Chris Cheek

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.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, Hal Crook, and Herb Pomeroy, and earned his bachelor's degree.{{cite web |title=Chris Cheek: Biography |first=David |last=Adler |publisher=Allmusic |url={{AllMusic |class=artist |id=chris-cheek-p301480|pure_url=yes}} |accessdate =March 20, 2011}} 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,{{cite web |title=I Wish I Knew: Review |first=Scott |last=Yanow |publisher=Allmusic |url={{AllMusic |class=album |id=i-wish-i-knew-r374484/review|pure_url=yes}} |accessdate =March 20, 2011}} 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/lazy-afternoon-guilty-chris-cheek-blue-moon-review-by-mark-corroto.php |title=Cheek/Iverson/Street/Rossy: Lazy Afternoon/Guilty |last=Corroto |first=Mark |website=AllAboutJazz |date=September 12, 2002 }} In 2016 another CD, Saturday Songs, was released by Sunnyside Records{{cite magazine |last=Brady |first=Shaun |date=December 2016 |title=Together (and Apart) Again |magazine=DownBeat |page=64 }} and recorded at Supertone Records, Valencia. Criss Cross Jazz have also released two Cheek albums with co-leader Seamus Blake.{{cite web |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/lets-call-the-whole-thing-off-seamus-blake-chris-cheek-criss-cross-review-by-edward-blanco.php |title=Seamus Blake / Chris Cheek: Let's Call the Whole Thing Off |last=Blanco |first=Edward |website=AllAboutJazz |date=August 29, 2016 }} Cheek has appeared on more than one hundred albums as a session musician.

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

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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)

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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)

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{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.chrischeek.net Official site]

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Category:1968 births

Category:21st-century American saxophonists

Category:21st-century American male musicians

Category:American jazz saxophonists

Category:American male jazz musicians

Category:American male saxophonists

Category:Berklee College of Music alumni

Category:Jazz musicians from Missouri

Category:Living people

Category:The Delphian Jazz Orchestra members

Category:Webster University alumni