Home » Jazz Articles » Kris Davis
Jazz Articles about Kris Davis
Hafez Modirzadeh with Kris Davis, Tyshawn Sorey and Craig Taborn: Facets
by Troy Dostert
A rigorous, sometimes imposingly cerebral innovator, tenor saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh has dedicated himself since the 1980s to ever more ambitious ways of opening up the Western musical tradition to scrutiny. A particular obsession is the restrictive quality of conventional instrumental tunings, which, as Modirzadeh perceives them, can limit the possibilities available to improvisers and composers alike, especially when contrasted with the less confining musical traditions of the Middle East. One of his pathbreaking efforts in this regard was his Radif ...
Continue ReadingNoah Preminger: Zigsaw: Music of Steve Lampert
by Neri Pollastri
Noah Preminger prosegue nella pubblicazione di lavori estremamente interessanti, stavolta dirigendo e interpretando un'opera non sua, ma da lui commissionata al trombettista e compositore Steve Lampert—esperienze vastissime a partire da quelle giovanili con Lionel Hampton e Gerry Mulligan, fino a maturare una personale concezione dell'improvvisazione. Si tratta di un singolare brano unico, lungo oltre quarantotto minuti, fittamente strutturato, ma al tempo stesso illuminato dalle improvvisazioni dei singoli. Il titolo, Zigsaw, rimanda da un lato all'andamento zigzagante della musica, ...
Continue ReadingEric Revis: Slipknots Through a Looking Glass
by John Sharpe
On Slipknots Through a Looking Glass, bassist Eric Revis helms a five strong unit to experimental ends juxtaposing emotionally ambiguous abstraction with gut punch drive. To cover the bases he unites saxophonists Bill McHenry and Darius Jones from the quartet which waxed In Memory Of Things Yet Seen (Clean Feed, 2014), with the pianist Kris Davis from Sing Me Some Cry (Clean Feed, 2017), along with drummer Chad Taylor who powered both. Joining on two numbers out of 11 is ...
Continue ReadingThe Volcanic World Of Pyroclastic Records
by Mark Corroto
As listeners we so often typecast musicians and music labels. Artists are pigeonholed into silos: classical, jazz, rock, blues, pop, etc.. Go into any record store (if you can find a brick & mortar one) and this segregation, a forced separation, is also evident. Even streaming services are divided in this manner. Maybe it is just human nature to create species designation for artists. It's a way for listeners, similar to the work of biologists grouping living organisms that are ...
Continue ReadingEric Revis: Slipknots Through a Looking Glass
by Vincenzo Roggero
Eccola la nuova formazione del contrabbassista Eric Revis, un incontro di storici collaboratori che promette meraviglie. Al quartetto che licenziò nel 2014 In the Memory of Things Yet Seen si aggiunge la pianista Kris Davis già presente nel precedente City of Asylum e nel successivo Sing Me Some Cry (tutti per Clean Feed) e il cerchio si chiude. Il percorso di Revis parte da lontano, l'esperienza iniziale con Betty Carter, la lunga permanenza nel quartetto di Branford Marsalis, ...
Continue ReadingTineke Postma: Freya
by Ian Patterson
Following the co-led outing with Greg Osby that was Sonic Halo (Challenge Records, 2014), Dutch saxophonist Tineke Postma took a step back from her solo career to raise a family. In the intervening years there were two trio albums with Nathalie Loriers, but Freya-- Postma's debut on Edition Records--marks her comeback as a leader. Inspiration comes in various guises on these ten originals, with motherhood, her surrounding landscape and formidable women all firing her creative juices. Pianist Kris Davis, trumpeter ...
Continue ReadingEric Revis: Slipknots Through a Looking Glass
by Troy Dostert
Bassist Eric Revis typically has so many ideas in play that it's virtually impossible for him to limit himself to one ensemble at a time. This is one of the reasons why he's used a variety of groups over the years to deliver his music. His trio with pianist Kris Davis and drummer Andrew Cyrille released City of Asylum (Clean Feed) in 2013, and then another iteration of the trio, Crowded Solitudes (Clean Feed) in 2016, with Gerald Cleaver taking ...
Continue Reading
