Stephen Philip Harvey (1992) is an African American saxophonist, composer, arranger, and educator.
As a musician and bandleader, Stephen has throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions of the United States. He leads his ensembles with a drive to explore a vast array of avenues in improvisation and composition.These ensembles include his chordless trio SPH+2, his electric quintet, Sphinx, his mid-sized jazz combo, the Stephen Philip Harvey Octet (SPH8), and his large ensemble the Stephen Philip Harvey Jazz Orchestra (SPHJO).
He has five full album releases under his belt: Suite Childhood (2016, Self-Released) his jazz orchestra album, Smash! (2022, Next Level an imprint of Outside In Music), octet release Elemental (2023), eponymous quintet release, Sphinx (2023), and debut trio release Library Card (2024). The latter three recordings were released on Harvey’s label Hidden Cinema Records.
As a composer and arranger, Harvey funnels his eclectic musical background into his compositions, fusing Jazz and Classical with Popular, Funk, Hip-Hop, Rock, and Gospel. His compositions have been performed by an array of ensembles across the world; including the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, ensembles at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, the University of North Texas, Vanderbilt University, the Eastman School of Music, New York University, the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Youngstown State University, Kent State University, Seton Hill University, and Westminster College. Stephen has also collaborated with avant-garde jazz artist Roscoe Mitchell, with his project Conversation for Orchestra, which has been performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the SEM Ensemble of Brooklyn, NY.
As an educator, Stephen has held instructional positions at all levels of education in diverse areas of music education. He's taught in environments such as summer camp, marching band, K-12 public school and postsecondary applied music and academic subjects. He additionally regularly gives clinics and appears as a guest artist, conductor, and composer-in-residence. He is currently employed by the Wicomico County Board of Education as a choir director at Wicomico High School, as an Applied Clarinet/Saxophone Instructor at Salisbury University, and as an online adjunct professor at Youngstown State University. He has previously taught at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore as an adjunct instructor.
Stephen is an alumnus of Youngstown State University ('16, MM – Jazz Studies) and Seton Hill University ('14, BM – Music Education). He has studied composition and arranging under Ryan Truesdell, Dr. David Morgan, Dr. John Marcinizyn, and Dr. Ted DiSanti. He's had a wide array of performance studies under Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, Dr. Kent Engelhardt, Dr. John Seybert, Eric DeFade, Lisa Thackrah (reeds), Dr. Alton Merrell, Theron Brown (jazz improv), and Curt Scheib (voice).
Stephen endorses P. Mauriat saxophones.
Set Up
Tenor Saxophone Setup
P. Mauriat PMXT-66RDK
JodyJazz HR* 7*
Boston Sax Shop Silver Label Reeds, 3M
Rovner Dark Ligature
Soprano Saxophone Setup
P. Mauriat System 76 Soprano
JodyJazz HR* 6*
Boston Sax Shop Black Label Reeds, 3M
Rovner Dark Ligature
Alto Saxophone Setup
P. Mauriat PMXA-67RDK
JodyJazz HR* 6
Boston Sax Shop Silver Label Reeds, 3M
Rovner Dark Ligature
Recent InterviewS
Click here to download Stephen’s bio in PDF format.
Click here to download Stephen's CV in PDF format.