Home » Jazz Musicians » Dayna Stephens

Dayna Stephens

Since the release of his 2007 disc, The Timeless Now (CTA), Dayna Stephens has emerged as one of his generation’s most distinguished modern jazz tenor saxophonists and composers. He hones a sinewy yet supple tone that unfurl poised improvisations with melodic ingenuity. As a composer, Stephens continues to build a multifaceted oeuvre filled with pieces that are cinematic in dynamic scope as they incorporate and suspenseful dialogue and interplay.

In addition to establishing himself as a leading early 21st century jazz voice, Stephens has collaborated with an impressive array of jazz musicians, including pianists Brad Mehldau, Taylor Eigsti, Muhal Richard Abrams, Kenny Barron, Theo Hill, Gerald Clayton and Aaron Parks; drummers Brian Blade, Al Foster, Idris Muhammad, Marvin “Boogaloo” Smith, Eric Harland, Matt Slocum and Justin Brown; trumpeters Roy Hargrove, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Michael Rodriguez; saxophonists Jaleel Shaw, Ben Wendel, Chris Potter, John Ellis and Walter Smith III; bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa, Joe Sanders, Linda Oh, Doug Weiss and Larry Grenadier; vocalists Gretchen Parlato, Becca Stevens and Sachal Vasandani; guitarists Julian Lage, Lage Lund and Charles Altura.

The New York Times heralded Stephens as a “must see,” and wrote, “Everything flows with unusual fluency and makes you feel rewarded,” regarding his improvisational facilities. “When I’m playing, I’m really trying to make something new happen,” explains Stephens about his approach to improvisation. “It often happens by playing unintentional notes. That leads me to somewhere. It’s always trying to come up with something singable.”

Stephens has released five discs as a leader on the CTA, Sunnyside and Criss-Cross labels. Noted producer Matt Pierson shepherd his most recent disc, Peace (Sunnyside, 2014), which featured Mehldau, Lage, Grenadier and Harland. Its follow-up, Gratitude (Sunnyside), showcasing the same lineup, is slated to release in summer 2015. Also slated for 2015, is Reminiscent (Criss Cross), featuring Smith III, Parks and drummer Rodney Green.

In collaboration with childhood friend and pianist Taylor Eigsti, Stephens penned large-scaled compositions for San Francisco’s Peninsula Symphony Orchestra. Stephens also wrote big band charts for the Berklee College of Music and a wide-screen arrangement of Dave Brubeck’s “The Duke,” for the Oakland East Bay Symphony, which premiered in 2013 at Oakland’s Paramount Theatre for its “Celebration of the Music of Dave Brubeck” concert.

For NPR’s A Blog Supreme, Eigsti said this about Stephens’ compositional acumen: “Dayna has a way of using harmonic subtleties to create unpredictable emotions throughout his compositions and arrangements. The way he composes is genuine, and he puts his personality into all of his tunes. His beautiful energy as a human being comes through his compositions very vividly and honestly.”

Born Aug. 1, 1978 in Brooklyn, N.Y., Stephens grew up in the California Bay Area. While he cites his father, Rodney Stephens, with helping develop his love for music, it’s Elbert Bullock, Stephens’ maternal grandfather, whom he credits as being his first significant music hero. Bullock played the saxophone professionally in the 1950s; and it’s his sound that Stephens often aims to capture. “When I first started playing saxophone, I encouraged [Bullock] to take out his horn for the first time in a while,” Stephens recalls. “The first thing I heard was this big, warm vibrato. That warmth is something that I’ve been chasing after ever since.”

Stephens began playing the saxophone at age 12 and eventually studied under noted saxophonist Dann Zinn, who imparted the wisdom of daily practice. As Stephens progressed, he enrolled in various jazz programs at UC Berkley, Oakland’s Golden Gate Library and the Stanford Jazz Workshop, where he studied under Kenny Barron. Stephens also played at the Berkeley High School’s big band while picking up professional gigs with such local figures as pianist Ed Kelly and trumpeter Khalil Shaheed.

After graduating high school in 1997, Stephens attended Boston’s Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship before enrolling in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz (based in Los Angeles), in which he studied with trumpeter Terence Blanchard, saxophonist Wayne Shorter and pianist Herbie Hancock. Unfortunately, it was when Stephens first embarked on his college studies that he was diagnosed with Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSG), a rare kidney disease. A determined Stephens, nevertheless, soldiered on and excelled at both aforementioned music institutions.

