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