David Chris (né Matt Christensen) started playing flute at the age of 7 and studied classical flute through most of his childhood. When Matt was 16, his flute teacher announced that he had graduated from her school of flute playing, and was ready to move on to the next level. She gave him a choice - begin his studies with the principal flutist of the LA symphony, or study jazz flute with the great musician and educator, Buddy Collette. Matt chose to study jazz flute with Mr. Collette. He spent many Saturday mornings at Mr. Collette’s LA residence, participating in 3+ hour lessons, refocusing on the most fundamental and profound elements of flute playing. 

In the meantime, Matt began his studies in mathematics at Mt. San Antonio college. The college was developing its jazz program and had recruited a talented director from Texas State University - Ashley Alexander. The jazz big-band was sounding great, and Matt wanted to be a part of it. As there was no position in the band for flute alone, Matt decided to audition and ultimately join the big-band on his second instrument - alto sax. There he met Charlie Harris. Charlie was forming a jazz combo to play in the LA County Battle of the Bands and needed a flute player. Matt accepted the invitation. There he met Matt Snyder, Frank Hanson, and Jon Hypes. 

After the dust settled from the Battle of the Bands, it became apparent that the jazz combo wanted to do more. Through an unrelated set of circumstances, Matt had played flute on a professional recording session. The engineer/producer/studio owner on that session, Gene Iacono, offered Matt some free studio time in exchange for his playing on the session. So Matt figured, what could possibly be a better way to utilized that free studio time than to invite his new group, Thin Ice, to make a recording? Once Gene heard the group, he decided to invest his time, talent, and financial resources into making the group something special. This is where the enduring Thin Ice story began. 

Throughout the period he played in Thin Ice, Matt continued his studies in mathematics and computer science. Since that time, Matt has made his living as a real-time embedded software engineer. But he has always played, studied, and performed music as an avocation. In the mid-1990s, during a period of personal renewal, Matt moved to Oregon and changed his name to David Chris. He has collaborated with various jazz and folk musicians in the Portland area, playing gigs, writing, arranging and recording. He currently plays woodwinds and sings in a folk music band, Kendálin.