Kris Davis

Pianist-composer Kris Davis has blossomed as one of the singular talents on the New York jazz scene, a deeply thoughtful, resolutely individual artist who offers “uncommon creative adventure,” according to JazzTimes. The Vancouver-born, Brooklyn-residing Davis was dubbed one of the music’s top up-and-comers in a 2012 New York Times article titled “New Pilots at the Keyboard,” with the newspaper saying: “Over the past couple years in New York, one method for deciding where to hear jazz on a given night has been to track down the pianist Kris Davis.” Reviewing one of the series of striking albums Davis has released over the past half-decade, the Chicago Sun-Times lauded the “sense of kaleidoscopic possibilities” in her playing and compositions.

Long favored by her peers and jazz fans in the know, Davis has earned high praise from no less than star pianist and MacArthur “Genius” Grant honoree Jason Moran, who included her in his Best of 2012 piece in Art Forum, writing: “A freethinking, gifted pianist on the scene, Davis lives in each note that she plays. Her range is impeccable; she tackles prepared piano, minimalism and jazz standards, all under one umbrella. I consider her an honorary descendant of Cecil Taylor and a welcome addition to the fold.”

The newest album from Davis as a leader is Capricorn Climber (Clean Feed, 2013), with the pianist joined by kindred spirits Ingrid Laubrock (tenor saxophone), Mat Maneri (viola), Trevor Dunn (double-bass) and Tom Rainey (drums). Davis made her debut on record as a leader with Lifespan (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2003), followed by three progressively inventive and acclaimed albums for the Fresh Sound label: the quartet discs The Slightest Shift (2006) and Rye Eclipse (2008), then the trio set Good Citizen (2010). Davis’s 2011 solo piano album on Clean Feed, Aeriol Piano, appeared on Best of the Year lists in The New York Times, JazzTimes and Art Forum. Davis wrote the extraordinary arrangements for saxophonist-composer Tony Malaby’s nonet project Novela, with the album Novela released by Clean Feed in 2011 and appearing on Best of the Year lists in DownBeat and JazzTimes. The pianist is also part of the collaborative Paradoxical Frog with Laubrock and drummer Tyshawn Sorey; their eponymous 2011 album on Clean Feed was included on Best of the Year lists by National Public Radio, The New York Times and All About Jazz.

In addition to her work as a leader, Davis has performed with such top figures as Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, Tim Berne, John Hollenbeck, Michael Formanek and Mary Halvorson. Davis started playing piano at age 6, studying classical music through the Royal Conservatory in Canada and formulating her desire for a life in music by playing in the school jazz band at age 12. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Jazz Piano from the University of Toronto and attended the Banff Centre for the Arts jazz program in 1997 and 2000. The pianist received a Canada Council grant to relocate to New York and study composition with Jim McNeely, then another to study extended piano techniques with Benoit Delbecq in Paris. She holds a master’s in Classical Composition from the City College of New York, and she teaches at the School for Improvised Music.

Kris Davis Trio al Torrione di Ferrara

by Libero Farnè
May 15, 2025

Kris Davis Trio Jazz Club Il Torrione Ferrara in Jazz Ferrara 10 maggio 2025 Con il concerto del Kris Davis Trio, in cui la pianista canadese viene affiancata da Robert Hurst al contrabbasso e Johnathan Blake alla batteria, si è chiusa la sempre ricca stagione 2024-25 del Torrione Jazz Club. Era questa la prima apparizione in assoluto della Davis a Ferrara; irrinunciabile quindi l'occasione di ascoltare dal vivo questa formazione, il cui disco, Run ...

Album Review

Kris Davis: Run the Gauntlet

Read "Run the Gauntlet" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
January 8, 2025

While Kris Davis hews close to the hallowed piano trio format on Run The Gauntlet, her first return to the set-up since Waiting For You To Grow (Clean Feed, 2014), she inevitably gives it a few intriguing twists. By recruiting bassist Robert Hurst, alumni of Tony Williams, Steve Coleman and Wynton and Branford Marsalis, and drummer Johnathan Blake, a Blue Note leader also to be heard with Kenny Barron, Ravi Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, she ensures a driving beat which ...

Multiple Reviews

Kris Davis and Younee: Keys To The Eighty-Eights

by Doug Collette
December 11, 2024

The role of pianist has been crucial to the evolution of jazz throughout its history. To that end, Art Tatum, McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans have achieved iconic status over the decades and, in more recent years, Brad Mehldau and Fred Hersch have laid the groundwork for their own ascents to similarly hallowed positions, Meanwhile Diana Krall has achieved no little popular success and perhaps not coincidentally, during this same contemporaneous period, other skilled distaff musicians including Renee Rosnes, Tania ...

