Press and Reviews
"One of the best albums of 2013. Played on clawhammer-style fretless nylon-string guitar, Jeni Jol is an album full of odd meters, beautiful melodies, and gorgeous tone."
- Teja Gerkin, Acoustic Guitar Magazine
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"...one of the world’s most brilliantly individualistic guitarists....his clawhammer picking adds precision, often achieving an absolutely hypnotic fluidity....count this as one of the best albums in a year."
–New York Music Daily
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"Tev Stevig's current release Jeni Jol: Music of the Balkans, Greece, and Turkey is an eastern Mediterranean odyssey of carefully crafted arrangements and exquisite original compositions....Although his approach may appear to be esoteric and unconventional, the music he creates is captivating, accessible, and based on traditional folkloric styles....Jeni Jol is truly an extraordinary recording of Eastern European inspired compositions and should make an excellent addition to collections of international music.
– James Scott, Minor 7th
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"Stevig manages to fuse tradition with spontaneity with discipline while exploring even his own self-created borders. That some of the sounds are emerging from normal guitars is at times hard to credit. Stevig achieves slurs, inflections, and nuances normally found on other stringed instruments made for the work (lyres, ouds, etc.) and through, of course, hard-won skills in non-Western approaches....a compendium of serious superior musicianship unbound by any particular approach but composed of a blend of the higher reaches of many."
–Mark S. Tucker, Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange
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"It is a lovely album for background music, quiet contemplation, or serious listening. Methinks quite a few guitar pickers will develop serious envy from listening to this superb recording."
– Rob Weir, Off-Center Views
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"...will touch you as deeply as a stroll in downtown Epidauros. Wondrous work here."
– George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
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"Stevig is playing this music seriously, and in the process making some valid connections between disparate musical cultures."
–Gary Whitehouse, Sleeping Hedgehog
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"No one will be dissatisfied with this release. It's that good."
– Matthew Forss, Inside World Music
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"8 out of 10. This is stately and elegant music respectfully rendered and beautifully played."
–Nilan Perera, exclaim.ca
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"...you'll be pretty amazed at what Stevig can pull off here....Stevig is one of those solo guitar cats that doesn't need any other coloration to make his sound seem full. Quite a tasty set throughout, guitar fans are just going to love this. Well done."
–Midwest Record
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"All of these tracks are incredible. 4.5/5 stars."
– Alicia Mayle, CelebrityCafe.com
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"...initiates something genuinely new by connecting and combining seemingly disparate musical cultures."
–The Boston Globe
"...guitarist Tev Stevig (is) a fount of original, odd-time signature pieces steeped in Greek, Romanian and Serbian folk music"
–The Hartford Courant
"...oud master..."
–Johnathan Perry, Boston Globe
"Tempo percolates in “Gankino Oro” (Bulgarian), as Spiegelman beaks out the saxophone for an edgy solo. Tev Stevig punctuates the track with a jazzy electric guitar. All of the musicians contribute to the coloration and deft execution of this cultural expedition."
–Robbie Gerson, Audiophile Audition
"In contrast, the Bulgarian Gankino Oro is unmistakably upbeat and optimistic—Tev Stevig, whose guitar playing is exceptional throughout the album, creates a fine single note solo here."
–Bruce Lindsay, All About Jazz
"The tricky Bulgarian dance Gankina Oro has the first of several bracingly rippling guitar solos by Stevig, this one sounding like a bouzouki but with better sustain."
–Lucid Culture
"Stevig takes his most intense solo of the night as the band vamps behind him on the Middle Eastern tune Nassam Aleyna."
–Lucid Culture
"Stevig's oud enlivens the band's version of Tchaikovsky's "Arab Dance" and the O'Neill original "Autumn Digging Dance" - the two play together in soprano Julia Madeson's Aljashu, a band dedicated to the music of the Sephardic Jews from Spain and the influence of that music can be clearly heard on the tracks that feature the oud."
–Richard B Kamins, Step Tempest
"Mr. Ho brings in a studied jazz depth throughout, and a Middle Eastern flavor with the inclusion of Tev Stevig's oud on Tchaikovsky's Arab Dance and on his own Autumn Digging Dance. These additions bring another layer of the exotic to the sound."
–Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
"How do you give the Arab Dance from Tschaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite real Middle Eastern cred? Add an oud, of course. That’s Tev Stevig (of ... Jeni Jol and many other great bands) doubling the flute lines and then kicking in a terse solo that’s Arab, not just Arabesque."
–Alan Young, Lucid Culture
"Brass Belly, a tricky Serbian-tinged tune, layers cool clarinet over a flutter brass pulse and Stevig’s absolutely amazing electric oud before the violin takes it up with a spin. Play to Win, by Stevig, a wickedly catchy, unpredictably shapeshifting song features Stevig’s guitar doing all kinds of wild spiraling phrases. After the brisk, biting oompah clarinet tune Pick Up and Go, they follow with the album’s best song, Cherambe, also by Stevig. A wicked blend of 60s style psychedelic rock and klezmer, it sounds like the Electric Prunes, Stevig bending his notes to their logical (or illogical) extremes."
