Wild things

The acclaimed New York-based jazz saxophonist Chris Cheek returns to Prague this week with his group Rudder for a highly anticipated performance that will be the highlight of Jazz Dock's program this autumn.

Cheek was last in Prague in June for a two-night engagement at Jazz Dock with the Jaromír Honzák Quintet. Those shows were a celebration of the group's 2009 recording Little Things, featuring Honzák on acoustic bass, David Doruzka on guitar, Michal Tokaj on piano and keyboards, Lukasz Zyta on drums and Cheek on tenor and soprano saxophones.

Cheek, born in 1968 in St. Louis, Missouri, first met Honzák when they were students at Berklee College of Music in 1989, and though they kept in touch, Cheek was not able to make it to the Czech Republic until last year, for a few shows before the recording of Little Things, which later won the Angel award for the best Czech jazz recording of 2009. 

"I really enjoyed playing with Jaromír's band," Cheek tells The Prague Post. "I felt there was a good chemistry in the band, and I liked the music very much. We all laughed a lot together, too."

Cheek also collaborates with a number of other former Berklee students, including the Argentinean pianist Guillermo Klein, the Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel and the Spanish drummer Jorge Rossy, who also previously played with the Brad Mehldau Trio. Cheek recently concluded a tour with Rossy, and hopes to bring him to Prague eventually.

"I've done a couple short tours with Jorge's quintet, most recently in Oviedo, Spain and Basel, Switzerland. Jorge has written a very interesting body of work for this group. It is challenging music that really stretches your ear, but is also, somehow, easy to listen to. I'm sure we would all like to come to Prague, given the opportunity," Cheek says.

Cheek says that the Berklee experience has presented him with a wide range of international playing possibilities.

"Being at Berklee exposed me to players from all over the world. And this was probably the best thing about being there. Being able to meet and play with people from different backgrounds is a great way to get new ideas. And finding a way to work together to create something enjoyable is about the coolest thing I can think of," he says.

Back in New York, Cheek leads his own groups and has recorded four albums as a band leader on Fresh Sounds Records. One of these, Blues Cruise, features the superstar pianist Brad Mehldau. Cheek also plays and records with other extraordinary musicians, including Paul Motian's Electric Bebop Band, Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra and the Brian Blade Fellowship. 

Rudder consists of Henry Hey on keyboards, Tim Lefebvre on bass and Keith Carlock on drums, all of whom are Cheek's musician friends from New York. Rudder may be an unusual name for a jazz-based jam band, but Cheek explains it's appropriate for this project.

"There is a great feeling of freedom for all of us in Rudder when we play together. We have tunes and forms and arrangements but it's also very spontaneous, and the music goes in different directions all the time. It always feels very fresh and exciting," he says.

Compared to Cheek's previous projects, Rudder has more of a young rock flair, and is steeped in funk and general mayhem, all of which allows Cheek, a melodic player with a wide range, to get loose and raunchy. Cheek says that despite the differences between this project and what he has done before, there is a connection.

"Rudder is a lot louder and wilder than some other stuff I've done, but it's still very improvisational music; it's just that the grooves and textures are different, and those change from night to night," he says.

Cheek says he is looking forward to returning to Prague, especially to play at Jazz Dock, which he says "has really put Prague in league with any major city as far as jazz goes."

"It's great that there's a venue to showcase the great talent that's in the Czech Republic while giving an opportunity to players from all over to come and play," he says. "A nice big club with a good sound in a beautiful setting: What more could you ask for?"

Our sentiments exactly.

Tony Ozuna can be reached at
features@praguepost.com