Interview: Steve Okonski

On a 90-degree Sunday afternoon in July, pianist Steve Okonski and a bespoke combo of Asheville A-listers — Evan Martin on drums, Kevin Williams on upright bass, and Jacob Rodriguez on saxophone — manage to keep an attentive crowd tucked into the breezy, tree-canopied garden of Leo’s House of Thirst cool as they slide into their second set. It’s the first of four shows billed as the “Okonski & Co.” residency at the Haywood Road restaurant and wine bar.

Okonski leans into his Melodigrand, a 64-key, midcentury spinet nicknamed the “Tom Thumb Piano” for its diminutive, apartment-friendly physique, leading the musical conversation with his collaborators, gently steering the material’s ebbs and flows with squinted smiles and subtle nods. Each number draws applause from groups seated at picnic tables, sipping on Vinho Verde and picking at charcuterie boards, contributing to the Magazine Street café feel.

“With my music, we’re kind of tricking people into liking jazz,” Okonski, 36, says a few days later over coffee, referring to the accessibility of his eponymous trio’s beat-driven, melodic take on the often-maligned genre.

A trained classical pianist, Okonski’s compositions feel shimmery and cinematic, with dramatic changes and space between notes that tell stories and transport listeners. It’s an unscripted sound he, drummer Aaron Frazer, and bassist Mike Montgomery — his bandmates in the indie soul revue Durand Jones & the Indications — uncovered while recording Magnolia, the first Okonski release for Colemine Records.

Asheville Stages interviewed Okonski — who also plays keys with Dr. Dog frontman Scott McMicken’s local collective, THE EVER-EXPANDING — about his classical roots and less-is-more approach to playing, as well as the improvised approach to making Magnolia and its 2025 follow-up, Entrance Music, which he hopes to preserve in his Leo’s residency by pulling in different players for each shows.

Jay Moye: When and how did you land in Asheville?

Steve Okonski: My then girlfriend and now wife, Marissa, and I moved here in 2019 from Brooklyn. I’d been in New York for 10 years and was just kind of fed up. I was on the road a lot with the Indications, which meant I wasn't able to take advantage of what the city had to offer, but was still paying for it. A lot of people started moving away, and the vibes were just shifting. We debated Austin, Philly, Asheville, and upstate New York. One of Marissa’s best friends lived here, which gave us a built-in social circle. And I’d played here a few times and knew it was a great music town, so it hit a lot of marks. We love it here so much. I feel like I cashed in a lot of karma to make it happen.

JM: When did your path shift from classical to jazz?

SO: I grew up in Michigan and went to Eastern Michigan University. I studied classical piano for a bit before starting to play jazz, mostly Hammond organ stuff. I'd always listened to jazz but never had the opportunity to learn or play it. The school didn’t have a jazz program but they had a jazz band, so I signed up as an elective. There was a fella doing jazz combos, so I signed up for that, too. He was really supportive and just kept feeding me information and encouraged me.

JM: I imagine the education of jazz and classical is radically different, theoretically?

SO: The method of learning is way different, for sure, but you're still sitting in a practice room by yourself for hours a day. The appeal of jazz was getting to play with other people. Until then, everything had just been solo piano, which is cool but a lot less social. At the end of the semester, when I told my classical professor I wanted to stop pursuing a degree and lean into learning jazz, he started feeding me these William Albright ragtime songs — which are not “jazz” but they have jazz harmonies. He helped me start analyzing and wrapping my mind around those.

JM: Can you share a condensed version of your post-college, pre-Indications/Okonski musical journey?

SO: I moved to New York. My best friend from Michigan, a drummer, lived there. We had a Hammond organ/drums duo for a bit before I started working at a piano shop in Brooklyn where I met this fellow, Wyndham Baird, who actually now lives here in the area. Awesome guitarist and musician. I started playing in bar bands with him. Our drummer was Aaron Frazer of the Indications. When the Indications hit the road, their original keyboardist wasn’t able to do it, so I jumped on with them. Previous to that, I played in a few other New York-based bands, including The National Reserve and Diane Cox.

JM: Your bass player, Mike Montgomery, was also with the Indications for a stretch. Did the idea for the trio hatch out of you guys playing around during sound checks and downtime on the road?

SO: Exactly. We all love playing with each other and connect really solidly. The opportunity came up to do a week at Colemine in Loveland, Ohio, with [label co-founder/engineer] Terry [Cole].

JM: Was the Okonski trio always your vision?

