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Guitarist Matthew Stevens never fails to impress. For years, he’s been a crucial part of Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s quintet. In recent years, he’s been a shining spot in Concord Jazz’s NEXT Collective and gave some key touches to Harvey Mason’s comeback album, Chameleon. There’s undoubtedly many other credits to add to this list but the most important of these would be his latest one, his upcoming album on Whirlwind Recordings, Woodwork. The new release featuring an extra mic’d up Stevens on guitar, Gerald Clayton on piano, Vicente Archer on bass, Eric Doob on drums, and Paulo Stagnaro on percussion. You can hear an exclusive stream of the first single, “Star L.A.”, after the break.

Frankly, this one has been a long time coming. Stevens’ has been lighting up the scene for a while and is always a delight to hear whenever he steps out front, especially as a leader. We’ve loved Stevens’ first EP since the early days of the site, so finally getting an album from this dude is immensely satisfying, and from what we’ve heard, we think you’ll agree, too.

You can pre-order Woodwork now on iTunes for its February 24th release there. It’s out physically and everywhere May 26th.

Nextbop Editor-in-Chief Anthony Dean-Harris hosts the modern jazz radio show, The Line-Up, Fridays at 9pm CST on 91.7 FM KRTU San Antonio and is also a contributing writer to DownBeat Magazine and the San Antonio Current.