Michael Jefry Stevens (piano) will perform a concert of his original music with Jason DeCristofaro (vibraphone). 3 PM to 5 PM on Saturday March 15th in the Williams Recital Hall at Kittredge Arts Center.  

Tickets can be purchased here or the day of the show.  However, there is limited seating, so it is recommended tickets be purchased here prior to the day of the concert.  For more information, please contact Dr. Jason DeCristofaro at [email protected] or (828)273-8254.

Directions to Kittredge Arts Center:

- Take i-240 East to I-40 East.

- Take exit 55 off of I-40 East 

- Make a left off the exit ramp onto Porter's cove Road and then shortly thereafter a right onto US 70/ tunnel Road 

- You will stay on US 70 for about a mile and a half and then hit a stoplight with a Shell gas station on your left. Make a left at the light onto Warren Wilson Road 

- You will pass by a church and then a wide open swath of farmland. Keep going! 

- You will see a sign that says welcome to Warren Wilson College/south entrance. Keep going!

- You will pass under a pedestrian land bridge. Shortly. Thereafter, you will see a sign that says Kittredge Theater.  Do not turn here but make the next right into a large parking lot. 

- Follow sign to Williams Recital Hall; if you get lost, please ask a Kittredge Arts Center student crew member for directions

Performer Bios:

Michael Jefry Stevens -

Over the past 40 years Pianist/Composer Michael Jefry Stevens has been associated with some of the most important figures in modern jazz. Beginning with his first CD release in 1991 as a member of Mark Whitecage’s Liquid Time Group, Mr. Stevens has been in the forefront of the NYC and international improvised music scene.  Between 1988-1990 he co-led the now legendary “Mosaic Sextet” with Dave Douglas. This group included Mark Feldman on violin, Michael Rabinowitz on bassoon, and the rhythm section of Harvey Sorgen on drums and Joe Fonda on bass.   Their “Today This Moment” CD release on Konnex Records and re-release on GM Recordings is considered one of the classic modern jazz recordings of the 1990s and was voted one of the best 1000 jazz recordings by the 2011 Penguin Guide to Jazz.  This rhythm section went on to become the nucleus for the Fonda/Stevens Group. Since the quartet’s inception in 1992, the Fonda/Stevens Group has released 14 CDS, repeatedly toured Europe and is one of the most successful working modern jazz groups on the international scene. 

In 1999, Michael began the Conference Call Quartet, featuring his partner of many years, bassist Joe Fonda, in collaboration with German saxophonist Gebhard Ullmann and George Schuller on drums. This quartet has released eight CDs over the past 20 years. Michael has released over 100 CDs featuring his own music and has performed and recorded extensively with many of the top names in Jazz, including Dave Liebman, Oliver Lake, Dave Douglas, Leo Smith, Matt Wilson, Han Bennink, Mark Feldman, Steve Wilson, Walt Weiskopf, Valerie Ponomarev, Cecil Bridgewater, Jeanne Lee, Dakota Staton, Pheeroan AkLaff, Charles Moffett Sr., George Schuller, Dame Evelyn Glennie and many others.  

In 2016, Michael was voted “Best Composer of WNC” by the Mountain Xpress.  In 2017 he received a Regional Project Artist Grant from the Toe River Arts Council. In 2021 he received a $10,000 Doris Duke Foundation Performing Artist Recovery Fund Grant administered by the New York Community Trust Fund and grants from the North Carolina Arts Council and Buncombe County’s Mountain Bizworks. He received his Master of Arts degree in Jazz Performance from Queens College (CCNY).

More recent projects include the “Eastern Boundary” featuring Hungarian drummer Balazs Bagyi and Hungarian saxophonist Mihaly Borbely, his partnership with New Orleans horn man and vocalist Brian “Breeze” Cayolle, the Asheville Jazz Orchestra, a duo collaboration with violinist Christian Howes, the Michael Rabinowitz Quartet “South”, and most recently the Lillard/Stevens Sextet. He was the “Margaret Lee Crofts Fellow” for 2000-2001 at the MacDowell Colony, and was a Centrum Arts composer fellow (2004). 

Michael was artist in residence for at EMU Conservatory in La Plata, Argentina between 2005-2010, and has taught master classes at the Royal Academy of Music in Denmark, Sibelius Academy in Finland, University of Michigan, Indiana University, and many other educational institutions in Europe, Latin America and North America. He currently teaches jazz piano, composition and jazz theory privately and via Zoom.  Michael Jefry Stevens is truly a believer in the global music community and a vocal exponent of an international music. He is a member of the IASJ (International Association of Schools of Jazz), ISIM (International Society of Improvised Music), JEN (Jazz Educators Network) and the AAPF (Asheville Area Piano Forum).

Jason DeCristofaro - 

Dr. Jason DeCristofaro is an active music educator, multi-instrumentalist and composer/arranger based in Asheville, NC. He is the Director of Creative Arts and Events, Music Faculty, and coordinator of Jazz Studies at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC. 

A published composer with C. Alan, HaMaR, Per Mus, and Tapspace, Jason’s classical chamber and jazz compositions have been performed in China, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, Portugal, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and throughout the United States.  The winner of the 2011 Yamaha/Percussive Arts Society Terry Gibbs Competition (an international scholarship competition for jazz vibraphonists), Jason has performed nationally and internationally at many jazz festivals.  He is also in demand as a clinician, having presented clinics, masterclasses and performances on jazz improvisation and performance at many colleges and universities throughout the United States.

Some notable artists Jason has performed and/or recorded with include Randy Brecker, Grant Green Jr., Dr. Sam Waymon (Nina Simone’s brother), Sharel Cassity, Jocelyn Gould, Lenora Helm Hammonds, Calixto Oveido, Yonrico Scott (of the Derek Trucks Band), Billy Contreras, Bruce Forman and members of Snarky Puppy. 

Jason has also presented at Harvard University for the International Journal of Arts and Sciences (IJAS), Virginia Tech for the Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy (CHEP), and Black Mountain College Museum (Centennial Celebration of John Cage), and authored articles for Percussive Notes and Journal of Teaching and Education. Jason holds a Doctorate in Music Education (Boston University), Master of Music in Performance (UNC-School of the Arts), and a Master of Liberal Arts and Sciences (UNC-Asheville).