Stephens now resides in Paterson, N.J. and plays a lot in New York City’s jazz scene at such venues as Smalls, The Village Vanguard and the Jazz Standard. He complements his involvement with jazz by teaching at Manhattan’s New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and at Stanford University. “I get as much out of teaching as I do practicing, because it forces me to put all of my ideas into cohesive sentences that I can be transferred to someone else,” he says.
Show less

Noah Garabedian: Quartets and Solos

Read "Quartets and Solos" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
December 27, 2025

If ever an album were in need of liner notes--or at least some further clarification--it is this one, Quartets and Solos, by New York-based bassist Noah Garabedian's quartet; or quintet, if one includes album producer Samuel Adams' special effects and programming. The playlist consists of 13 songs. According to a press release, they alternate “between eight conceptually stand-alone quartet compositions...and sharply focused solo features written specifically for each musician (including Adams)." There are two such showcases for every ...

Radio & Podcasts

Dayna Stephens, Emiliano D'Auria, Charles Lloyd, Jérémie Lucchese, James Newton

by Ludovico Granvassu
December 27, 2025

Here's a playlist featuring musicians paying tribute to where they come from, geographically or artistically.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Emiliano D'Auria “Chasing the Flicker" The Baggage Room Vol.2--Meanwhile (Via Veneto Jazz) 0:16 Host talks 6:52 Dayna Stephens “Just You and Me Smoking the Evidence" Monk'D (Contagious) 8:37 Host talks 15:01 Charles Lloyd “Black Butterfly" Figure in Blue (Blue Note) 16:11 Jérémie Lucchese “Virga" Essais pour l'imaginaire--Vol. II ...

Album Review

Emiliano D'Auria: The Baggage Room Vol.2 – Meanwhile

Read "The Baggage Room Vol.2 – Meanwhile" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
December 15, 2025

Meanwhile è il secondo capitolo del progetto The Baggage Room, la svolta espressiva del pianista marchigiano, che fonde la vivacità ritmica e timbrica del jazz contemporaneo statunitense con l'impronta melodica già espressa nello Jano Quartet. Registrato a Monaco di Baviera nel novembre 2024, l'album conferma la presenza del trombettista Philip Dizack e del sassofonista Dayna Stephens ma introduce una nuova sezione ritmica, nelle figure di Jacopo Ferrazza al contrabbasso e Kush Abadey alla batteria. L'ispirazione iniziale ...

Album Review

Dayna Stephens: Monk'D

Read "Monk'D" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
November 1, 2025

A jazz artist stepping into the studio to record some Thelonious Monk can approach the task from different angles. They can go all in and make a statement with solely Monk tunes. Pianist Ran Blake's Epistrophy (Soul Note, 1991) is one example of this approach. Or the artist can pick one of their favorite Monk classics (or two or three) and present them alongside a batch of originals and/or tunes by other artists to create a set list. Almost everybody ...

Radio & Podcasts

Dayna Stephens, Allen Lowe, and the Millennial Territory Orchestra

by Jerome Wilson
June 25, 2025

This episode features music from Dayna Stephens, Allen Lowe, and Bob Dorough. It also includes the Millennial Territory Orchestra paying tribute to Sly Stone. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Ethan Iverson “Technically Acceptable" from Technically Acceptable (Blue Note) 1:01 Resonance “Gaviota" from Introductions (Mandala) 5:17 Bob Dorough “Right On My Way Home from Right On My Way Home ...

Album Review

Dayna Stephens: Closer Than We Think

Read "Closer Than We Think" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 15, 2025

A few brief observations: first, New York-based Dayna Stephens is an excellent saxophonist. Second, the other members of his quartet on Closer Than We Think, Stephens' twelfth album as a leader, are similarly proficient. Third, Stephens clearly had a specific plan in mind before entering GB's Juke Joint to record the album in May 2023, one whose purpose, he writes, was to nurture a spirit of togetherness as an answer to today's divisive and fractured landscape. While ...

Album Review

Emiliano D'Auria: The Baggage Room

Read "The Baggage Room" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
February 17, 2025

Dopo le atmosfere cantabili e un po' algide del precedente First Rain--registrato in Norvegia col suo stabile quintetto--Emiliano D'Auria va a New York e s'immerge nel tumulto jazzistico contemporaneo guidando una formazione col sassofonista Dayna Stephens, il trombettista Philip Dizack, il contrabbassista Rick Rosato e il batterista Kweku Sumbry. Anche se stilisticamente ha espresso affinità col jazz nord-europeo, il pianista e compositore marchigiano non ha smesso di seguire gli sviluppi di quello statunitense e in questo progetto ne ...

