Gratitude by Dayna Stephens

Of the many ways one could express Gratitude, I struggle forming adequate words. When expressing such an important emotion, they never seem to quite capture the essence of what's really burning to be understood. The seemingly infinite possible mixtures of notes, rhythms, and textures given to us by musical expression, however, while still not 100% representative of my personal experienced Gratitude, shines a much brighter light on how humbled and lucky I am to be surrounded by so many angels of compassion and inspiration. It’s been a long night walking through dense forest, but being surrounded by a sea of candles held by so many gracious people singing "the sun is on its way up” helped illuminate the path to a better place. For them and you I hope this music comes close to expressing how eternally grateful I am for the opportunity given to extend my journey of inspired existence. -Dayna Stephens (February, 2017)

#1 person to thank is my dear life giving aunt Lauren Annette Bullock who literally gave a piece of herself to help 3 people including myself extend our journey. To my fellow sound designers Julian, Brad, Larry, Eric, Matt, Chris, and to the composers Olivier, Aaron, Michelle, Julian, Pat Metheny, Billy Strayhorn, Rebecca, Massimo and Louis Cole, I am happy and honored to have crafted this vision with you. I would also like to extend mountains of Gratitude to my Grandmothers Yvonne and Elizabeth, Mom, Dad, Pat, Kyya, Nikki, Keenen, Rodney, Joanna, Karter, Kyle, Quinten, Carmen, Alfreda, Kenneth, Tammy, Vincent, Paul Stephens & Janet Dickerson-Stephens, John S. & Sierra S., Brianne, Dr. Stuart Geffner, Dr. Ryan Goldberg, Kristen Petterson, Alisa Hafkin and the whole Jazz Foundation of America staff, Randy Norman, Jim Nadel and SJW family, Madeline Eastman, John Clayton Jeff Clayton & Gerald Clayton, George Cables, Joshua Redman Steve Coleman Jorge Rossy, Antonio Sanchez Wendy Watel-Burno, Kenny Barron, Gretchen Parlato, Becca Stevens, Taylor Eigsti, Johnathan Blake, Rio Sakairi, Joe Lovano, Judi Silvano, Mark Turner, Pascal and Remy Le Boeuf, Joanne Reiter, Paul Bloom, Jaimeo and Frumiesha Brown, Eli Degibri, Gulnara Khamatova, Chris Drukker, Victor Lin, Stephanie Dalton, Matt Slocum and Alin Babasoloukian, Darrell Green, David Berkman, Josh Nelson, Dan Schnelle, Matt Cory, Spike Wilner, Tim Jackson and the Monterey Jazz Festival, Hans Schuman, Doug Wamble, Jonathan Greenstein, Cory Weeds, X'zaviour Johnson, François Zalacain, Gerry Teekens and a list of people whose names would circle the globe 4 times and then some.

This music is dedicated to the memory of Dwayne Burno and Eddie Marshall

Dayna Stephens is globally recognized as a saxophonist, composer and arranger, and is the first place recipient of the 2019 DownBeat Critics Poll in the category Rising Star—Tenor Saxophone. His search to find what’s “singable” often challenges traditional concepts of harmony, pushing phrasing and sending beautiful and unintentional melodies in unlikely directions.

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