Author: Michael Stevens

Interview Michael Jefry Stevens
 SHORT TALK
by LUDwIG VAN TRIKT
Cadence: One of the major changes in your music since the last time we spoke (Cadence, June 2000) is your exploration of the human voice, from using a vocalist to a “human beat box.” What was your motivation?
MICHAEL JEFRY STEVENS: I have always been interested in vocal songs. After all, my initial group musical experiences were playing in Rock ‘n’ Roll bands from junior high school through high school back in the ‘60s. I even sang (mostly Beatles songs) high harmony when I had a falsetto. I have also been composing songs throughout my writing career starting probably after high school in 1969. Initial songs were written on an acoustic guitar that I was given as a present and was only able to play a few chords on. But I did also compose words. These songs will never see the light of day but they were the beginnings of my interest in writing words and lyrics. From the mid 1970s on I began writing small vocal songs that were never performed. It was not until I heard Miles Griffith sing for the first time—probably in 1994/95—that I seriously began thinking about actually performing and recording some of my vocal music. So, in essence, Miles was probably the main catalyst for me to expose my vocal songwriting. As far as the Fonda/Stevens Group recording Forever Real on 482Music—the idea for using vocal beat box artist Napoleon Maddox was entirely Joe Fonda’s. I would never have thought of such a thing. In the end, I think it worked quite well.
When we last spoke, you said that one of the faults of your earlier career was not being equipped psychologically to deal with the business of music. In what ways have you improved upon that?
I don’t remember my comments regarding the business of music. However, I would say that at the ripe old age of 58 I am certainly much more experienced with the business side of things. Also, I have found that the more networked connections you collect over time, the easier it becomes to book tours in various regions depending on “who you know.” Also, email and skype have certainly made the business aspect quite a bit easier. However, all in all I think the younger artist needs to at a certain point concentrate the same kind of attention and energy to business as he/she has done to the learning of music and the associated skills necessary to improvise and compose.
Why do you continue to record with small established labels instead of doing self-produced records?
Well, this is a complicated question and I don’t really have a clear-cut answer. Probably on one hand I am more comfortable with a small label releasing my music. It is more familiar to me. However, I recently started working with an association of musicians releasing music under the “Artists Recording Collective” or ARC label. I released my Southern Excursion Quartet under this label and am planning more releases. I think this is the way of the future. I like releasing music on European labels because I get more international promotion by releasing music in foreign countries. I have found this to be very helpful in booking concerts, which is where I earn most of my income (and associated CD sales). I am basically invisible except to a small coterie of fans around the world. Because of this a collective approach has always seemed to be the best approach for me. 
When we spoke you were one of the few artists who mentioned to me the ineffectiveness of BMI and aSCaP in the servicing of Jazz composers. Has that situation changed any?
Well, I changed my membership over from BMI to GEMA in Germany about 10 years ago. I followed in the footsteps of my partner, Joe Fonda. He followed in the footsteps of Gerry Hemingway. Our experience has been very positive with GEMA. BMI seems to relegate Jazz composers to some type of alternate universe that does not pay the same as Classical composers. GEMA has a rating system whereby you can submit compositions for classification. Both Joe and myself have over 10 pieces each classified as “serious musik or Emusik.” When these pieces are performed in Germany they pay a much greater royalty than regular “commercial music.” I would say my royalties have quadrupled since leaving BMI, while Joe’s royalties are easily 10 times greater or more.
Your playing remains the melodic center, even in a freely improvised setting. 
Thanks for the compliment. One reason you might hear the music that way is because of the sheer weight of the piano in any ensemble. Through the piano I am able to suggest certain harmonic, melodic, and even rhythmic options to the other members of the quartet. That is one reason. Another reason is probably my overwhelming desire to create beautiful melodies. It seems to be an integral part of my aesthetic. I am drawn to melody like a fish is drawn to water (I am a Pisces). I seem to be constantly trying to create melodic settings that other musicians can play over. At this point in my playing I am starting to feel more freedom with regard to playing “melodic” harmonic passages as an accompanist. I think a lot about “voice leading” and playing melodies within the chordal structures. The third reason always comes down to the quality and depth of the musicians I am able to perform and record with. It is only through the give and take on the bandstand that this music is able to be created. I keep trying to “lose” myself in the music: to let go of the concept that I am playing the music. Instead, I attempt to let the music play me in the context of the ensemble. I think In Transit (Unit Records) is a good example of this type of Free improvisation at its best.
It is interesting to note your commitment to melodic playing in light of your expressed desire to play with Tom Harrell, Sam Rivers, dave Holland, and Tony Bennett.
It is curious to see my words after almost 10 years. I would still love to play with any of those musicians. In addition, I might want to add Patricia Barber, who I just heard on CD for the first time last week. I loved her musical concept and her voice! Certainly Tom Harrell is one of the most melodic players in the world of Jazz, and Tony Bennett is maybe the premier male vocalist living today as far as “delivering” a song goes! Another musician I would very much like to play with is Nasheet Waits. Dave Holland and Sam Rivers play perhaps a more abstract type of melodic music, but certainly one that has had a profound influence on me!
