Michael Stephans


Michael Stephans is a jazz drummer, writer, poet and college professor.

Biography and career

As a jazz drummer, Stephans has performed and recorded with artists including Dave Liebman, Bennie Maupin, Joe Lovano, Bob Brookmeyer, Don Menza, and Alan Broadbent.
Stephans' first solo recording, Om ShalOM, was critically lauded in 2007 by UK critic Tom Barlow as an album of the year in the December 2007 – January 2008 issue of Jazzwise.
Stephans has received multiple composition grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1974, this association afforded him the opportunity to write the large ensemble composition "Shapes and Visions" for vibraphonist Karl Berger, which was performed at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
His poetry has been published in The Note, and Inscape. In 2000, he was given the Rachael Sherwood Poetry Prize by the department of English at Cal State Northridge. He is the author of Experiencing Jazz: A Listener's Companion, published in 2013 by Scarecrow Press. and Experiencing Ornette Coleman: A Listener's Companion, published in 2017 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
He has taught at Pasadena City College, University of Miami, and Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.

Discography

As leader

As a co-leader

As sideman

With Bob Brookmeyer
With Bob Dorough
With Bennie Maupin
With Matt Vashlishan
With Don Menza
• Menza Lines
With Larry Gelb
With Frank Strazzeri Trio & Quartet
With Julie Andrews
With Jack Jones
With Bo Lozoff
TitlePublication datePagesPublisher
Experiencing Jazz: A Listener’s CompanionOctober 17, 2013502Scarecrow Press
Brookmeyer and Me: An Odyssey of Friendship20145The Note, V. 24, No. 1, 2014
Experiencing Ornette Coleman: A Listener's CompanionOctober 6, 2017213Rowman & Littlefield Publishers