Chris Speed

Chris Speed (born February 12, 1967) is an American saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.[1]

Chris Speed
Speed at Moers Festival in 2008
Background information
Born (1967-02-12) February 12, 1967
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
GenresAvant-garde jazz, free jazz, free improvisation
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsSaxophone, clarinet
LabelsSkirl
Associated actsPachora, Human Feel, The Clarinets, yeah NO, Endangered Blood, Trio Iffy
Websitewww.chrisspeed.com
Chris Speed performing in Aarhus, Denmark (2010)

Early years

He studied classical piano from the age of five, and began clarinet at eleven. In high school he took up the tenor saxophone and began studying jazz. He later attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Speed has lived in New York City since 1992.[1]

Career

He leads or co-leads the groups Pachora (with Jim Black, Skúli Sverrisson, and Brad Shepik); Human Feel (with Andrew D'Angelo, Black, and Kurt Rosenwinkel); The Clarinets (with Oscar Noriega and Anthony Burr), yeah NO (with Black, Sverrisson, and Cuong Vu); Trio Iffy (with Ben Perowsky and Jamie Saft), Endangered Blood (with Black, Noriega and Trevor Dunn) and the Chris Speed Trio (with Dave King and Chris Tordini). The latter groups predominantly feature Speed's compositions.

Speed has performed with the avant-garde jazz groups Bloodcount (Tim Berne, Jim Black, Michael Formanek, and sometimes Marc Ducret); The Claudia Quintet (John Hollenbeck, Matt Moran, Ted Reichman, and Drew Gress); Alasnoaxis (Jim Black, Sverrisson, and Hilmar Jensson); and Heroic Frenzies (Craig Taborn, Dave King, and Chris Lightcap).

In partnership with other NY musicians like Jim Black, bassist Skuli Sverrisson, and guitarist Brad Shepik he participated in the band Pachora. Formed in 1992, Pachora played music from Greece, Bulgaria and Macedonia. Evolving from this Speed began using the melodies of Balkan music interpreting it into jazz-based music. Being a part of the Pachora he made a lot of performances throughout North America and Europe and playing in their original manner - Pachora 1997, Unn 1999, Ast 2000 and Astereotypical 2003. Speed also took part in the traditional Slavic Soul Party in the period of 1996-2004 showing his involvement with East European music. He was experimenting with clarinet improvisation in trio "The Clarinets" with Oscar Noriega and Anthony Burr. They created "an acoustic ambient music of unusual grace and beauty" issuing two albums "The Clarinets" 2006 and "Keep On Going Like This" 2012. In 1996 Speed based the band "Yeah NO" and released an unusual mixture of "free jazz, modern rock, eastern folk and minimalism". In April 2006 he issued Skirl Records - a brand dedicated to creative music of Brooklyn which now has 31 releases.[2]

Chris Speed in Aarhus, Denmark.

  • 2010
  • 2012
  • 2012

Awards and honors
  • Rising Star on clarinet, DownBeat magazine, 2004, 2005, 2006
  • NEA composition grant in 1993, 2004

Discography

As leader
  • Yeah No (Songlines, 1997)
  • Deviantics (Songlines, 1999)
  • Emit (Songlines, 2000)
  • Iffy (Knitting Factory, 2000)
  • Jugendstil (ESP Disk, 2008)
  • Really OK (Skirl, 2014)
  • Ruins (Skirl, 2014)
  • Platinum On Tap (Intakt, 2017)
  • Respect for Your Toughness (Intakt, 2019)

With Endangered Blood

  • Endangered Blood (Skirl, 2011)
  • Work Your Magic (Skirl, 2013)
  • Don't Freak Out (Skirl, 2018)
  • Symmetry with Henning Sieverts Symmetry (Pirouet, 2007)
  • Blackbird with Henning Sieverts Symmetry (Pirouet, 2009)

With Human Feel

  • Human Feel (Human Use, 1989)
  • Scatter (GM, 1991)
  • Welcome to Malpesta (New World 1994)
  • Speak to It (Songlines, 1996)
  • Galore (Skirl, 2007)
  • Gold (Intakt, 2019)

With Pachora

  • Pachora (Knitting Factory, 1997)
  • Unn (Knitting Factory, 1998)
  • Ast (Knitting Factory, 1999)
  • Astereotypical (Winter & Winter, 2003)

With Claudia Quintet

  • I, Claudia (Cuneiform, 2004)
  • Semi-Formal (Cuneiform, 2005)
  • For (Cuneiform, 2007)
  • Royal Toast (Cuneiform, 2010)
  • What Is the Beautiful? (Cuneiform, 2011)
  • September (Cuneiform, 2013)
  • Super Petite (Cuneiform, 2016)

With others

  • Broken Shadows with Broken Shadows (Newvelle, 2019)
  • Buffalo Age with Buffalo Age (ILK Music, 2007)
  • The Clarinets with The Clarinets (Skirl, 2006)
  • Keep On Going Like This with The Clarinets (Skirl, 2011)
  • Bigger with Slavic Soul Party (Barbes 2005)
  • Smell the Difference with Tyft (Skirl, 2009)
  • Swell Henry with Yeah No (Squealer, 2004)
  • Plunge with Zeno De Rossi Sultry (El Gallo Rojo 2005)

As sideman

With Tim Berne

With Jim Black

With Uri Caine

With Dave Douglas

With Curtis Hasselbring

  • The New Mellow Edwards (Skirl, 2006)
  • Big Choantza (Skirl, 2009)
  • Number Stations (Cuneiform, 2013)

With John Hollenbeck

  • John Hollenbeck/The Claudia Quintet (CRI, 2001)
  • A Blessing (Omnitone, 2005)
  • Rainbow Jimmies (GPE, 2008)

With Dave King

  • Good Old Light (Sunnyside, 2011)
  • Adopted Highway (Sunnyside, 2013)
  • Surrounded by the Night (Sunnyside, 2016)

With Myra Melford

With John Zorn

  • Bar Kokhba (Tzadik, 1996)
  • Filmworks IX: Trembling Before G-d (Tzadik, 2000)
  • Voices in the Wilderness (Tzadik, 2003)

With others

Footnotes
  1. Chris Speed at All About Jazz Archived November 25, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Speed Retrieved on 27 Jan 2018
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.