Jazz Articles about Chris Cheek

Chris Cheek: Coral; Orquestra Jazz do Matinhos Invites Chris Cheek

by Donald Elfman
April 7, 2007

Nikolaj Hess/Jens Skou Olsen/Gregory Hutchinson/Cheek Chris Coral Rainbow-Exlibris 2007 Orchestra Jazz de Matosinhos Invites Chris Cheek Fresh Sound-New Talent 2007

Just when you thought that the vocabulary and sound of a piano trio were spent, along comes an inventive group of musicians offering a fresh approach to some rather intriguing old ...

Chris Cheek: Blues Cruise

by Paul Olson
July 16, 2006

Saxophonist Chris Cheek is such a hardworking New York sideman that it's understandable that he hasn't been recording prolifically as a leader. Still, his last CD, Vine, appeared in 1999, so his new quartet set, Blues Cruise, is his first release in six years.The long hiatus certainly seems not to have produced any sense of anxiety or hurry, however. If Blues Cruise stands out from the current crop of recordings from the NYC saxophone crowd, it's due to its lack ...

Chris Cheek: Blues Cruise

by Matt Merewitz
July 8, 2006

Even though he has turned in one stunning performance after another on albums by Paul Motian's Electric Bebop Band, Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, Guillermo Klein's Los Gauchos and various lesser-known, though equally interesting ensembles, Chris Cheek is still a lurker.

Your only good chance of seeing this reedman live is in New York or on the other side of the pond, where he makes frequent tours. The problem has nothing to do with Cheek's playing. It's the ...

Paul Motian Band: Garden of Eden

by AAJ Italy Staff
May 29, 2006

Il batterista Paul Motian compie 75 anni e si rimette in discussione con una nuova versione del suo gruppo allargato che cambia nome e diventa semplicemente Paul Motian Band perdendo i riferimenti all'Electric Bebop. Allo stesso tempo nella strumentazione del gruppo si aggiunge una chitarra e questa mossa porta a tre le presenze dello strumento che parrebbe meno assoggettabile ai chiaroscuri che da sempre caratterizzano la poetica del batterista. Invece i tre chitarristi (Ben Monder, Steve Cardenas e il meno ...

Cheek/Iverson/Street/Rossy: Lazy Afternoon/Guilty

by Mark Corroto
September 12, 2002

Preconceived ideas about musical lineups (and just about everything), often lead to disappointment. Maybe it’s just the times we live in, or our subconscious reliance on marketing. Reading the lineups of these two live sessions, I was fully expecting deconstructed renditions of jazz classics. The results, although unforeseen, were ultimately satisfying.

The youthful musicians assembled all have post-Wynton AND post-Downtown pedigrees. Saxophonist Chris Cheek took over Joe Lovano’s place in Paul Motian’s band as the drummer moved ...

Matt Penman: The Unquiet

by Phil DiPietro
August 14, 2002

Either Matt Penman wrote his own bio or paid a comedian friend (who knows a thing or two about the jazz world) to write it for him. It contains the following gems that lend humorous light to the how and why he eventually grew up to be a beautifully introspective, reflective composer, to wit: “The introduction by an insistent school teacher of Jazz music into the mix was of course life-altering, as now there was a legitimate reason to not ...