–New York Music Daily
- Teja Gerkin, Acoustic Guitar Magazine
Read the full article
"...one of the world’s most brilliantly individualistic guitarists....his clawhammer picking adds precision, often achieving an absolutely hypnotic fluidity....count this as one of the best albums in a year."
–New York Music Daily
Read the full review
"Tev Stevig's current release Jeni Jol: Music of the Balkans, Greece, and Turkey is an eastern Mediterranean odyssey of carefully crafted arrangements and exquisite original compositions....Although his approach may appear to be esoteric and unconventional, the music he creates is captivating, accessible, and based on traditional folkloric styles....Jeni Jol is truly an extraordinary recording of Eastern European inspired compositions and should make an excellent addition to collections of international music.
– James Scott, Minor 7th
Read the full review
"Stevig manages to fuse tradition with spontaneity with discipline while exploring even his own self-created borders. That some of the sounds are emerging from normal guitars is at times hard to credit. Stevig achieves slurs, inflections, and nuances normally found on other stringed instruments made for the work (lyres, ouds, etc.) and through, of course, hard-won skills in non-Western approaches....a compendium of serious superior musicianship unbound by any particular approach but composed of a blend of the higher reaches of many."
–Mark S. Tucker, Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange
Read the full review
"It is a lovely album for background music, quiet contemplation, or serious listening. Methinks quite a few guitar pickers will develop serious envy from listening to this superb recording."
– Rob Weir, Off-Center Views
Read the full review
"...will touch you as deeply as a stroll in downtown Epidauros. Wondrous work here."
– George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
Read the full review
"Stevig is playing this music seriously, and in the process making some valid connections between disparate musical cultures."
–Gary Whitehouse, Sleeping Hedgehog
Read the full review
"No one will be dissatisfied with this release. It's that good."
– Matthew Forss, Inside World Music
Read the full review
"8 out of 10. This is stately and elegant music respectfully rendered and beautifully played."
–Nilan Perera, exclaim.ca
Read the full review
"...you'll be pretty amazed at what Stevig can pull off here....Stevig is one of those solo guitar cats that doesn't need any other coloration to make his sound seem full. Quite a tasty set throughout, guitar fans are just going to love this. Well done."
–Midwest Record
Read the full review
"All of these tracks are incredible. 4.5/5 stars."
– Alicia Mayle, CelebrityCafe.com
Read the full review
"...initiates something genuinely new by connecting and combining seemingly disparate musical cultures."
–The Boston Globe
"...guitarist Tev Stevig (is) a fount of original, odd-time signature pieces steeped in Greek, Romanian and Serbian folk music"
–The Hartford Courant
"...oud master..."
–Johnathan Perry, Boston Globe
"Tempo percolates in “Gankino Oro” (Bulgarian), as Spiegelman beaks out the saxophone for an edgy solo. Tev Stevig punctuates the track with a jazzy electric guitar. All of the musicians contribute to the coloration and deft execution of this cultural expedition."
–Robbie Gerson, Audiophile Audition
"In contrast, the Bulgarian Gankino Oro is unmistakably upbeat and optimistic—Tev Stevig, whose guitar playing is exceptional throughout the album, creates a fine single note solo here."
–Bruce Lindsay, All About Jazz
"The tricky Bulgarian dance Gankina Oro has the first of several bracingly rippling guitar solos by Stevig, this one sounding like a bouzouki but with better sustain."
–Lucid Culture
"Stevig takes his most intense solo of the night as the band vamps behind him on the Middle Eastern tune Nassam Aleyna."
–Lucid Culture
"Stevig's oud enlivens the band's version of Tchaikovsky's "Arab Dance" and the O'Neill original "Autumn Digging Dance" - the two play together in soprano Julia Madeson's Aljashu, a band dedicated to the music of the Sephardic Jews from Spain and the influence of that music can be clearly heard on the tracks that feature the oud."
–Richard B Kamins, Step Tempest
"Mr. Ho brings in a studied jazz depth throughout, and a Middle Eastern flavor with the inclusion of Tev Stevig's oud on Tchaikovsky's Arab Dance and on his own Autumn Digging Dance. These additions bring another layer of the exotic to the sound."
–Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
"How do you give the Arab Dance from Tschaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite real Middle Eastern cred? Add an oud, of course. That’s Tev Stevig (of ... Jeni Jol and many other great bands) doubling the flute lines and then kicking in a terse solo that’s Arab, not just Arabesque."
–Alan Young, Lucid Culture
"Brass Belly, a tricky Serbian-tinged tune, layers cool clarinet over a flutter brass pulse and Stevig’s absolutely amazing electric oud before the violin takes it up with a spin. Play to Win, by Stevig, a wickedly catchy, unpredictably shapeshifting song features Stevig’s guitar doing all kinds of wild spiraling phrases. After the brisk, biting oompah clarinet tune Pick Up and Go, they follow with the album’s best song, Cherambe, also by Stevig. A wicked blend of 60s style psychedelic rock and klezmer, it sounds like the Electric Prunes, Stevig bending his notes to their logical (or illogical) extremes."
–New York Music Daily