Bio
Stephen Philip Harvey is an award-winning saxophonist, composer, arranger, educator, and radio producer whose work bridges jazz traditions with the pulse of contemporary Black American music. A dynamic bandleader and recording artist, he leads multiple genre-spanning ensembles and serves as Music Director for Delmarva Public Media, shaping musical programming and creative initiatives across its three public radio stations.
Harvey leads a range of forward-thinking ensembles including his electric quintet Sphinx, chordless trio SPH+2, mid-sized contemporary ensemble the Stephen Philip Harvey Octet (SPH8), and his critically acclaimed large ensemble, the Stephen Philip Harvey Jazz Orchestra (SPHJO). Across all projects, he crafts music described by trumpeter Sean Jones as “a beautiful pairing of the complex and the elementary.”
His growing discography reflects an inventive artistic voice rooted in improvisation, groove, and narrative-forward composition. His latest release, Multiversal: Live at Bop Stop (2025), showcases SPHJO’s cinematic breadth in a high-energy, superhero-inspired live setting. It follows a trio of 2024 releases—Live at Radio Artifact and Elemental (Live)with SPH8, and Library Card with SPH+2. In 2023, he debuted the electronic quintet Sphinx and released both Little Gifts EP (SPH+2) and Elemental (SPH8). Earlier works include the large ensemble album Smash! (2022) and his debut Suite Childhood (2016). Most releases appear on his artist-run label, Hidden Cinema Records.
His compositions have been performed by ensembles across the U.S. and abroad, including the Orchestre National de Jazz (Paris, FR), National Youth Jazz Orchestra (UK), Peabody Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, University of North Texas, and New York University. In 2021, he collaborated with NEA Jazz Master Roscoe Mitchell on Conversation for Orchestra, performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and SEM Ensemble. Mitchell describes Harvey as “an exceptional musician with a very bright future.”
Harvey’s music has earned wide acclaim for its cinematic scale, imaginative storytelling, and fearless blend of traditions. DownBeat Magazine praised him as “a composer and bandleader with a knack for translating comic-book action into instrumental jazz fireworks,” noting that Multiversal “makes the listener feel not just like a reader of the story, but a participant in this cinematic, superhero-themed recording.” UK Vibe called the album “a bold, super-powered live album that cements his place as one of contemporary jazz’s adventurous large-ensemble voices.” Jazz’n’More wrote: “His compositions and first-class arrangements connect the jazz tradition with the spirit of contemporary African American music… colorful instrumentation, brilliant solos, and admirable interplay between the orchestra’s sections.”
As an educator, Harvey teaches at Salisbury University and Youngstown State University and regularly appears as a guest artist, clinician, and composer-in-residence across the country. His educational work spans K–12 and collegiate classrooms, national conferences, and community-focused outreach programs.
His achievements include a prestigious 2025 Chamber Music America New Jazz Works commission, the Distinguished Alumni Leadership Award from Seton Hill University (2024), multiple Creativity Grants from the Maryland State Arts Council, a Jazz Roads Grant from South Arts, selection to the Jazz Education Network’s Young Jazz Composers Showcase, and research and travel support from Salisbury University. He holds an M.M. in Jazz Studies from Youngstown State University and a B.M. in Music Education from Seton Hill University.
Through each endeavor—whether on stage, in the studio, in the classroom, or behind the mic—Stephen Philip Harvey is shaping a vital and inclusive vision for the future of jazz: bold, rooted, and unmistakably his own.
Quotes
A composer and bandleader with a knack for translating com-book action into instrumental jazz fireworks. Multiversal goes further – making the listener feel not just like a reader of the story, but a participant in this cinematic, superhero-themed recording.
– Veronica Johnson, DownBeat Magazine
A bold, super-powered live album that cements his place as one of contemporary jazz’s adventurous large-ensemble voices… [Multiversal] shows Harvey at the top of his compositional, arranging, and bandleading game.
– Mike Gates, UK Vibe
His compositions and first-class arrangements connect the jazz tradition with the spirit of contemporary African American music… The eleven tracks captivate with colorful instrumentation, brilliant solos, and admirable interplay between the orchestra’s sections.
— Michael van Gee, Jazz’n’More
Stephen is an exceptional musician with a very bright future.
- NEA Jazz Master, Roscoe Mitchell
Sophisticated accessibility! When I listen to Stephen Harvey’s music, that’s what hear. Thoughtful construction of complex structures and orchestrations that take the listener on a beautiful sonic ride without speaking over their heads. A beautiful pairing of the complex and the elementary.
- Trumpeter/Composer/Bandleader/Educator Sean Jones
There's a fine indiscipline to Harvey's big band writing. Ominous horror-film riffs sit comfortably alongside soaring album-rock guitar solos, urgent, cop-show horn fanfares and creamy unison sax-section passages straight out of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra's book. It's a fridge-raid omelette of sounds held together by the audaciousness of Harvey's conception and the joy with which his players bring it to life.
- John Chacona, All About Jazz
Harvey performs with a strong personality. He will say it with his tenor. There are no words, but his soprano’s flexibility, strong tone, and direct expression cannot be easily matched by today’s saxophonists.
- Turgay Yalchin, Dark Blue Notes (Translated from Turkish)
