His notable students there included Charles Lloyd, Houston Bright, Benjamin Lees, Morten Lauridsen, and Williametta Spencer.
Among his chamber works, Stevens's 1956 trumpet sonata remains a particular favorite, having been commercially recorded by over a half-dozen trumpeters, including Giuseppe Galante, Jouko Harjanne, David Hickman, Wynton Marsalis, Anthony Plog, Scott Thornburg, and George Vosburgh.
A present-day music reviewer, Osvaldo Polatkan, sought in 2008 to convey something of the composer's models, influences, and mature style thus: Stevens composed music that was essentially tonal but not without modern influences, particularly Stravinsky and Copland.
He has also stated that Brahms, Hindemith, Prokofiev, Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, and, to a lesser extent, Ravel and Schoenberg had served as important models for his music.
"Mr. Stevens' book... makes one want to rehear the Bartok works in the light of what the author has found in them," observed eminent fellow composer Aaron Copland.