Chris Cheek


Christopher Carson Cheek is an American jazz saxophonist.

Biography

Cheek was born in St. Louis, Missouri, 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. He studied at the Berklee College of Music under Joe Viola, Hal Crook, and Herb Pomeroy, and earned his bachelor's degree. 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. He also played with Guillermo Klein, Mika Pohjola, Luciana Souza, and David Berkman.
His debut release as a leader, I Wish I Knew, appeared in 1997 and featured Kurt Rosenwinkel, and by 2010, three more solo albums with Cheek as bandleader on the Fresh Sound label followed; A Girl Named Joe, Vine, 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 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 member

The Bloomdaddies

With Seamus Blake, Jesse Murphy, Jorge Rossy and Dan ReiserThe Bloomdaddies – recorded in 1995Racer X Mosh For Lovers – recorded in 2001

As sideman

With Frank CarlbergThe Crazy Woman Variations on a Summer Day In the Land of Art State of the Union Uncivilized Ruminations
With Jen ChapinRevisions - Songs of Stevie Wonder Live at the Bitter End
With Alan FerberMarch Sublime – recorded in 2012Jigsaw
With Stephane FuricKishinev The Twitter Machine Crossing Brooklyn Ferry Music for 3 Jugendstil Jugendstil II
With Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra
With Guillermo KleinLos Guachos II Los Guachos III Filtros Carrera Los Guachos V
With Chris Lightcap's BigmouthEpicenter Deluxe
With Paul Motian and the Electric Bebop BandReincarnation of a Love Bird Flight of the Blue Jay Play Monk and Powell Europe Holiday for Strings Garden of Eden
With Wolfgang MuthspielIn and Out Daily Mirror
With Mika PohjolaThe Secret of the Castle Announcement
With RudderMatorning Rudder
With others
  • Live at the Bimhuis - Wild Man Conspiracy feat. Chris Cheek 2018
Burak Bedikyan, Leap of Faith – recorded in 2014