Dayna Stephens.

The saxophonist has built up an impressive educational pedigree. But he's really flourished by backing up greats like Kenny Barron and Idris Muhammad, and being a first-call player on both the East and West Coast. He leads his quartet live at his alma mater.

The saxophonist Dayna Stephens, originally of the San Francisco Bay Area, has built up an impressive educational pedigree: Berkeley High, Berklee College of Music, the Thelonious Monk Institute's masters program. But he's really flourished by backing up greats like Kenny Barron and Idris Muhammad, and being a first-call player on both the East and West Coast. Blessed with a warm, enveloping tone, he's made two records as a bandleader, including this year's Today Is Tomorrow.

Dayna Stephens' band visits its leader's alma mater, Berklee College of Music, for this installment of the concert series The Checkout: Live. In a live radio broadcast on WBGO — and a live online video webcast at NPR Music — the quartet performed live. For the full concert archive of this series, visit npr.org/checkoutlive.

Set List

All compositions by Dayna Stephens unless otherwise indicated.

• "On the Trail" (Grofe)
• "Contagious"
• "Haden's Largo"
• "Black Narcissus" (Henderson)
• "Radio-active Earworm"
• "Loosy Goosy" [video highlight]

Personnel

• Dayna Stephens, tenor saxophone
• Julian Lage, guitar
• Kiyoshi Kitagawa, bass
• Jaimeo Brown, drums

Credits

Producer and Host: Josh Jackson; Audio Engineer: David Tallacksen. Recorded Nov. 15, 2012 at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass. Photo courtesy of Michael Borgida/Berklee College of Music.

Copyright 2013 WBGO-FM. To see more, visit http://www.wbgo.org.

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