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Kris Davis Infrasound: Save Your Breath
by Glenn Astarita
Nascent New York-based pianist, composer Kris Davis presents a musical journey that may be akin to navigating through a dense forest via snaking trails, rolling hills and dusky caves. With a first-class supporting cast , the pianist's comprehensive works emphasize her luminous imaginative powers. Several movements are fashioned with cascading horns passages, supple deviations and variable cadences amid the conventional dips and spikes as the band slips, slides and locks into alternating rhythmic parameters. Davis' compositional style incorporates ...
Continue ReadingKris Davis Infrasound: Save Your Breath
by Vincenzo Roggero
Insolito l'Infrasound Octet allestito dalla pianista/compositrice/bandleader Kris Davis per la realizzazione di Save Your Breath: quattro grandi interpreti della famiglia dei clarinetti (Ben Goldberg, Oscar Noriega, Joachim Badenhorst e Andrew Bishop), le alchimie dell'organo di Gary Versace, la chitarra mutante di Nate Radley, la batteria proteiforme di Jim Black ed il pianoforte della stessa Davis. Insolita e formidabile la musica che dispiega per oltre un'ora potenza creativa, complessità strutturale-tra scatole cinesi, salti di registro, progressioni geometriche-, eleganza estetica tutt'altro che ...
Continue ReadingKris Davis: Massive Threads
by Mark Corroto
The first five minutes of “Ten Exorcists," the opening track of Massive Threads by pianist Kris Davis, consists of minimalist repetitive percussive playing of her prepared piano. The Steve Reich-like repetition mimics percussive tape-loops that cease, but the momentum endures and lays the foundation for her solo. This solo outing benefits from Davis' classically trained ear, the follow-up to her first solo attempt Aeriol Piano (Clean Feed, 2011). Her background has earned her praise, writing for jazz ensembles ...
Continue ReadingKris Davis: Capricorn Climber
by AAJ Italy Staff
Se nel recensire alcuni dei suoi precedenti lavori ci eravamo sbilanciati nel sottolineare le doti di questa pianista di origini canadesi ancora giovanissima, individuandola come talento cristallino da seguire attentamente, con questo Capricorn Climber Kris Davis conferma appieno tutto quanto di buono era stato detto sul suo conto. E lo fa con una maturità sorprendente anche nelle vesti di leader di un quintetto di musicisti già pienamente affermati (Mat Maneri; Ingrid Laubrock; Trevor Dunn; Tom Rainey), meravigliosi nel mettere la ...
Continue ReadingKris Davis: Capricorn Climber
by Glenn Astarita
Relocating from her native Canada to New York City, pianist Kris Davis has infused her imposing talents into New York City's unconventional, downtown-like scene. She once again aligns her compositional and improvisation expertise with like-minded artists, who frequently transition the jazz idiom into a boundless vista. Hence, the album projects a topsy-turvy and rather oscillating aura, featuring the musicians' use of counterpoint, space, and emphatic exchanges. They mix it up, while also stretching themes to the hilt amid several introspective ...
Continue ReadingKris Davis: Aeriol Piano
by AAJ Italy Staff
Brandelli di melodia che si ricompongono per un istante al termine di un girovagare tortuoso e apparentemente senza meta tra tasti di ebano e di avorio, martelletti, corde tese, cassa di risonanza e il vuoto circostante. Si tratta di “All the Things You Are" sofisticata, essenziale, minimalista, ma colma di pathos, biglietto da visita di Aeriol Piano, convincente prova solitaria di una sempre più convincente Kris Davis. La giovane pianista canadese, solidi studi accademici alle spalle, collaborazioni eccellenti (Tony Malaby, ...
Continue ReadingAndrea Wolper: Parallel Lives
by Dan Bilawsky
Andrea Wolper isn't just a jazz singer. Hearing her mid-song monologue with bass accompaniment, during her own “The Girls In Their Dresses," makes it clear that she's actually an actress choosing to communicate through the medium of jazz, and an utterly original one at that. On Parallel Lives, Wolper explores the music of Joni Mitchell, Hoagy Carmichael, Richard Rodgers, and Duncan Sheik, to name just a few, and she brings a dramatic flair to the work of each and every ...
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