Chris Cheek – Keepers of the Eastern Door (2025) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]

Chris Cheek – Keepers of the Eastern Door (2025)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 41:35 minutes | 1,62 GB | Genre: Contemporary Jazz, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Analog Tone Factory

As European settlers moved westward from the Atlantic coast of North America, the Mohawk people – the easternmost tribe of the Iroquois Confederacy – became known as “Keepers of the Eastern Door” for their role as guardians against invasion from the encroaching colonizers.

The outcome of that battle may seem inevitable from the historical perspective, but the tension at its heart, between those who respect and live in harmony with the land and those who view the Earth from a more rapacious perspective, persists. In “The Kutenai Duck Hunter,” the image by photographer and ethnologist Edward Curtis that graces the cover of his breathtaking new album, Keepers of the Eastern Door, acclaimed saxophonist and composer Chris Cheek sees those two parallel mindsets represented in the reflection of a canoe in the river as its occupant looks to the horizon – and an uncertain future.

These ideas lend richness and depth to Cheek’s stunning music throughout Keepers of the Eastern Door, out May 23, 2025 via Analog Tone Factory. The album features a remarkable all-star quartet, with Cheek joined by revered guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Tony Scherr, and drummer Rudy Royston for a wide-ranging but harmonious repertoire including captivating originals and covers by everyone from The Beatles to Henry Purcell, Olivier Messiaen to Henry Mancini.

The idea for Keepers of the Eastern Door was born when Cheek was fascinated by another Curtis photograph, featuring a line of Native Americans on horseback dwarfed by the rock formations of Arizona’s Canyon de Chelly, at the St. Louis Art Museum. Cheek had grown up in the city, enjoying nature with his family. He realized that the same year that the sepia-tinged photo had been taken, the building in which he was viewing it had been built for the 1904 World’s Fair, aka the Louisiana Purchase Exposition – a celebration of the massive land acquisition that doubled the size of the United States.Saxophonist Chris Cheek’s playing was once described by Steve Swallow and Carla Bley as “the very embodiment of gentle, graceful lyricism.” They also referred to Cheek as “a master of the sucker punch.” In this beautifully recorded session with the Bill Frisell Trio, Cheek opts for quiet jabbing, sedate tempos, and even outright accessibility over any sneaky wallops. Instead of igniting into an inferno that the instrumental power assembled would suggest, Keepers of the Eastern Door is content to simmer. The St. Louis, Missouri, native and Berklee graduate has always had a way with sentimental standards as he proved with the pair of live albums recorded at Barcelona’s Jamboree Club in 2000. Three tunes sequenced together at the album’s center are emblematic of Cheek’s musical interests. He finds inspiration in “On A Clear Day,” from the 1965 Broadway musical, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever—which Barbra Streisand would popularize in a 1970 film adaptation. Falling into a groove from the first notes, with the always resourceful Frisell sharing the lead, Cheek plays in his most sensitive and beautiful way. While not a complete success, the quartet’s meander through 17th century English composer Henry Purcell’s, “Lost Is My Quiet,” is fascinating. Cheek and Frisell double parts to start and both eventually play countermelodies. Those approaches vary throughout the piece, at times catching the essence of this bitter love lament. In a deliberately clashing juxtaposition, what follows is a graceful cover of The Beatles’ “From Me To You.” Guitarist Frisell, who’s never been shy about transforming pop music, is firmly at home, delicately picking his way, and nearly stealing the show. An all-star set that satisfies on its own terms. – Robert Baird

Tracklist:

1-1. Chris Cheek – Kino’s Canoe (03:34)
1-2. Chris Cheek – Smoke Rings (04:30)
1-3. Chris Cheek – O Sacrum Convivium! (06:48)
1-4. Chris Cheek – On A Clear Day (04:14)
1-5. Chris Cheek – Lost Is My Quiet (07:20)
1-6. Chris Cheek – From Me To You (05:05)
1-7. Chris Cheek – Keepers Of The Eastern Door (04:44)
1-8. Chris Cheek – Go On, Dear (05:17)

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