Christopher Carson Cheek (born September 16, 1968) 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 (1997), Vine (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 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 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)