Saxophonist and composer Chris Greene was born in Evanston, IL. He began playing saxophone at 10, and he eventually spent his formative years in the award-winning Evanston High School Wind and Jazz Ensembles. Around this same time, he began to play professionally with many local pop/rock and jazz bands.
Greene eventually went to Bloomington, IN to attend the prestigious Indiana University Jazz Studies program, which is created and administered by renowned professor and cellist David Baker. While in Bloomington, he studied saxophone performance, jazz arranging, composition, history and improvisation. Greene quickly made his mark within the ranks of the music departments; he rapidly developed his individual style by studying the recorded works of the masters (Davis, Parker, Ellington, Coltrane, etc.) and becoming lead alto saxophone in the IU concert and lab jazz bands.
Greene left the Indiana college town in 1994 and returned to Chicago. He immersed himself in the regional music scene and has since collaborated with some of the nation’s most creative and versatile musicians. A musical “chameleon,” Greene can be seen with the soul/deep house musical collective Mr. A. L. I., hip-hop band, The J Davis Trio, and his own critically acclaimed group, the Chris Greene Quartet.
He has also performed or recorded with the following artists: Common, The Temptations, Steve Cole, Andrew Bird, Zach Brock, Chris Rob, Vic Lavender, Diverse, Kevin O'Donnell, Jesse De La Pena, Robert Cornelius, Liquid Soul and The Mighty Blue Kings.