Jazz Articles about Chris Cheek

About Chris Cheek

Album Review

While it is true that much of the modern jazz landscape thrives on the burning fire of the avant-garde, albums like Steve Swallow's Winter Songs operate on an entirely different frequency. This is a classic ECM Records slow burner--an album that does not flash like lightning, but instead radiates a calm, late-night glow. It evokes the quiet stillness of sitting by a fireplace after the rest of the house has gone to sleep, where the music demands a deep couch, a ...

Album Review

Steve Swallow: Winter Songs

Read "Winter Songs" reviewed by Jack Kenny

by Jack Kenny
July 1, 2026

To create his first new music since the death of his partner, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow gathered a circle of close friends and longtime collaborators: saxophonist Chris Cheek, trumpeter Mike Rodriguez, drummer Adam Nussbaum, guitarist Steve Cardenas, and pianist Gil Goldstein. The result, Winter Songs-- Swallow's first outing as a leader in over a decade was recorded at Sear Sound studio in New York during September 2024. About the music, Swallow wrote: “I was there when this music ...

Album Review

Human Being Human: Being

by Neil Duggan
January 14, 2026

Inspired by the human experiences of living, connecting and creating, leading Danish trio Human Being Human return with Being. The album sees the trio expanding their soundscape as they collaborate with American saxophonist Chris Cheek. He brings his style and energy to the project, aligning perfectly with the trio's contemporary Danish explorations of the acoustic jazz trio format. The trio's first two albums, 2022's Equals and 2023's Disappearance (April Records), positioned the band as one of ...

Interview

Chris Cheek: Songs Of Inspiration And Atonement

by Frank Housh
June 23, 2025

Chris Cheek's Keepers of the Eastern Door (Analog Tone Factory, 2025) was inspired by the suffering and resilience of Native Americans. Cheek grew up in the area of Cahokia Mounds World Heritage & State Park, the largest pre-Columbian site north of Mexico. In his book 1491: New Revelations Of The Americas Before Columbus (Knopf, 2005), Charles C. Mann wrote: Anyone who traveled up the Mississippi in 1100 AD would have seen it looming in the distance: ...

Album Review

Chris Cheek: Keepers of the Eastern Door

Read "Keepers of the Eastern Door" reviewed by David Weiner

by David Weiner
May 9, 2025

In Keepers of the Eastern Door, saxophonist Chris Cheek leads a beautifully played, richly melodic and creatively curated set of performances, which split the difference between enchantment and fun. Cheek and his bandmates--Bill Frisell on guitar, Tony Scherr on bass, and Rudy Royston on drums--offer a mix of distinctive Cheek originals and unexpected takes on works by others. The covers are borrowed from genres outside the jazz and songbook repertoires, and the band outfits them with attractive new arrangements, tempos ...

Radio & Podcasts

New Releases from Cassani, Cheek, Cline & More

by Bob Osborne
April 10, 2025

A multi-national set of albums of releases this time around, mostly new, but also including a look back at the older work of some current leading lights of the jazz world. Playlist Show Intro 00:00 Roberto Cassani and Graeme Stephen “Empty Chair" from Pictish Spaghetti (577 Records) 00:28 Chris Cheek “Smoke Rings" from Keepers of the Eastern Door (Analog Tone Factory) 07:00 Carlos Mena “Coraza" from Con Personas “With The People" (Pinch Records) 11:14 Nels Cline “Allende" from ...

Album Review

Alan Ferber: Up High, Down Low

Read "Up High, Down Low" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
June 3, 2024

Nel nono disco da bandleader, il trombonista Alan Ferber ritorna col suo abituale nonet, con cui ha già inciso quattro album. L'organico ha subìto qualche cambiamento con le presenze del chitarrista Nir Felder, di Chris Cheek al sax baritono e qualche altro (ma restano i fidi sassofonisti Jon Gordon, Charles Pillow e John Ellis, il trombettista Scott Wendholt) confermando l'estetica di fondo: un modern mainstream caratterizzato da groove ritmico, chiarezza melodica e arrangiamenti leggibili che s'ispirano anche al soul ...