Wes John Cichosz

Wes began playing on the Chicago club scene at age 15 with a variety of jazz and rock acts. Shortly thereafter he received a full scholarship to University of Illinois at Chicago where he won the prestigious Bar Association Music Award. During this time he also had the opportunity to play in the orchestra for the lost Duke Ellington musical, Jump for Joy.

In the 90's he was a part of Chicago's Wicker Park music scene performing regularly with members of Tortoise and Wilco. As a regular studio musician at Gravity Studios he performed on numerous recordings including the Grammy Nominated, self-titled album Studebaker John and the Hawks. More recently, Wes played a tenor sax solo for Phil Collins on a tribute record for his dear friend legendary songwriter, John Martyn. Wes has played with or opened for War, Ziggy Marley, Maceo Parker, Smashing Pumpkins, Guster, 3 Dog Night, Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel), Adrian Belew, Oz Noy, Dave Weckl, Tony Williams, Umphree’s McGee, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Tributosaurus, Robert Irving and Richard Patterson (Miles Davis), and Rolling Stones sidemen Jack Leavell, Tim Ries and Bernard Fowler (and many more).


A competent multi-instrumentalist, Wes performs in various capacities including solo vocal/acoustic, blues trio, and jazz quartet. Some groups he is integral to include ChiNola (Chicago Blues meets New Orleans Funk and Soul), The Improbable Thursays (Experimental Groove/Jazz) as well as his own progressive-rock-meets-singer-songwriter group, WJC. Chicago DJ Richard Milne of WXRT 93.1 once described Wes's music as "...unlike anything going down in the town." Wes has recorded/produced numerous artists over the years including Dave Tamkin, Scottie Long, Typhanie Monique, and Cameron McGill. A capable arranger, he is currently the music director/guitarist/singer/saxophonist for Arlen Music Productions 17 piece orchestra, Evolution. Wes resides in Chicago and continues to write, record, produce and perform hundreds of dates per year.