[1] He later began studying jazz, took up the tenor saxophone, and performed in a local big band while in high school.

[1] Speed attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he founded Human Feel with Andrew D'Angelo, Jim Black, and Kurt Rosenwinkel;[1] the band continued performing after his move to New York.

[2] Speed leads or co-leads the groups Pachora (with Jim Black, Skúli Sverrisson, and Brad Shepik),[3] The Clarinets (with Oscar Noriega and Anthony Burr),[4] yeah NO (with Black, Sverrisson, and Cuong Vu),[5] Trio Iffy (with Ben Perowsky and Jamie Saft),[6] Endangered Blood (with Black, Noriega and Trevor Dunn),[7] the Chris Speed Trio (with Dave King and Chris Tordini)[8] and Broken Shadows (with Tim Berne, Reid Anderson and Dave King) a band dedicated to reinterpreting the music of Ornette Coleman and Julius Hemphill.

[10] Speed is a founding member of the avant-garde jazz groups Bloodcount (Tim Berne, Jim Black, Michael Formanek),[11] The Claudia Quintet (John Hollenbeck, Matt Moran, Red Wierenga, and Drew Gress),[12] AlasNoAxis (Black, Sverrisson, and Hilmar Jensson),[13] and Heroic Frenzies (Craig Taborn, Dave King, and Chris Lightcap).

[17] with Human Feel with Pachora with The Clarinets with Endangered Blood with Zeno De Rossi with Broken Shadows with The Bad Plus with Tim Berne with Jim Black with The Claudia Quintet with Uri Caine with Dave King with Craig Taborn with others/selected