Chris Speed

He studied classical piano from the age of five, and began clarinet at eleven. In high school he took up the tenor saxophone and began studying jazz. He later attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Speed has lived in New York City since 1992.

In partnership with other NY musicians like Jim Black, bassist Skuli Sverrisson, and guitarist Brad Shepik he participated in the band Pachora. Formed in 1992, Pachora played music from Greece, Bulgaria and Macedonia. Evolving from this Speed began using the melodies of Balkan music interpreting it into jazz-based music. Being a part of the Pachora he made a lot of performances throughout North America and Europe and playing in their original manner - Pachora 1997, Unn 1999, Ast 2000 and Astereotypical 2003. Speed also took part in the traditional Slavic Soul Party in the period of 1996-2004 showing his involvement with East European music. He was experimenting with clarinet improvisation in trio "The Clarinets" with Oscar Noriega and Anthony Burr. They created "an acoustic ambient music of unusual grace and beauty" issuing two albums "The Clarinets" 2006 and "Keep On Going Like This" 2012. In 1996 Speed based the band "Yeah NO" and released an unusual mixture of "free jazz, modern rock, eastern folk and minimalism". In April 2006 he issued Skirl Records - a brand dedicated to creative music of Brooklyn which now has 31 releases.

Chris Speed (born Seattle, Washington, February 12, 1967) is an American saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.