SO: I always wanted to do a record, but never knew what format it was going to be. For our first session, I had a bunch of pretty well-composed, thought-out ideas with Wurly, electric bass, organ — all that. We weren't sure what we were gonna get but Terry was down to see. During that first week, we did all those more beat-forward, composed tracks. We had an extra day and at the end of the night we had a little extra tape. We improvised what ended up being the last track on Magnolia, “Sunday.”

We listened back to it and said, “This is something really special.” So, we went back a couple months later and did another weeklong recording session, and that's what ended up being the rest of Magnolia.

JM: You struck gold with something that felt good and just kept it flowing?

SO: Yeah, which speaks to us playing together for so long and being able to communicate and things feeling so natural. And, also, for Terry to be like, “This is cool! Let's bring you guys back in and keep chasing this.” It's pretty intimidating to show up to a recording session with nothing and just trust the process. It's a different feeling than going in with what you know you want.

JM: Has that always been how your creative mind has worked — leaning more into improvisation vs. composition, or is a hybrid?

SO: I think it's kind of both. The process of creating on the fly reminds me of when I was a kid, just sitting down at the piano with a cassette recorder. I’ve always liked recording for posterity and just seeing what happens. And that's the same feeling we bring to these Colemine sessions. When it’s time to record, we're all good enough that we know we’re gonna come up with something. We just don't know exactly what it is. But I do like composing and writing with the Indications, being more deliberate. It's just a different muscle and set of skills.

JM: Are your bandmates jazz-trained as well?

SO: Mike is. He can do anything; we connect really deeply on jazz and love a lot of the same records. Aaron can also do anything but never really played “jazz-jazz,” which really behooves the project. I don’t think it would be the same without such a sensitive musician like him. It’s a nice mix of the soul world and the jazz world.

JM: How important is communication, both onstage and in studio, with the music you make?

SO: It's the most important thing. More than everything, it's trust. Take “Song For My Sister's Son” from Magnolia, for example. We were like, “All right, this is in B-flat with a six-eight feel: Let's go.” When the tape is rolling, there’s very little you can communicate verbally or even with your eyes, so it’s all about trusting, listening to, and feeding off each other.

JM: How would you articulate the growth or transition between Magnolia [2023] and Entrance Music [2025]?

SO: Magnolia was dark, almost. I had just moved here from New York, so it’s very, like, “walking home from the bar at 2 a.m.” Entrance Music feels much brighter. But the process of recording was the same. With Magnolia, we didn't know what was going to happen, but there was a bit of a confidence shift with Entrance Music. There are a few tracks that are a little more composed — and overall, it's a bit of a tighter album — but the ethos is still the same.

JM: Your piano melodies really stand out to my ear; they’re singable/hummable. Is there a voice in your head as you write? 

SO: That's so interesting, man. Melodies are what I feel weakest about, honestly. I can write chord progressions or vibes forever but the melodies in almost all of my songs come out as we’re recording. They come from a place of trying to not do too much and wanting to write something repeatable so I can remember to play it at the end of the song. And, yes, singable. I don't ever want to play anything I couldn't sing.

JM: Who are your primary influences?

SO: I love listening to Phineas Newborn, Red Garland, and Bud Powell but find myself trying to imitate more stuff from guys who are doing less, like Bill Evans and Ahmad Jamal. I’m also into contemporary artists like Kiefer John, Carroll Kirby, and Elijah Fox. I've got an endless playlist of inspiring stuff, old and new.

JM: What's it like playing these songs with Asheville musicians?

SO: For a while, I had a real mental block about playing with anyone other than Mike and Aaron. But Mike lives in New York and Aaron’s in LA, so it’s just not feasible to bring them here. And I'd rather be playing the music. It's felt awesome to be able to prioritize playing here because I'm going to be home more with my family.

Honestly, playing with Scott [McMicken] inspired me, seeing how, regardless of who's on stage with him, they’re still his songs. And that comes through. In fact, a lot of the guys I've been playing with here are part of his band.

JM: For the Leo’s residency, you’re playing with a different lineup each time. Is that intentional?

SO: Yeah. I want to keep the same improvisational quality of the recordings with these live shows. It’s also a way for me to dive into the community and meet more musicians here. I’m really excited to see what happens.

IF YOU GO

Who: Okonski & Co.
When: Sunday, Aug. 31 and Sunday, Sept. 7, 3-5 p.m.
Where: Leo’s House of Thirst, 1055 Haywood Rd, www.leosavl.com
Tickets: Free to attend

(Photo by Drew Wallace)