Dayna Stephens, Ethan Iverson, Stephen Riley & Eric McPhearson - Monk'D (2025)

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Dayna Stephens, Ethan Iverson, Stephen Riley & Eric McPhearson - Monk'D (2025)

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Monk’D, the new album from Dayna Stephens, will be released October 10 on his in-house label, Contagious Music. Recorded in a single day at the legendary Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, the album features pianist Ethan Iverson, tenor saxophonist Stephen Riley, and drummer Eric McPherson in a stripped-down, deeply personal tribute to Thelonious Monk.

Whatever their personal leanings, every jazz fan worth their salt knows this: Thelonious Sphere Monk changed the game. With jagged rhythms, off-kilter harmonies, and a touch that struck like punctuation, Monk didn’t just bend the rules of jazz — he made a whole new blueprint. His tunes are now jazz gospel: studied, quoted, reimagined, yet still impossible to fully pin down.

Here, Stephens steps into a different role entirely. Known primarily as a saxophonist, he sets down his horn on Monk’D to take up the acoustic bass — an instrument he has played since his Monk Institute years, taking a couple lessons from Christian McBride, Ron Carter, and a host of other top bassists who have appeared in his own bands. The decision is both personal and practical: Stephens wanted to explore Monk’s music from the bass chair, shaping the feel and harmonic grounding from the inside out.

Stephens’ bass résumé is formidable. From 2004–2006, he toured with Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, and from 2003–2006 with the dynamic Miss Faye Carol. He’s performed on bass with Roy Hargrove — including a special Valentine’s Day event at the Jazz Gallery with Lionel Loueke, Aaron Parks, and Greg Hutchinson — and has shared the stage with Eric Harland, Billy Hart, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Sam Yahel, Peter Bernstein, and Joshua Redman, among others.

Though bass is not his primary instrument, Stephens makes room for select engagements each year, drawn to its unique balance of support and leadership. “When I choose a bassist for my saxophone trio or quartet, I’m choosing who will lead the band,” he says. “They control the root notes of all the harmonies, and most importantly, the feel of the pulse that everyone within earshot feels internally. That role is one I crave to be in when I get the chance.”

Raised in the Bay Area and immersed in Monk’s music since his teens — first through a mixtape from his father, then performing Monk tunes in high school and college — Stephens says his time at the Monk Institute “shaped the rest of my career.” Over the past two decades, he has earned widespread acclaim as one of the most distinctive saxophonists of his generation, with albums such as The Timeless Now (2007), Peace (2014), Gratitude (2017), and Right Now! Live at the Village Vanguard (2023). His most recent release, Hopium (2025), was praised by JazzTrail for its “free-flowing, serpentine saxophone performance” and “post-bop vitality.”

The idea for Monk’D came from longtime friend and supporter Mark Weiss, who suggested pairing Stephens with Iverson. “The thought came to me right away that we should play and produce a tribute honoring the great Thelonious Monk,” Stephens recalls. He carefully selected lesser-known compositions from Monk’s catalog, crafting arrangements that subtly shift meter, alter form, or fuse multiple tunes — as with the hybrid suite “Just You and Me Smoking the Evidence,” which combines “Just You, Just Me,” “Evidence,” and Stephens’ own contrafact, “Smoking Gun.” Other tracks, like “Ruby, My Dear” and “Ugly Beauty,” are left untouched in structure, guided instead by the band’s interpretive clarity.

The quartet tracked the entire album in a single session, with minimal rehearsal and maximum trust. “The collaboration process was as easy and joyful as any record I’ve ever made,” Stephens says. He and Riley rehearsed briefly as a duo the night before; Iverson and McPherson learned the music on their own. The chemistry was immediate. “We all have one thing in common: we love Monk.”

Beyond the arrangements, Monk’D leans into period detail and tactile authenticity. Stephens used gut strings on his bass; Riley played a vintage Buescher 400 tenor saxophone (manufactured between 1941–1959); and the studio housed a piano Monk once played — not the one Iverson recorded on, but present as a source of inspiration. Of the scratches Monk left on its lid, Stephens laughs, “Apparently Rudy Van Gelder was not happy about that.” The album was engineered by Maureen Sickler, Van Gelder’s longtime assistant and steward of the studio’s legacy. Stephens even approached the mix with Monk in mind, referencing several of Monk’s original albums to guide the track-by-track panning decisions.

Two pieces Stephens highlights are “Humph,” for its playfulness and joyful bass–drum trading, and “Coming on the Hudson,” which reimagines Monk’s original in 3/4 with a recurring lurch back to 4/4 on each chorus — including during the solos. “I loved how everyone uniquely handled that moment,” he says, singling out McPherson’s triplet undercurrent for particular praise.

Monk’D doesn’t attempt to tidy Monk up or smooth him out. It puts his music back on the edge where it belongs — alive, personal, and full of questions.

Stephen Riley-Tenor Sax,
Ethan Iverson-Piano,
Dayna Stephens-Bass,
Eric McPhearson-Drums