“You just kind of take what the universe offers you.”
Drummer, vibist and composer Chris Lee may be explaining how he goes about choosing what gigs to play, but that Zen-like philosophy could very well be the key to truly appreciating the breadth of his long career in the jazz community.
A lifelong musician, Lee began his journey playing piano and flute, switching over to drums at an early age. He devoted himself to the instrument by the time he reached high school, taking private lessons from Mel Brown, the local legend who instantly recognized the talent in the young man and was soon asking Lee to sub for him at local shows. “He would send me out on the gigs he didn’t want to do,” Lee says, with a laugh. With that, Lee started amassing an impressive resume of collaborators from throughout the Northwest jazz world: David Friesen, Jim Pepper, Nancy King.
As his skills and curiosity continued to grow, Lee found himself with one foot in the more straightforward jazz scene and another planted in the freeform sound being cultivated on labels like ECM and with players like Oliver Lake and Julius Hemphill. The duality kept Lee fed creatively and personally as he was able to continue to perform regularly even as he took time to study with masters like Jack DeJohnette and Karl Berger at the Creative Music Studios in Woodstock, New York and at a Cornish College of the Arts Intensive with Dave Holland and Sam Rivers.
Letting the universe guide his path also led Lee to meet perhaps the most important person in his life. Around 1980, he crossed paths with vocalist / cellist Colleen O’Brien, joining up with a group project she was putting together. The two eventually fell in love and have been married ever since. In addition to raising a family, the pair are regular collaborators (with Lee on vibes) in projects like the chamber jazz group Primal Mates, and PoetryMusic, which combines poetry, jazz, and free improvisation to dazzling effect.
After marrying O’Brien, Lee has led a happily nomadic existence. The couple moved for a time to Homer, Alaska, where they were able to shake up their normal routines and fall out of the comfort zone of the Portland music scene. Later they slipped down the West Coast to Bolinas, California, a coastal town where they played regularly with Paul McCandless, the multi-reedist who was a founding member of the group Oregon. There was a long stretch in Colorado, where they connected with the great pianist Art Lande and where Lee did some teaching at Naropa University; a turn in Port Angeles, Washington; and then back home to Portland where they remained ever since.
For an artist, that kind of constant motion is necessary to both keep one from getting too complacent and to help connect with a wide variety of collaborators. For Lee, that meant amassing a jaw-dropping list of creative colleagues: Mose Allison, Sheila Jordan, Joe Henderson, Fred Hersch, Ron Miles, Kenny Werner, Ngyuen Le and Glen Moore, among them. And until recently, he kept up a steady pace of teaching, lending his talents for private instruction or as a member of the faculty of Lewis & Clark College and University of Oregon. “It’s a great way to have to examine what you do,” he says of teaching, “so that you can explain it and show it to somebody else.”
That kind of self-reflection is necessary for any creative person to be able to grow in their chosen field. It’s something Lee has been acutely aware of even with all the experience and experiences he has amassed in his long life as a musician and composer. “You’re constantly working and trying to improve and play better,” he says. “I still feel like I’m just starting out with so much to learn..”