Chris Cheek

Christopher Carson Cheek (born September 16, 1968) is an American jazz saxophonist.

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. 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.

As leader/co-leader

As sideman

With Burak Bedikyan

• Leap of Faith (SteepleChase)

With The Bloomdaddies

• Seamus Blake - The Bloomdaddies (Criss Cross Jazz)
• Racer X
• Mosh For Lovers (Fresh Sound New Talent)

With Brooklyn Boogaloo Blowout

• Live at Sunny's (Story Sound, 2017)

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

• Jigsaw (Sunnyside)
• March Sublime (Sunnyside)

With FOX

• Pelican Blues' (Jazz&People, 2016)

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)
• Jugendstil II (ESP-Disk)

With Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra

• Not in Our Name (Verve, 2004)
• Time/Life (Impulse!, 2011–2015 [2016])

With Stephane Huchard

• Panamerican (Jazz Village)

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 Brad Mehldau

• Finding Gabriel (Nonesuch)

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

• Daily Mirror (Material)
• In and Out (Amadeo)

With Pierre Perchaud

• Waterfalls (Gemini)

With Mika Pohjola

• The Secret of the Castle (Blue Music Group, 1997)
• Announcement (Blue Music Group, 1997)

With Rudder

• Matorning (19/8 Records, 2009)
• Rudder (19/8 Records, 2007)

With Luciana Souza

• The Poems of Elizabeth Bishop and Other Songs (Sunnyside)

With Steve Swallow

• Into the Woodwork (XtraWATT/ECM, 2013)

With Miguel Zenon

• Identities are Changeable (Miel Music)