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Chris Speed

Chris Speed is a composer, clarinetist and saxophonist living in Brooklyn, NY. His bands include Human Feel, yeah NO, Trio Iffy , Pachora and The Clarinets. He is a member of Jim Black’s Alas No Axis and John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet.

Speed was born in Seattle in 1967 and graduated from the New England Conservatory in 1990. In 1992 he moved to NYC where he joined Tim Berne’s Bloodcount. Throughout the nineties Speed worked with many pioneering bands in the creative new music/downtown scene including the Dave Douglas Sextet, Myra Melford’s Same River Twice, Erik Freidlander’s Chimera, John Zorn’s Bar Kokhba and Mark Dresser’s trio with Anthony Coleman. During this time he also began pursuing his interest in East European folk music, forming Pachora in 1992, and traveling throughout Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria, and Macedonia. Speed is considered one of the leading NYC musicians linking jazz and creative improvisation with Eastern European and Middle Eastern folk music. Currently, he works with Uri Caine’s Bach, Mahler, and Mozart projects, as well as Ben Perowsky’s quartet.

Chris was named the rising star clarinetist in Downbeat magazine for 2004 and 2005. In July 2004 he was the special guest at the Copenhagen International Jazz Festival, working with ten different cutting edge Danish groups. In April 2006, he launched Skirl Records, a label dedicated to Brooklyn based creative music.

Photo Credit
Michael Hoefner

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Album Review

The Angelica Sanchez Nonet: Nighttime Creatures

Read "Nighttime Creatures" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Pubblicato dalla Pyroclastic Records, Nighttime Creatures è il magistrale debutto del nonet della pianista Angelica Sanchez, organico che riunisce alcuni protagonisti della scene musicali di New York, Los Angeles e San Francisco: i sassofonisti Chris Speed e Michael Attias, il clarinettista Ben Goldberg, il cornettista Kenny Warren, il trombettista Thomas Heberer, il chitarrista Omar Tamez, il contrabbassista John Hébert e il batterista Sam Ospovat. Trasferitasi nel 1994 a New York da Phoenix (Arizona), Angelica è parte dell'Exploding ...

10
Album Review

Billy Mohler: Anatomy

Read "Anatomy" reviewed by John Chacona


Can we please retire the old cliché about jazz from jny: Los Angeles being limp, wan and bland? One listen to pianist Cameron Graves' slamming metal-jazz or to the jittery complexity of David Binney's recent releases should be enough to torch that outdated canard. Now comes bassist Billy Mohler with Anatomy, 43 minutes of amped-up, torqued-out energy that pulses with the elevated heart-rate of first-wave punk rock. That's no accident. Mohler is a pop music pro, a Grammy ...

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Album Review

Broken Shadows: Broken Shadows with Tim Berne, Chris Speed, Reid Anderson, Dave King

Read "Broken Shadows with Tim Berne, Chris Speed, Reid Anderson, Dave King" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


The context for Broken Shadows is--can you guess--the Ornette Coleman album of the same name, recorded in 1971 and released on Columbia Records in 1982. That, along with three tunes from Coleman's Science Fiction (Columbia, 1971), and more from the free jazz pioneer's Atlantic and Blue Note Records days. And while we're at it, throw in a pair of compositions from Julius Hemphill, one from saxophonist Dewey Redman and one from bassist Charlie Haden--all players with strong connections to Coleman. ...

4
Album Review

Craig Taborn: Compass Confusion

Read "Compass Confusion" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


Compass Confusion, the long hoped for return of Craig Taborn's depth defying, solo-gone-quintet from Junk Magic (Thirsty Ear, 2004), climaxes early and often and, however you like to be lured, It pulls you along with a lush velvet hook in your mouth. Reeling it in is a struggle but a blessing. We know that. We get it. CTJM thinks so too. First timers, saxophonist/clarinetist Chris Speed and bassist ((Erik Fratzke}} are welcomed brotherly into the fold by pianist ...

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Album Review

Craig Taborn: Compass Confusion

Read "Compass Confusion" reviewed by John Sharpe


Although a peerless pianist, Craig Taborn has been captivated by electronics since the age of 12, and he scratches that itch big-time on Compass Confusion. The role of post-production treatments in the creation of jazz records has a long history, from Orrin Keepnews piecing together the issued version of Thelonious Monk's 1956 classic “Brilliant Corners" from among 24 takes of the tune, to Miles Davis and Teo Macero forging masterpieces like Bitches Brew (CBS, 1970) from studio jams. Taborn's ethos ...

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Album Review

Junk Magic: Compass Confusion

Read "Compass Confusion" reviewed by Franz A. Matzner


Density. Shifting ground. Textural discord. Sharpness like glass. Resonant emptiness. Explorative improvisation, electronica sound spaces and electric beats. Released by the Craig Taborn project Junk Magic, Compass Confusion moves the fusion of live performance with electronica to the next level, making the division between the two often difficult to discern. The album incorporates a cross section of electronica techniques, including often lesser recognized subgenres like ambient, trip-hop, and minimalist industrial. This diverse representation of electronic music coupled with ...

2
Album Review

Simon Nabatov: Plain

Read "Plain" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Dopo aver riallacciato proficui rapporti con l'ambiente musicale di New York (e il precedente album per la Clean Feed, Last Minute Theory lo dimostra), il pianista Simon Nabatov coinvolge altri notevoli esponenti del jazz più innovativo, in equilibrio tra mainstream avanzato e post-free. Nomi d'alto rilievo come il sassofonista Chris Speed, il trombettista Herb Robertson, il bassista John Hébert e il batterista Tom Rainey. Il pianista d'origine russa -cittadino americano dal 1986 e da anni residente in Germania-chiarisce ...

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Performance / Tour

Skirl Records Party featuring The Clarinets with Chris Speed in Philadelphia on December 15, 2006

Skirl Records Party featuring The Clarinets with Chris Speed in Philadelphia on December 15, 2006

Source: All About Jazz

Skirl Records Party featuring:

THE CLARINETS Chris Speed - clarinet Oscar Noriega - bass clarinet/clarinet Anthony Burr - bass clarinet

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THE NEW MELLOW EDWARDS Curtis Hasselbring - trombone Chris Speed - clarinet Trevor Dunn - bass Mike Pride - drums

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TREVOR DUNN/SHELLY BURGON Shelley Burgon - harp Trevor Dunn, bass

December 15, 2006

Lynn Ligammari
saxophone

Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Nighttime Creatures

Pyroclastic Records
2023

buy

Anatomy

Contagious Music
2022

buy

Broken Shadows with...

Intakt Records
2021

buy

Plain

Clean Feed Records
2020

buy

Compass Confusion

Pyroclastic Records
2020

buy

Respect for your...

Intakt Records
2019

buy

Nighttime Creatures

From: Nighttime Creatures
By Chris Speed

Dream and Guess

From: Compass Confusion
By Chris Speed

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