Saxophonist Chris Greene’s musical appetites are voracious and that comes across in his performances and recordings. Greene knows that everything he experiences can become a resource, but the roots of his singular blend of jazz improvisational skills, heavy funk beats and pop music concision go back to his teenage years hearing his parents’ records in Evanston, Illinois. In much the way that classical composers have historically used native folk elements as the basis for their art, the Chris Greene Quartet (CGQ) uses familiar modern materials—funk, R&B, soul, blues—as a bridge between jazz and other genres, making CGQ something different on the modern jazz scene.