You now live in Memphis, Tennessee. Why Memphis?
I met my wife in 2001 at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire. She teaches at Rhodes College in Memphis. I moved to Memphis in the Fall of 2002 to be with her, and we were married in January 2003. Not really that complicated a story. It has been, however, a life-changing experience to live in the heart of the South!
The Memphis Soul tradition—has any of that sound rubbed off on your playing?
Moving to Memphis from Brooklyn was the equivalent of landing on a foreign planet in a distant solar system. Seven years later I can say that I have for the most part acclimated myself positively to the change. For example: housing costs are extremely low which enabled us to buy a beautiful home in midtown Memphis close to where my wife teaches at Rhodes College; the airport is only a 10 minute drive away with virtually no traffic jams to worry about; Memphis is such a small town that you are able to meet everyone that you need to meet quite easily. Musically, however, it is light years away from New York City. While it is true that there is an extraordinarily rich musical heritage here which goes all the way back to W.C. Handy, Stax Records, and Elvis, at the same time there was virtually no live Jazz scene to speak of in Memphis when I moved here. I would humbly state that my arrival here has definitely improved the Jazz scene in Memphis. However, I can’t really say that the Memphis “soul” tradition has had any great effect on my music. I am playing actively with two fantastic New Orleans musicians (Brian “Breeze” Cayolle and Bob Sunda) that moved to Memphis after Katrina. This has been a wonderfully rich musical learning experience for me. An entire new vocabulary of tunes to learn and many different time feels to play in.
I would say that there is something quite special about Memphis that one can feel in the air. And that feeling, that tradition of music (which still remains in the churches) going way back to the cotton fields and the riverboats, definitely has an impact on me in many ways, both consciously and subconsciously.
Upon moving to Memphis I began meeting local musicians and rehearsing my music at my home. This ultimately required me to find a venue or venues to perform my music. The initial venues included a local book store/arts and crafts gallery as well as the Center for Southern Folklore and the rehearsal space for Opera Memphis. It was through these early Memphis projects that I began playing with bassist Jonathan Wires, who is the bassist in our recent Southern Excursion Quartet. The quartet features Nashville drummer Tom Giampietro and the brilliant saxophonist Don Aliquo. I had heard about Don when I first moved to Memphis but did not actually meet and start playing with him until about 2006 or 2007. 
Don is a magical saxophonist. He introduced me to Tom Giampietro who has to be one of the great drummers living today. Together with Jonathan Wires on bass we decided to form a quartet. Jonathan’s talent reminds me of when I first met Dave Douglas and started the Mosaic Sextet with Joe Fonda. Dave used to bring in four or five new compositions every week to our rehearsals. Jonathan has the same kind of compositional talent and is also a wonderfully talented bassist. 
Is there a recording which you consider to be your best or a particularly great date?
Man, this is a hard question. I don’t often think much about previous recordings. In fact, I rarely listen to them. There is too much new stuff going on in my head. But off the top of my head I would say that the recordings that come to mind and stand out would be: 
The Mosaic Sextet
Haiku: with Mark Feldman on violin
The Wish: first CD of Fonda/Stevens Group
Poetry in Motion: newest CD by Conference Call
One of a Kind: first CD of Stevens, Siegel and Ferguson Trio
Survivors Suite: solo piano
Liquid Time: Mark Whitecage
How does working with all of your various bands affect the Fonda/Stevens group, your mainstay for a number of years?
This is an interesting question. The Fonda/Stevens Group has been together since around 1993, and I have been playing with Joe Fonda since 1984. So this is quite a long period of time and obviously a very important part of my musical life. The way the business of music works in my life is that I am required by necessity to develop new projects which I can in turn “sell” to the presenters and promoters that I have been involved with over the past 20 or so years. This translates into the reality that venues will not hire the same musical group two years in a row, or sometimes even three years in a row.
They will quite often, however, hire different projects that I associate myself with in concurrent years. The negative effect of this on the Fonda/Stevens Group is really negligible: We usually tour Europe once a year. If we tour Western Europe one year we will book Eastern Europe the following year. I am still hoping for the time when we will have enough visibility to work the festival circuit more. As it stands now we are only on the fringe of that sphere of work, which means our mainstay gigs are clubs and small theatres. On the other hand, the fact that Joe and I have more projects goingon now than we did when we started allows us to find more venues and open up new arenas for our music. So I think in the long run it is a good thing to evolve one’s music with a variety of people and ensembles. 
Where do you plan on being—artistically—in, say, the next five years?
Interesting question. I thought I would move out of New York City by the age of 50 and I did move out at the age of 51. In five years I will hopefully be 63. I would imagine I would be touring less and teaching/writing more. Still recording. Hopefully playing more festivals and less club gigs. Other than that I don’t really plan too much for the future. I tend to spend most of my time dealing with the present.
Memphis, TN
May 23, 2009