Born in East Baltimore, Maryland, Steve grew up cultivating a deep love and respect for jazz music, picking up the sax at age seven. He attended the Baltimore School for the Arts, then went on to graduate from Frederick Douglass High, a school with a rich musical legacy whose alumni include Cab Calloway, Eubie Blake, and Ellis Larkin His early influences were John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Grover Washington Jr , Hank Mobley, Dexter Gordon and Freddie Hubbard. Following graduating in 1986, Steve was awarded a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston There, he studied with saxophonist Bill Pierce,
