Chris Cheek Meets The Beatles
Listen to the saxophonist’s spirited cover of “From Me To You”
Ever since Ella Fitzgerald took on “Can’t Buy Me Love” in 1964, The Beatles’ songbook has been a favorite among jazz musicians for interpretation.
And in 2025, that tradition continues on the latest album from acclaimed saxophonist and composer Chris Cheek. On the incredible Keepers of the Eastern Door — named after the handle given to the Mohawk people of the Iroquois Confederacy for their role in guarding their land against the invasion of European colonizers — Cheek follows in Ella’s footsteps by picking a tune from the early days of the Fab Four.
Working as the leader of a formidable quartet rounded out by legendary guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Rudy Royston, Cheek takes on The Beatles’ first No. 1 hit in the UK — 1963’s “From Me To You,” a song that would help kick off the Fab phenomenon in England and then again in the United States less than a year later.
Rock & Roll Globe caught up with the St. Louis, Missouri-born reedist about The Beatles and their history as a major jazz muse among other topics, which you can read below.
Keepers of the Eastern Door is out now on Analog Tone Factory.
When did you first get into The Beatles?
I’ve heard and learned about a lot of rock & roll and popular music from my brother Jon who’s an electric bass player and lives and works in the St. Louis area. I started out as a jazz geek in high school; mostly, I was listening to Charlie Parker and Cannonball Adderley and playing along with Jamey Aebersold records after dinner. I think he had records of A Hard Day’s Night and Rubber Soul. When I got to Berklee College of music in Boston in 1988, some friends of mine turned me on to Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, and also the movie Yellow Submarine. As a want-to-be jazz saxophone player from the midwest, that exposed me to something very different than anything I had been listening to. To be honest, being kind of focused on jazz and the saxophone, their music didn’t initially appeal to me because it didn’t have any horns in it, but I’ve grown to like and appreciate the depth and variety of their songs more over time.
What is it about The Beatles that lend themselves so well to jazz interpretation?
Well, the melodies are catchy and memorable and there’s generally a unique rhythmic feel and character to their songs. Harmonically, in The Beatles’ music you often have familiar chordal relationships, but there are lots of interesting twists and turns in the progressions and harmonic rhythm coupled with unexpected modulations and unusual phrase lengths. Especially in the early days, the forms of many of their tunes have a symmetry that Jazz musicians find satisfying to try to use as vehicles for instrumental improvisations.
Do you have a favorite jazz interpretation of a Beatles song? Which one and why?
A favorite Beatles cover of mine is “I Want To Hold Your Hand” from the album of the same name by Grant Green featuring Larry Young, Elvin Jones and Hank Mobley. It’s so relaxed, clear, melodic and groovy. I’ve been playing in a band called “The Brooklyn Boogaloo Blowout” off and on in New York since 1998, we still play and enjoy his funky Bossa-Nova arrangement of that Beatles classic.
What prompted you to choose “From Me To You” to cover? Are you a bigger fan of early Beatles or later Beatles? Which era lends itself better to jazz?
Whenever I go back to St. Louis, my brother and I listen to music together; he’s collected a lot of vinyl and he spins whatever’s catching his ear at the time. He played that tune one night and for some reason, it caught my ear… when that happens, I like to transcribe it. I start by trying to write out an instrumental approximation of the melody, then I try to find what sounds like the basic harmony and any little riffs or patterns that seem like important parts of the tune. It seems to me as time went on, The Beatles’ music became more arranged and orchestrated and they used more layering of different parts and instruments. I think something about the rawness and directness of their earlier music might lend itself more easily to an instrumental, jazz interpretation.
In the context of this recording, Keepers Of The Eastern Door, the sentiment of “From Me To You” seemed to resonate with the concept that was evolving. I think of the message, especially in the “A” sections, as being aligned with my intention of wanting to make a kind of peace offering and open invitation to humanity’s ancestors and our planet.
I love the Native American imagery on this album and would love to know the meaning behind it all.
I had first seen Edward Curtis’ photograph, “The Canyon de Chelly,” hanging in the St. Louis Art Museum. Growing up near the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, I’d always been fascinated to know that the area around St. Louis was originally inhabited by a thriving indigenous population. In school, we learned very little about Native American culture or the horrors wrought upon them by the colonial expansion. Having visited the Lake Champlain region in upstate New York a few years ago, I started to become more aware of the Mohawk people and their role as protectors of the eastern seaboard and waterways. When Jerome Sabbagh, director of Analog Tone Factory Records, and I found “The Kutenai Duck Hunter” and realized we could use and share Edward Curtis’s public domain images for the artwork on the cover, the concept for this recording started to become clearer to me. I had been working on a tune called “Kino’s Canoe” which explores, as a compositional technique, the idea of “mirroring” a song through inversion. The image on the cover to me, expresses the idea that underlying the perceptible, visible world is a hidden and immutable dimension that supports and interweaves throughout the sensorial realm, reflecting eternal and divine archetypes.
How did you connect with Bill Frisell to be a part of this album?
Jerome Sabbagh suggested asking Bill to be part of the recording. I met Bill through Paul Motian years ago and had the chance to play with him a couple times, so I sent him an email to see if he’d be up for it. He graciously agreed and from there, Jerome handled the nuts and bolts with his manager.
How far back do you go with Frisell as a fan of his work. Do you have a favorite album of his? Which one and why?
I first discovered Bill in the late 80’s on records he made with Tim Berne (Fulton St. Maul) and Jan Garbarek Wayfarer. After that, I heard Strange Meeting (1987) by a band he had called “Power Tools.” This is still a favorite of mine, I love the tunes and the rocking rhythm section of Melvin Gibbs and Ronald Shannon Jackson. Another favorite is Rambler (1984). Hearing Kenny Wheeler soaring over Frisell’s sonic tapestries and the low-end rumblings of Bob Stewart on the tuba alongside Jerome Harris on electric bass with Paul Motian’s inventive rhythmic impulses makes this one of the most interesting and unique sounding records I’ve ever heard!
We just lost Brian Wilson. Were you a fan and do you feel the Beach Boys lend themselves to jazz as quixotically as the Fab Four? Why or why not?
I had a band with fellow saxophonist Seamus Blake called Reeds Ramble. We were playing but never recorded “Til I Die.” I don’t know much of the Beach Boys’ and Brian Wilson’s music, but I hear their music as being more composed, particular and perfect as-is somehow. I think it would be challenging to find a way to play those songs instrumentally, in a convincing way.
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