Music Industry

Groupmuse Partners with All About Jazz

Source: Michael Ricci
October 25, 2023

Groupmuse is proud to announce that we are partnering with All About Jazz to share our jazz concerts with a wider audience. For much of Groupmuse’s existence, its focus was exclusively on Western classical music. After George Floyd’s murder in 2020, the team reflected on classical music’s historical Eurocentrism, and decided to broaden Groupmuse’s musical focus. To center and support musics of the African diaspora and artists of African descent, Groupmuse launched Planetary Music Movement in 2020. As one prominent ...
read more

Recording

Saxophonist Dayna Stephens Releases "Gratitude" on Contagious Music

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity
April 20, 2017

Featuring Dayna Stephens, Brad Mehldau, Julian Lage, Larry Grenadier, and Eric Harland. Available on Contagious Music. “Gratitude leaves a lasting impression swimming in honest emotion and beautiful sounds. Dayna Stephens' journey thankfully isn't over, and the results are something we can all be grateful for as well."—Geno Thackara, AllAboutJazz.com “To hear his music is to fall in love..."—Hot House Magazine “Tenorist Stephens emerges as an artist full of composure and imagination"—DownBeat Magazine “Within the expanse of the jazz landscape, a ...
read more

Recording

Matt Slocum Presents "Trio Pacific, Vol. 1" Featuring Dayna Stephens, Steve Cardenas, and Matt Slocum

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity
July 13, 2016

Available October 7, 2016 on Chandra Records U.S. Tour Dates: October 18 through November 9 “Slocum served the music with a focus on dynamic micro-detail, which in turn allowed his musicians to say even more. It’s a cerebral concept, one that comes to fruition on Black Elk’s Dream… Like Wayne Shorter’s classic Blue Note albums, Black Elk’s Dream seems to ask questions, leaving the answers open to individual interpretation.”—DownBeat Magazine “Matt Slocum has emerged as one of the ...
read more

Recording

Matt Slocum, Black Elk's Dream Available April 1, 2014 On Chandra Records Featuring Walter Smith III, Dayna Stephens, Gerald Clayton And Massimo Biolcati

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity
February 24, 2014

US Tour April 3-10, NYC record release performance: April 24 at The Kitano Black Elk's Dream, drummer/composer Matt Slocum's most adventurous and visceral recording to date, features eleven new original works as well as Pat Metheny's “Is This America?". Inspired by the visionary Native American leader Black Elk and the book Black Elk Speaks, Slocum composed and arranged the project for an innovative cast of longtime friends and creative associates including saxophonists Walter Smith III & Dayna Stephens, pianist Gerald ...
read more

Recording

Pianist/Composer Matt Baker Releases New CD Titled "Underground" (Featuring Gregory Hutchinson, Joe Sanders, Jeremy Pelt and Dayna Stephens)

Source: Two for the Show Media
November 3, 2011

"This Guy Can Play" —Herbie Hancock “Baker's piano is the axis around which it all resolves, with integrity and enjoyment." —Michael Foster, Canberra Times Australian / New York Jazz Pianist and Composer, Matt Baker has traveled far with his career, performing at festivals, clubs and concert halls in Australia, Europe, USA and the Pacific. He is now proud to call New York City his home, moving there in mid 2010. In March 2011, Baker recorded this new album in New ...
read more

108

Recording

Dayna Stephens' Debut "A Timeless Now" Available May 15, 2007

Source: All About Jazz
March 26, 2007

On May 15, 2007, CTA Records will release A Timeless Now, the debut album by tenor saxophonist Dayna Stephens. He is joined by a superb group of musicians including guitarist John Scofield, pianist Taylor Eigsti, bassist Ben Street and drummer Eric Harland. With the aid of Rale Micic, who produced the album, Stephens delivers music that is vibrantly imaginative and pure.

A fluid, vigorous soloist with a warm, soulful sound, Dayna Stephens has been described as “one of the most ...
read more

Event

Rising Star Dayna Stephens to Headline at San Francisco's Jazz at Pearl's

Source: Rocket Words
December 25, 2006

One of the most exciting tenor sax players and composers in the Bay Area, Dayna Stephens is a fluid, vigorous soloist with a warm, soulful sound. On Wednesday night, December 27, 2006, Stephens' talents will be on display on the Jazz at Pearl's stage in San Francisco's North Beach District. Joining Stephens will be two more young stars from the Bay Area, pianist Taylor Eigsti and guitarist Julian Lage. Over the past several months, these three have played together frequently, ...
read more

185

Music Industry

CTA Records signs saxophonist Dayna Stephens; Debut album scheduled for Spring 2007

Source: All About Jazz
August 24, 2006

CTA Records has signed saxophonist, bassist and composer Dayna Stephens, adding another young talent to their Jazz rosters. Stephens will be entering the studio this fall to record his debut album featuring John Scofield, Rale Micic, Taylor Eigsti, Ben Street and Eric Harland.

Dayna Stephens, 28, has been described as “One of the most exciting young tenor sax players." A fluid, vigorous soloist with a warm, soulful sound, Stephens showed serious talent early on, winning many awards and scholarships with ...
read more