The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and the superlative saxophonist, composer and educator Dayna Stephens. His upcoming album, Closer Than We Think, which releases 5 April via Cellar Music Group, features guitarist Emmanuel Michael, bassist Kanoa Mendenhall, and drummer Jongkuk Kim, with trumpeter Jeremy Pelt on the sixth track, “E.S.P.”

Dayna Stephens could have been enervated during this interview, for good reason. He’s living with the reality of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, which has subjected him to years of dialysis, and led to a 2015 kidney transplant.

In conversation, Stephens is altogether energised. He readily references this setback, without prompting, though it has never really stalled his creative momentum.

The tenorist and EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) player has played with the greats, from Herbie Hancock to Chris Potter to Linda Oh. Now, Stephens is out with a new album, Closer Than We Think, on which he continues to stake his claim as a sui generis artist.

London JazzNews: How’s 2024 treating you?

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Dayna Stephens: One good month, one bad month. That’s what I’ll say for now. [Chuckles]

I had a health scare in January. I was in the hospital for a week and a half. I got some kind of virus; as you know, I’m immunocompromised, due to the kidney transplant. And when I get something, I just get it 10 times more than people who don’t have this issue.

I was trying to make it better, and I thought some days we were getting better, but then I went to the hospital. I was super dehydrated, and I almost lost my kidney. But things are thankfully back exactly where they should be.

LJN: For what it’s worth, you look better than I’ve ever seen.

DS: Thanks, appreciate it. I’ve been plant-based for a year and lost a lot of weight. Until it finally hit me, my energy was better than I would have hoped years ago.

LJN: What happened during the good month?

DS: Just a lot of great gigs. And I went to California to visit my grandmother, and my parents, and my sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews.

I got a chance to play with Kenny Barron, also, at SFJAZZ. The week after, I played with Johnathan Blake at SFJAZZ, for four days. I only go back to the Bay, where I’m from, once or twice a year.

LJN: The press release mentioned that you receive commensurate inspiration from your students and your elders. Can you talk about the dynamic of playing with those you educated?

DS: I teach at two different colleges: the Manhattan School of Music and William Paterson University.

In both of those schools, I have ensembles. And at Manhattan School of Music, I have improv classes, where we’re literally just talking about improv, and the myriad of different attributes there are to improvisation, and how to focus on each of those to find your own voice.

Especially in the ensembles, I get a chance to hear their writing, but I also bring in some of my tunes. I have tunes that are easy, some tunes that are ridiculously hard, and everything in between.

I really try to focus on a storytelling level. All the guys were killing, and [guitarist] Emmanuel [Michael] really stood out to me as a natural storyteller. Someone who has paid a lot of attention to his sound, obviously, but also his rhythmic feel. I’m not sure how much of it comes across on the record, but his rhythmic feel is pure Jedi. He feels like he’s floating, but he is really, really precise. JK [drummer Jongkuk Kim] told me that Emmanuel’s rhythmic influence is Billie Holiday. Which is not someone I thought a guitarist would think of as a main influence.

LJN: I love the Jedi reference.

DS: I think all three of these musicians are Jedis in their own right – really transcending their instruments.

[Bassist] Kanoa [Mendenhall], I’ve known since she was a little girl. She was a student at the Stanford Jazz Workshop. I remember her playing with a vocalist one year, and I was immediately impressed with her playing. [Chuckles] At that point, the bass may have been twice her height, but she was super supportive, with a great sound.

That’s the thing I try to instil in my students all the time: pay attention to the context. It’s not about what you say; it’s how you say it.

LJN: Can you talk about your history with chordless ensembles?

DS: I haven’t played with them on record a lot, but I have played trio without chords. I’ve always gravitated to this particular thing, with guitar as a chordal instrument, but I haven’t made the opportunity to express [myself in that way].

It always comes down to my desert island record: The Bridge by Sonny Rollins. The playing seems so natural and human. It’s so serious and humorous at the same time. It’s like my Kind of Blue.

LINKS:

Purchase Closer Than We Think

Dayna Stephens’ website