Born in East Baltimore, Maryland, Steve grew up cultivating a deep love and respect for jazz music, picking up the sax at age seven. He attended the Baltimore School for the Arts, then went on to graduate from Frederick Douglass High, a school with a rich musical legacy whose alumni include Cab Calloway, Eubie Blake, and Ellis Larkin. His early influences were John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Grover Washington Jr., Hank Mobley, Dexter Gordon and Freddie Hubbard.
Following graduating in 1986, Steve was awarded a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston. There, he studied with saxophonist Bill Pierce, formerly of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. After Berklee, Steve moved to New York, where he played with the Charles Mingus Epitaph, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Hargrove, Milt Hinton, plus Frank Wess and Jimmy Heath (at the same time!), among many others....
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Born in East Baltimore, Maryland, Steve grew up cultivating a deep love and respect for jazz music, picking up the sax at age seven. He attended the Baltimore School for the Arts, then went on to graduate from Frederick Douglass High, a school with a rich musical legacy whose alumni include Cab Calloway, Eubie Blake, and Ellis Larkin. His early influences were John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Grover Washington Jr., Hank Mobley, Dexter Gordon and Freddie Hubbard.
Following graduating in 1986, Steve was awarded a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston. There, he studied with saxophonist Bill Pierce, formerly of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. After Berklee, Steve moved to New York, where he played with the Charles Mingus Epitaph, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Hargrove, Milt Hinton, plus Frank Wess and Jimmy Heath (at the same time!), among many others.
In the early-mid 1990s, Steve decided to revisit his roots, to give something back to the community that had nurtured him. He joined the faculty of the Jazz Mentoring Program at the Eubie Blake Center for Cultural Arts, where one of his star students was Quincy Phillips, who’s played with late great Roy Hargrove. Continuing his musical pursuits in the Baltimore/Washington area, Steve performed with Ruby Glover, Phillip Harper, Theodros Avery, Grady Tate, and Cyrus Chestnut, who has Steve on his third album, “Earth Stories,” along side Antonio Hart and Eddie Allen.
Returning to New York, Steve sat and performed with the the likes of the late Elvin Jones, Joey DeFrancesco, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Wynton Marsalis, Wessel “Warmdaddy” Anderson, Eric Lewis (ELEW) and Chick Corea. He is close friends with his mentor Kenny Garrett. In a symbolic passing of the torch, Kenny gifted Steve with a saxophone in 2012. Long distances don’t prevent these two from sharing impromptu jam sessions via Skype, even when Kenny is on the road!
As leader of his own quartet, Steve has opened for jazz giants Abbey Lincoln, Lionel Hampton, Stanley Turrentine, and Milt Hinton. Currently, Steve is a part of the legendary drummer Greg Bandy’s band: Greg has played for many years with Pharoah Sanders, Stanley Turrentine and Yusef Lateef. Steve is also a member of the Valery Ponomarev "Our Father Who Art Blakey" Big Band. Valery is a Jazz messenger being an elder Alumni of the great Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers." Steve is also the Saxophonist and member of Cyrus Chestnut's African Reflections Band and Cyrus Chestnut's Quartet. As Of the the Past year Steve has been Performing with the Legendary Famed Funk/ R & B Group Kool and the Gang as well. Steve is proud to have released his debut album A Caring Tone on Samech records, which is available on ITunes, Amazon, and Google Play and all social Media Platforms. Steve's New CD is entitled "Mind Traveler" and was released in October of 2019.
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