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 majo ...

saxophonist.

Biography

Cheek was born in St. Louis, Missouri, where his father was the director of a

Junior high school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary 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 Barry Dean Kernfeld (born August 11, 1950) is an American musicologist and jazz saxophonist who has researched and published extensively about the history of jazz and the biographies of its musicians. Education In 1968, Kernfeld enrolled at ...

. He studied at the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cou ...

under Joe Viola, Hal Crook, 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

Paul Motian Stephen Paul Motian (March 25, 1931 – November 22, 2011) was an American jazz drummer, percussionist, and composer. Motian played an important role in freeing jazz drummers from strict time-keeping duties. He first came to prominence in the ...

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,

Mika Pohjola Mika Pohjola ( (born December 1, 1971) is a Finnish-born jazz pianist and composer who resides in Stockholm. He is one of the most prolific Scandinavian jazz musicians in his generation. Biography Childhood in Helsinki, Finland 1971-87 Mika ...

, Luciana Souza, and

David Berkman David Berkman (born December 28, 1958) is an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger and educator. Background Berkman grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, playing in house bands for visiting jazz musicians Sonny Stitt, Hank Crawford, and Carter Jeffers ...

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

Kurt Rosenwinkel Kurt Rosenwinkel (born October 28, 1970) is an American jazz guitarist, keyboardist, composer, bandleader, producer, educator and record label owner. Biography A native of Philadelphia, Rosenwinkel attended the Philadelphia High School for the ...

, 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 thems ...

'' (1999), and ''

Blues Cruise ''Blues Cruise'' is an album by jazz saxophonist Chris Cheek. It was released by Fresh Sound New Talent. Background Cheek had released three albums for Fresh Sound New Talent before this one.

'', in 2005. Two albums as co-leader – ''Lazy Afternoon'' and ''Guilty'' – were released by Blue Moon in 2002. In 2016 another CD, ''

Saturday Songs Saturday is the day of the week between Friday and Sunday. No later than the 2nd century, the Romans named Saturday ("Saturn's Day") for the planet Saturn, which controlled the first hour of that day, according to Vettius Valens. The day's na ...

'', 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 releas ...

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 Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

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 Not in Our Name (NION) was a United States organization founded on March 23, 2002 to protest the U.S. government's course in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks; it disbanded on March 31, 2008. Two key documents Early in their existence, ...

'' (Verve, 2005) * 2011–15: ''

Time/Life ''Time/Life'' (subtitled ''(Song for the Whales and Other Beings)'') is an album by Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra arranged by composer and pianist Carla Bley and released on the Impulse! label in 2016. It features two tracks from Had ...

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

and the Electric Bebop Band * ''

Reincarnation of a Love Bird ''Reincarnation of a Love Bird'' is an album by Paul Motian, released on the German JMT label in 1994. It contains performances of bebop jazz standards by Motian with the Electric Bebop Band. The album follows on from the 1992 release ''Paul ...

'' (JMT, 1994) * ''

Flight of the Blue Jay ''Flight of the Blue Jay'' is an album by Paul Motian, released on the German Winter & Winter label in 1997 and containing performances of bebop jazz standards by Motian with the Electric Bebop Band.Play Monk and Powell ''Play Monk and Powell'' is an album by Paul Motian and the Electric Bebop Band released on the German Winter & Winter label in 1999 and featuring performances of tunes by Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell.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 enti ...

'' (Winter & Winter, 2000) * '' Holiday for Strings'' (Winter & Winter, 2001) * ''

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the Bible, biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genes ...

'' (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 gu ...

* ''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, ''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) * Jared Gold, ''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 Quar ...

, '' Finding Gabriel'' (Nonesuch, 2019) – recorded in 2017-18 * Pierre Perchaud, ''Waterfalls'' (Gemini, 2012) * Luciana Souza, ''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 ECM may refer to: Economics and commerce * Engineering change management * Equity capital markets * Error correction model, an econometric model * European Common Market Mathematics * Elliptic curve method * European Congress of Mathematics ...

, 2013) – recorded in 2011 * Miguel Zenón, ''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