Michael Jefry Stevens Music

“Hands-down coolest person I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing & learning from back when I was a freshman.”

“How wonderful to hear from you. You’ve built the foundation of my Jazz knowledge. Many thanks to that.”

“Back to having lots of students. Had one very very high maintenance father who quizzed me on my “method” while he was interviewing me for his daughter. And it was good for me to define my “method” which is such a combination of things, including of course lots of Michael Jefry Stevens inspiration!!!”

“You are still the teacher that I compare all other teachers to. You are also the teacher that I try to be the most like. I can’t thank you enough for all that you’ve given me. You told me when I was fifteen that I would be lucky if I could in years later say that I had studied with three good teachers. You were right. I learned the fastest with you. No other teacher has been able to duplicate this for me. If I had trouble understanding or playing something, you immediately knew the hang up, and you knew the right solution. I’ll be damned if I wasn’t cured by the end of the hour. I became a composer after you taught me how to write my ideas down. I told you at the end of that summer that I was going to give my life to this thing and that I was going find a way into a conservatory. I did find a way into New England Conservatory and it couldn’t have been done without you.”

“Happy birthday to one of my favorite musicians/teachers I’ve had the pleasure of knowing.”

“So I wanted to thank you for all the lessons we did and all that you taught/showed me.

It was great to play and feel confident about what I was doing. I’ve been practicing the things

you showed me and was able to hold my own while jamming with Ron McClure.

And we took some of those tunes (Coltrane’s Lazybird for one) at break neck speed even though

I wanted to go a little slower. But it all went well. Because of the nature of the gig

I’m getting a chance to stretch out soloing and comping behind Ron’s solos.

And it was a blast. So thanks again for everything.”