CHRIS CHEEK, TENOR SAX
STEVE CARDENAS, GUITAR
CHRIS HIGGINS, BASS
DRUMS T.B.A.

CHRIS CHEEK
Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Chris Cheek, the son of a junior high school band director, began playing the alto sax at the age of 12. Chris played in a variety of local Jazz and Blues bands in the St. Louis area while attending Webster University. In 1988, on scholarship, he went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts where he studied with Joe Viola and Hal Crook, eventually receiving a bachelors degree in performance.

Chris moved to New York in 1992 and since then has played and recorded with a number of different groups including: Paul Motian's "Electric Bebop Band", "The Bloomdaddies", Charlie Haden's "Liberation Music Orchestra", The Brian Blade Fellowship, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Luciana Souza, David Berkman, and Guillermo Klein's "Los Guachos". Chris has played in Japan, China, Russia, Canada, throughout much of Europe and the United States, with these and other bands.

In addition to appearing on over 60 albums as a sideman, Chris has recorded 4 albums as a leader on Fresh Sound Records, "I Wish I Knew", "A Girl Named Joe", "Vine", and most recently "Blues Cruise", featuring Brad Mehldau. While he continues to be actively involved in a number of different musical projects, Chris plays regularly with his own band at various clubs in the U.S. and abroad.

STEVE CARDENAS
Steve Cardenas has diverse credits as a performer and recording artist. Having started his musical career in Kansas City, he is now an integral part of the jazz community in New York.

Cardenas has backed up such greats as Eddie Harris, Marilyn Maye, Jay McShann, and Slide Hampton. He has toured Europe extensively, performing at various jazz festivals including the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on three separate occasions and the North Sea Jazz Festival four times. He has regularly performed in groups led by such diverse artists as Paul McCandless of the group Oregon, trumpeters/composers Mark Isham and Jeff Beal, bassists Marc Johnson and John Patitucci, as well as vocalists Madeleine Peyroux and Norah Jones. Steve is currently a member of the Paul Motian Band, Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra, a group led by Joey Baron called "Killer Joey", as well as the Ben Allison Quartet. In addition, he leads his own trio performing at various venues around New York City.

Along with performing and recording, Cardenas teaches at the New School in New York where he teaches the Thelonious Monk Ensemble and gives private lessons. Recently, Steve was an instructor at the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music. In 2003, he was guest faculty at the California Institute of the Arts for the spring semester. Other workshops have included Langnau Jazz Nights in Switzerland, Seda Jazz in Spain and Jamey Abersold Summer Jazz Camps. Also, in collaboration with editor Don Sickler, Cardenas completed work on a book of Thelonious Monk's compositions through Hal Leonard Publishing. The Thelonious Monk Fakebook marks the premier publishing of all of Monk's compositions together, with many of them appearing for the first time.

Panoramic is Steve's latest release for Fresh Sound New Talent Records. As on his previous record, Shebang, this CD features Larry Grenadier on bass and Kenny Wollesen on drums, with Tony Malaby added on tenor saxophone.