Chris Lightcap is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 bassist

Bassist

A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...

 and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 from Latrobe, Pennsylvania

Latrobe, Pennsylvania

Latrobe is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in the United States, approximately southeast of Pittsburgh.The city population was 7,634 as of the 2000 census . It is located near the Pennsylvania's scenic Chestnut Ridge. Latrobe was incorporated as a borough in 1854, and as a city in 1999...

. He has performed or recorded with Marc Ribot

Marc Ribot

Marc Ribot born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer.His own work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and composer John Zorn.-Biography:Ribot was...

, Regina Carter

Regina Carter

Regina Carter is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of famous jazz saxophonist James Carter.-Early life:...

, Craig Taborn

Craig Taborn

Craig Taborn is an American keyboardist and composer. Playing piano, organ, and Moog synthesizer, Taborn has worked mostly in jazz, although he also does dark ambient and techno music....

, Mark Turner

Mark Turner (musician)

Mark Turner is a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist with several recordings to his credit.-Biographical information:Born in Fairborn, Ohio, and raised in Southern California, Turner originally intended to become a commercial artist. In elementary school he played the clarinet, followed by the alto...

, Joe Morris

Joe Morris

Joe Morris is the name of:* Joe Morris , British film writer, producer and director. * Joe Morris , American jazz guitarist * Joe Morris , American studio drummer...

, Sheila Jordan

Sheila Jordan

Sheila Jordan is an American jazz singer and songwriter. Jordan has recorded as a session musician with an array of critically acclaimed artists in addition to a notable solo career....

, James Carter

James Carter (musician)

James Carter is an American jazz musician.Carter was born in Detroit, Michigan and learned to play there before moving to New York City. He has been prominent as a performer and recording artist on the jazz scene since the mid-1990s, playing saxophones, flute, and bass clarinet...

, Butch Morris

Butch Morris

Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris is an American jazz cornetist, composer and conductor.-Biography:Before his musical career, Morris served in Vietnam during the Vietnam War....

, Ben Monder

Ben Monder

-Biography:Monder attended the University of Miami. He has worked with a wide variety of musicians including Lee Konitz, Toots Thielmans, Paul Motian and Maria Schneider....

, Tom Harrell

Tom Harrell

Tom Harrell is a renowned American post-bop jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer and arranger.-Biography:Tom Harrell was born in Urbana, Illinois but moved to the San Francisco Bay Area at the age of five. He started playing trumpet at eight and within five years, started playing gigs with...

 and others.

Lightcap released an album called Lay-Up on the Fresh Sound New Talent label in 2000. It features Gerald Cleaver

Gerald Cleaver (musician)

Gerald Cleaver is an African-American jazz drummer from Detroit, Michigan. He joined the jazz faculty at the University of Michigan in 1995...

 on drums

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

 and Tony Malaby

Tony Malaby

Tony Malaby is a post-bop jazz tenor saxophonist. Malaby moved to New York City in 1995 and has played with several notable jazz groups, including Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, Paul Motian’s Electric Bebop Band, Mark Helias’s Open Loose, Fred Hersch’s Trio + 2 and Walt Whitman...

 and Bill McHenry on tenor saxophone

Tenor saxophone

The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...

s. In 2003, he released a follow-up CD on the same label, called Bigmouth. In 2010 Lightcap's current working band Bigmouth released Deluxe, his third CD as a leader, on the Clean Feed Label. This CD features an expanded version of his earlier group, with Craig Taborn and Chris Cheek joining Malaby and Cleaver. Andrew D'Angelo also joins the group on three selections. He continues to work as a sideman

Sideman

A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he or she is not a regular member. They often tour with solo acts as well as bands and jazz ensembles. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit...

with many different artists.

In 2006 he received a commission to compose for the ensemble counter(induction. This culminated with the group's performance of his piece Wiretap at the Tenri Cultural Center on October 16, 2006.