Steve Carrington

Born in East Baltimore, Maryland, Steve grew up cultivating a deep love and respect for jazz music while playing saxophone since the age of seven. In 1986, Steve was awarded a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. There he studied with saxophonist Bill Pierce, formerly with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. After Berklee, Steve moved to New York, where he played with Charles Mingus Epitaph, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Hargrove, Milt Hinton, as well as Frank Wess and Jimmy Heath, among others. Steve has also performed with the likes of the late Elvin Jones, Joey DeFrancesco, Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Wynton Marsalis, Wessel 'Warmdaddy' Anderson, Eric Lewis (ELEW) and Chick Corea.

He is a close friend of his mentor Kenny Garrett. Symbolically passing the torch, Kenny gifted Steve his saxophone in 2012. Steve is also a saxophonist and member of Cyrus Chestnut's African Reflections Band and Cyrus Chestnut's quartet. For several years Steve has also performed with the legendary funk and R&B group Kool and the Gang.

Steve is also part of the Dizzy Gillespie Legacy Band under the direction of legendary bassist and Grammy Award winner, engineer John Lee, in which he was a long-time bassist. Steve's debut album entitled A Caring Tone was released by Samech Records. After returning from a European tour with Kool and The Gang in October 2019, Steve released a new album entitled Mind Traveler. The album Friends R Family was recorded during the covid-19 pandemic and was released in January 2022.