About The Chase Baird Group
Jazz
Part
experimental rocker, part classical romantic and part hard-bop devotee,
saxophonist and composer CHASE BAIRD has rapidly become one the most celebrated
and compelling jazz stylists of his generation.
His
latest album, A?Life Between, covers a vast emotional terrain with a
band comprised of modern jazz’s most revered innovators. GRAMMY-winning drummer?Antonio
Sanchez? and 5-time GRAMMY-nominated pianist? Brad Mehldau are veteran
companions alongside new-generation talents ?Nir Felder, guitar, and? Dan
Chmielinski, bass. Critics have declared
the album “…a truly inspired, dare we say, epic recording complete with
progressive singularities and sonic cosmicalities.”
Since
2017, Chase has been an active member of drummer Antonio Sánchez’s band, Migration,
recording both saxophone and EWI (electronic wind instrument) on the groups’ acclaimed
album Lines In The Sand. He shares the virtuoso percussionist’s
interest in performing both hard-hitting and tender material—often within a
single tune.
Chase
also performs with multi-generational progressive jazz quartet Venture,
featuring jazz drum legend Mike Clark, multi-instrumentalist Mark Sherman and
electric bassist Felix Pastorius. The
band dances between hard-bop roots and accents of funk and fusion on their
first studio collaboration, Life Cycle, released on Ropeadope Records in
May 2018.
Born in
Seattle and raised in Salt Lake City, Chase picked up the sax at age ten.
When he was 14, he was discovered and mentored by the late, great tenor saxophonist
Michael Brecker. In the next few years, he received his first major press
recognition when the British jazz magazine Crescendo observed him holding his
own in jam sessions with the seasoned stars at the Lionel Hampton Jazz
Festival. During this time, he was selected for prestigious youth jazz
programs through both the Monterey Jazz Festival and National Foundation for
the Arts.
He
attended California State University Long Beach from 2007-2009 and later
graduated from The Juilliard School in New York City, where he studied with Ron
Blake, Steve Wilson, the late Joe Temperley, Frank Kimbrough and Rodney Jones
among others.
Chase
has since worked as a sideman with such jazz artists as Mike Stern, Christian
McBride, Antonio Farao, Thana Alexa and Julian Pollack as
well as popular artists Chaka Khan, Matthew Morrison, Jakob Dylan, Chloe Agnew
and Diana Degarmo.
In
January 2017, he performed a Jazz at Lincoln Center concert celebrating the
life and music of Michael Brecker, playing his own original, “Ripcord”–with
former President (and sax player) Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton sitting in
the front row.
When
not touring, Baird makes his home in New York City.
For
more info, visit: www.chasebaird.com