Jazz Articles about Dayna Stephens

About Dayna Stephens

Album Review

Karl-Henrik Ousbäck: Confluence

Read "Confluence" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan

by C. Andrew Hovan
June 21, 2023

Drummers do not always get the respect they deserve and yet, in a jazz context, their contributions are an integral part in the overall success of the music. Aside from genre leaders such as Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, and Art Blakey, relatively few drummer-led sessions have entered into the upper echelon of recorded jazz history. However, those who cast a wider net will probably remember that drummers Art Taylor, Bill English, Grady Tate, Joe Chambers, and Roy Brooks ...

Album Review

Billy Drummond and Freedom of Ideas: Valse Sinistre

Read "Valse Sinistre" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 2, 2022

As one of the world's foremost jazz drummers, Billy Drummond manages to keep busy--so much so that Valse Sinistre, recorded in November 2021, is his first album as leader in more than twenty-five years, following the critically acclaimed Dubai from 1996. This time around, Drummond is at the helm of his Freedom of Ideas quartet: Micah Thomas on piano; Dezron Douglas on bass; and Dayna Stephens on saxophones. Even though he is the nominal leader, Drummond doesn't ...

Album Review

Vicki Burns: Lotus Blossom Days

Read "Lotus Blossom Days" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
July 16, 2022

Who knew “Del Sasser" had lyrics? Part of the joy of listening to new recordings is finding such things out. And Vicki Burns does a convincing job of it. In this intriguing compilation of standards--yes, musicians can record from the Great American Songbook (GAS) without disgracing themselves, no matter what anyone says--bop heads and originals, Vicki Burns acquits herself admirably. She is solid evidence that the singer makes the song, rather than the other way around. ...

Album Review

Vicki Burns: Lotus Blossom Days

Read "Lotus Blossom Days" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
July 10, 2022

Whatever else can be said about jazz, there is little disagreement that it is best experienced in a live setting. Listening to Vicki Burns' Lotus Blossom Days is as close to a front-row seat in a New York nightclub as many of us are likely to get in these times of high fuel costs and crowded airports. Burns is not attempting to blow the roof off with vocal gyrations and tricks. She never oversings as she tries to ...

Album Review

Pluto Juice: Pluto Juice

Read "Pluto Juice" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
August 12, 2021

The EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) was popularized in the 1980s by the late sax great Michael Brecker, and allegedly is a difficult instrument to learn because the buttons are touch sensitive and its sound bank possesses the characteristics of multiple woodwind instruments. Moreover, the EWI contains a controller and a sound module and is not simply an electronic sax device. But highly regarded saxophonist Dayna Stephens seems to have surmounted any hurdles and conveys a rather all-inclusive scope on this ...

Album Review

Johannes Wallmann: Elegy for an Undiscovered Species

Read "Elegy for an Undiscovered Species" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
August 2, 2021

Poco noto in Italia, Johannes Wallmann è un 47enne pianista e compositore nato in Germania ma cresciuto in Canada e formatosi musicalmente negli Stati Uniti (al Berklee College of Music di Boston e alla New York University). Vive a New York dal 1995 e ha pubblicato nove CD compreso il presente dove affianca un'orchestra d'archi a un quintetto jazz con la trombettista Ingrid Jensen e il sassofonista Dayna Stephens. È forse il suo lavoro più ambizioso, realizzato ...

Album Review

Johannes Wallmann: Elegy For An Undiscovered Species

Read "Elegy For An Undiscovered Species" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann

by Friedrich Kunzmann
June 20, 2021

Supported by the Artemis supergroup members drummer Allison Miller and trumpeter Ingrid Jensen as well as by long-time collaborator Dayna Stephens and bassist Nick Moran, Johannes Wallmann can count himself lucky to have a celebrity packed core band behind him to present six new cuts fresh off the pianist's pen. In addition to the celebrity lineup, a sumptuous string orchestra (15-strong) adds harmonic depth and ornamental brushstrokes along the way, expanding crescendoing build-ups with further dynamic width and embellishing soloistic ...