Chris Cheek

American jazz saxophonist

Chris Cheek
Cheek at Moers Festival 2009
Background information
Birth name	Christopher Carson Cheek
Born	(1968-09-16) September 16, 1968 (age 55) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Genres	Jazz, blues
Occupation(s)	Musician, bandleader
Instrument(s)	Saxophone
Years active	1992–present
Labels	Fresh Sound, Blue Music Group

Website	ChrisCheek.net

Musical artist

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

Biography

Cheek was born in St. Louis, Missouri,^[1] 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.^[1] He studied at the Berklee College of Music under Joe Viola, Hal Crook, and Herb Pomeroy, and earned his bachelor's degree.^[2] He moved to New York City in 1992, where he played with Paul Motian in the Electric Bebop Band, and co-founded Bloomdaddies with Seamus Blake.^[1] He also played with Guillermo Klein, Mika Pohjola, Luciana Souza, and David Berkman.^[1]

His debut release as a leader, I Wish I Knew, appeared in 1997 and featured Kurt Rosenwinkel,^[3] and by 2010, three more solo albums with Cheek as bandleader on the Fresh Sound label followed; A Girl Named Joe (1997), Vine (1999), and Blues Cruise, in 2005. Two albums as co-leader – Lazy Afternoon and Guilty – were released by Blue Moon in 2002.^[4] In 2016 another CD, Saturday Songs, was released by Sunnyside Records^[5] and recorded at Supertone Records, Valencia. Criss Cross Jazz have also released two Cheek albums with co-leader Seamus Blake.^[6] Cheek has appeared on more than one hundred albums as a session musician.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

Year recorded	Title	Label	Year released	Personnel
1996–97	I Wish I Knew	Fresh Sound	1997	Quartet, with Kurt Rosenwinkel (guitar), Chris Higgins (bass), Jorge Rossy (drums)
1997	A Girl Named Joe	Fresh Sound	1998	With Mark Turner (tenor sax), Ben Monder (guitar), Marc Johnson (bass), Jorge Rossy and Dan Rieser (drums)
1999	Vine	Fresh Sound	2000	Quintet, with Brad Mehldau (piano, Fender Rhodes), Kurt Rosenwinkel (guitar), Matt Penman (bass), Jorge Rossy (drums)
2000	Guilty	Blue Moon	2002	Quartet, co-led with Ethan Iverson (piano), Ben Street (bass), Jorge Rossy (drums); in concert
2000	Lazy Afternoon	Blue Moon	2002	Quartet, co-led with Ethan Iverson (piano), Ben Street (bass), Jorge Rossy (drums); in concert
2005	Blues Cruise	Fresh Sound	2006	Quartet, with Brad Mehldau (piano), Larry Grenadier (bass), Jorge Rossy (drums)
2013	Reeds Ramble	Criss Cross Jazz	2014	Co-led with Seamus Blake (tenor sax); quintet, with Ethan Iverson (piano), Matt Penman (bass), Jochen Rueckert (drums)
2015	Let's Call the Whole Thing Off	Criss Cross Jazz	2016	Co-led with Seamus Blake (tenor sax); quintet, with Ethan Iverson (piano), Matt Penman (bass), Jochen Rueckert (drums)
2015	Saturday Songs	Sunnyside	2016	Quintet, with Steve Cardenas (guitar), David Soler (pedal steel guitar), Jaume Llombard (bass), Jorge Rossy (drums, vibes, marimba)

As member

The Bloomdaddies
With Seamus Blake, 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'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 Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth

Epicenter (Clean Feed, 2015)
Deluxe (Clean Feed, 2010)

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

With Wolfgang Muthspiel

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

With Mika Pohjola

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

Live at the Bimhuis - Wild Man Conspiracy feat. Chris Cheek 2018

Burak Bedikyan, Leap of Faith (SteepleChase, 2015) – recorded in 2014

Brooklyn Boogaloo Blowout, The Boog At Sunny's (Story Sound, 2017)[2CD] – live recorded in 2016
FOX, Pelican Blues' (Jazz&People, 2016)
Jared Gold, Intuition (Posi-Tone, 2012)
Stephane Huchard, Panamerican (Jazz Village, 2013)
Brad Mehldau, 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, Into the Woodwork (XtraWATT/ECM, 2013) – recorded in 2011
Miguel Zenón, Identities are Changeable (Miel Music, 2014)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Gary W. Kennedy, "Chris Cheek". The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. 2nd edition, ed. Barry Kernfeld.
^ Adler, David. "Chris Cheek: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
^ Yanow, Scott. "I Wish I Knew: Review". Allmusic. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
^ Corroto, Mark (September 12, 2002). "Cheek/Iverson/Street/Rossy: Lazy Afternoon/Guilty". AllAboutJazz.
^ Brady, Shaun (December 2016). "Together (and Apart) Again". DownBeat. p. 64.
^ Blanco, Edward (August 29, 2016). "Seamus Blake / Chris Cheek: Let's Call the Whole Thing Off". AllAboutJazz.