equally into 12 chromatic half step intervals. Music that is derived from the great master musician J.S. Bach and his work. Music that develops from the tension/release of the V-I progression which gradually moved towards the free use of dissonance as demonstrated historically by Beethoven, Mahler and Schoenberg.
Speak more about Bach.
I will tell you a story. I was fortunate to take several lessons with Sir Roland Hanna and at one of the lessons I asked him how he would explain bebop and how I could try to understand this unique and profound musical language. He told me "study Bach". To me, Bach's music is truly beautiful and romantic. His harmonies are exquisite, constantly modulating with secondary dominants much like bebop. His melodies are simple but elegant. To me, he is maybe the first jazz musician.
The first jazz musician?
Well of course not really. He does not have the rhythmic language that is the essence of jazz syncopation, swing, blues, etc. But what a great improvisor.
Talk about this CD.
Several years ago I dediced to record myself in different duo settings with musicians I have been working with for the past 10 or more years. The first ones were duos with saxophonist Mark Whitecage (my first CD recording was with Mark Whitecage and Liquid Time on Acoustics Records) who to me is my mentor in so many ways. The second duet was with percussionist Phil Haynes. I am very happy with these recording and we are still looking to release both of these in the future. The last recording was with violinist Mark Feldman.
How did you meet Mark?
I have been living in NYC for the past 15 years and Mark moved here in 1986. I met him shortly after that through mutual friends. We started a band in 1988 that featured Dave Douglas on trumpet, Michael Rabinowitz on bassoon, Mark on violin, myself on piano, Joe Fonda on bass and Harvey Sorgen on drums. This band was together for 3 years and has a CD release on Konnex Records in Germany called "The Mosaic Sextet". Anyway I approached Mark approximately 2 years ago about this duo project and he was interested. So we did several recording, the last of which we are releasing here thanks to Leo Feigin's support and encouragement of this music.
Any final comments?
I am very happy with this CD. There is real musical, emotional and spiritual communication between myself and Mark. He was a great inspiration to work with. This truly was a collaboration. I hope the listeners will enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.
~
Michael Jefry Stevens, June 8, 1995. Brooklyn, NY, USA.
Michael Jefry Stevens, PO Box 40551, Memphis, TN 38174-0551 (USA)
ph: +1 901 276-6544, mobil: +1 917 916-1363
e-mail: mjsjazz@mac.com, facebook.com/mjsjazz, skype: mjsjazz
| contact form page
