Christopher Carson Cheek (born September 16, 1968) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

saxophonist.

Biography

Cheek was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, where his father was the director of a Junior high school band. Cheek began learning to play the alto saxophone at age eleven, and upon graduation from high school, he attended

Webster University Webster University is a private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, Missouri. It has multiple branch locations across the United States and countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. It offers undergraduate and graduate program ...

.Gary W. Kennedy, "Chris Cheek". '' The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. 2nd edition, ed. Barry Kernfeld. He studied at the Berklee College of Music under

Joe Viola Joe Viola is a writer, producer and director of films and TV, best known for his work in television and exploitation films. He started in the industry as a director of TV commercials produced by his friend Jonathan Demme. They made several fil ...

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, and

Herb Pomeroy Irving Herbert Pomeroy III (April 15, 1930 – August 11, 2007) was an American jazz trumpeter, teacher, and the founder of the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble. Early life Pomeroy was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, United States. He began playing ...

, and earned his bachelor's degree. He moved to New York City in 1992, where he played with

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in the Electric Bebop Band, and co-founded Bloomdaddies with

Seamus Blake Seamus Blake (born December 8, 1970) is a British-born Canadian tenor saxophonist. Early life and education Blake was born in London, England and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. His mother introduced him to jazz when he was a c ...

. He also played with Guillermo Klein,

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, and David Berkman. His debut release as a leader, ''I Wish I Knew'', appeared in 1997 and featured

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, and by 2010, three more solo albums with Cheek as bandleader on the

Fresh Sound Fresh Sound, or Fresh Sound New Talent, is a jazz record label established in Barcelona, Spain, by Jordi Pujol. The label was initially founded as a reissue label. The catalog includes work by musicians both major and minor that was recorded be ...

label followed; ''A Girl Named Joe'' (1997), ''

Vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themsel ...

'' (1999), and '' Blues Cruise'', in 2005. Two albums as co-leader – ''Lazy Afternoon'' and ''Guilty'' – were released by Blue Moon in 2002. In 2016 another CD, '' Saturday Songs'', was released by

Sunnyside Records Sunnyside Records is an American jazz record company and label established by François Zalacain in 1982 initially to release an album by pianist Harold Danko. Albums by Kirk Lightsey and Lee Konitz soon followed beginning a sequence of release ...

and recorded at Supertone Records, Valencia. Criss Cross Jazz have also released two Cheek albums with co-leader Seamus Blake. Cheek has appeared on more than one hundred albums as a session musician.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

As member

The Bloomdaddies
With

, Jesse Murphy, Jorge Rossy and Dan Reiser * ''The Bloomdaddies'' (Criss Cross Jazz, 1996) – recorded in 1995 * ''Racer X'' (self-released, 1998) * ''Mosh For Lovers'' (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2002) – recorded in 2001

As sideman

With Frank Carlberg * ''The Crazy Woman'' (Accurate, 1995) * ''Variations on a Summer Day'' (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2000) * ''In the Land of Art'' (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2005) * ''State of the Union'' (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2006) * ''Uncivilized Ruminations'' (Red Piano) With Jen Chapin * ''Revisions - Songs of Stevie Wonder'' (Chesky, 2009) * ''Live at the Bitter End'' (Purple Chair Music, 1999) With Alan Ferber * ''March Sublime'' (Sunnyside, 2013) – recorded in 2012 * ''Jigsaw'' (Sunnyside, 2017) With Stephane Furic * ''Kishinev'' (Soul Note, 1990) * ''The Twitter Machine'' (Soul Note, 1992) * ''Crossing Brooklyn Ferry'' (Soul Note, 1995) * ''Music for 3'' (Soul Note, 1997) * ''Jugendstil'' (ESP-Disk, 2008) * ''Jugendstil II'' (ESP-Disk, 2010) With

Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...

's Liberation Music Orchestra * 2004: '' Not in Our Name'' (Verve, 2005) * 2011–15: '' Time/Life'' (Impulse!, 2016) With Guillermo Klein * ''Los Guachos II'' (Sunnyside, 1999) * ''Los Guachos III'' (Sunnyside, 2002) * ''Filtros'' (Sunnyside, 2008) * ''Carrera'' (Sunnyside, 2012) * ''Los Guachos V'' (Sunnyside, 2016) With

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's Bigmouth * ''Epicenter'' (Clean Feed, 2015) * ''Deluxe'' (Clean Feed, 2010) With

and the Electric Bebop Band * '' Reincarnation of a Love Bird'' (JMT, 1994) * '' Flight of the Blue Jay'' (Winter & Winter 1996) * '' Play Monk and Powell'' (Winter & Winter, 1998) * ''

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

'' (Winter & Winter, 2000) * '' Holiday for Strings'' (Winter & Winter, 2001) * '' Garden of Eden'' (ECM, 2004) With

Wolfgang Muthspiel Wolfgang Muthspiel (born 2 March 1965) is an Austrian jazz guitarist and record label owner. He is the brother of musician Christian Muthspiel. Music career When he was six, he began playing violin, and at fourteen he moved on to classical gui ...

* ''In and Out'' (Amadeo, 1993) * ''Daily Mirror'' (Material, 2000) With

* ''The Secret of the Castle'' (Blue Music Group, 1997) * ''Announcement'' (Blue Music Group, 1997) With Rudder * ''Matorning'' (19/8, 2009) * ''Rudder'' (19/8, 2007) With others *

Burak Bedikyan Burak Bedikyan is a jazz pianist and composer. Life and career Bedikyan is "a Turk of Armenian ancestry".Margasak, Peter (February 2014) "Burak Bedikyan – Circle of Life". ''Down Beat''. p. 90. Early in his life, he was interested in contempo ...

, ''Leap of Faith'' (SteepleChase, 2015) – recorded in 2014 * Brooklyn Boogaloo Blowout, ''The Boog At Sunny's'' (Story Sound, 2017) CD– live recorded in 2016 * FOX, ''Pelican Blues (Jazz&People, 2016) *

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, ''Intuition'' (Posi-Tone, 2012) * Stephane Huchard, ''Panamerican'' (Jazz Village, 2013) *

Brad Mehldau Bradford Alexander Mehldau (; born August 23, 1970) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Mehldau studied music at The New School, and toured and recorded while still a student. He was a member of saxophonist Joshua Redman's Qua ...

, ''

Finding Gabriel ''Finding Gabriel'' is an album by Brad Mehldau. It was recorded over an 18-month period in 2017–18 and was released by Nonesuch Records in 2019. It won the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. Background Mehldau wrote that "''F ...

'' (Nonesuch, 2019) – recorded in 2017-18 * Pierre Perchaud, ''Waterfalls'' (Gemini, 2012) *

, ''The Poems of Elizabeth Bishop and Other Songs'' (Sunnyside, 2000) *

Steve Swallow Steve Swallow (born October 4, 1940) is an American jazz bassist and composer, known for his collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton, and Carla Bley. He was one of the first jazz double bassists to switch entirely to electric bass guitar. ...

, ''Into the Woodwork'' (XtraWATT/ ECM, 2013) – recorded in 2011 *

Miguel Zenón Miguel Zenón (born December 30, 1976) is a Puerto Rican alto saxophonist, composer, band leader, music producer, and educator. He is a multiple Grammy Award nominee, and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur Fellowship. He als ...

, ''Identities are Changeable'' (Miel Music, 2014)

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheek, Chris 1968 births 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians American jazz saxophonists American male jazz musicians American male saxophonists Berklee College of Music alumni Jazz musicians from Missouri Living people The Delphian Jazz Orchestra members Webster University alumni