Album Review

Kris Davis Trio: Run the Gauntlet

Read "Run the Gauntlet" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
November 7, 2024

Innanzitutto le dediche: a Geri Allen, Marilyn Crispell, Angelica Sanchez, Carla Bley, Renee Rosnes, Sylvie Courvoisier, sei colleghe di strumento (e non solo), ognuna con la sua brava colonnina esplicativa nel booklet che accompagna il CD, a cui Kris Davis si sente evidentemente vicina. Poi la musica: un piano trio pieno, vitale, contemporaneo ma senza eccessi, come già l'iniziale title--track, tredici minuti di un jazz fluente, privo di particolari barriere, ci dice eloquentemente. Poi, però, ecco subito appresso ...

Radio & Podcasts

Kris Davis Trio, Propulsion and Porchbone

by Maurice Hogue
September 24, 2024

This week features the first trio recording by pianist Kris Davis in ten years--Run The Gauntlet. It's on her own label, Pyroclastic, and of course it's excellent. The potent avant-garde scene of Chicago emerges on Propulsion in the form of a new quartet led by saxophonist Dave Rempis, while the free jazz scene of NYC contributes another Live At Scholes Street Studio session, this time with saxophonist Stephen Gauci, drummer Kevin Shea and bassist Adam Lane. Another Adam--O'Farrill--shows why he's ...

Radio & Podcasts

Kris Davis, Luke Stewart, Rob Mazurek and More

by Hobart Taylor
September 11, 2024

New music from Kris Davis, Luke Stewart and Silt Remembrance Ensemble, Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra and more. Playlist Rahsaan Barber “The Long Wait For Justice" from Six Words (Jazz Music City) 0:00 Kris Davis “Knotweed “ from Run The Gauntlet (Pyroclastic) 6:15 Luke Stewart and Silt Remembrance Ensemble “ATTENTION !!!"from The Order (Self Produced) 14:20 Host Speaks 26:14 Satoko Fujii “Low" from Dog Days of Summer (Libra) 29:00 m: Andile Khumalo “The Broken Mirrors of Time (featuring ...

Album Review

Kris Davis: Run the Gauntlet

Read "Run the Gauntlet" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
September 10, 2024

For her first trio outing as a leader since 2014's Waiting For You To Grow (Clean Feed Records), daredevil pianist Kris Davis takes on her inspirations and mentors on the whirlwind Run the Gauntlet. Dedicated to the beacons who have guided and supported her searching, inventive way--Geri Allen, Carla Bley, Marilyn Crispell, Angelica Sanchez, Sylvie Courvoisier and Renee Rosnes--Davis enlists longtime friend and collaborator drummer Johnathan Blake alongside well respected and well-traveled bassist Robert Hurst (Mulgrew Miller, Diana ...

Performance / Tour

Smoke Jazz Club Announces September Schedule Featuring Kris Davis Tribute To Women Pianists, Joe Farnsworth Album Release, And More

Source: AMT Public Relations
July 28, 2025

Hailed as the “#1 Jazz Club in New York City (SecretNYC),” SMOKE Jazz Club today announced its concert schedule for September 2025. The month begins by celebrating the release of Joe Farnsworth’s latest album The Big Room (SMOKE Sessions Records) with “one of the best bands recording today” (WJTU Radio): Sarah Hanahan, Emmet Cohen, Joel Ross, Yasushi Nakamura, and Jeremy Pelt. Making her SMOKE debut as a bandleader is pianist Kris Davis—who was recently named the Pianist of the Year ...
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Event

Celebrate ‘Jazz In Canada’ With Two Free Virtual Concerts April 29-30

Source: All About Jazz
April 20, 2021

On April 29-30, 2021 at 8PM EDT, audiences are invited to experience the vitality of Canadian Jazz artists’ Kris Davis and FYEAR, co-presented by the National Arts Centre and Canada Council for the Arts, at Germany's jazzahead! These concerts will be streamed online from the National Arts Centre’s Facebook page and simultaneously streamed by 18* Canadian jazz festivals on their Facebook pages. As part of an innovative international partnership, the performances will also be streamed by Germany’s jazzahead! and International ...
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Music Industry

Jazzahead! And International Jazz Day Announce Co-operation

Source: All About Jazz
March 21, 2021

Two of the leading international organisations in jazz, the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz and jazzahead!, the world’s largest jazz trade fair, are jointly announcing a new co-operation in honor of UNESCO International Jazz Day 2021. jazzahead! this year takes place under the motto “Close Together From Afar" and will run from Thursday 29 April to Sunday 2 May 2021. The two organisations plan to mark International Jazz Day together on Friday 30 April. “With this cooperation we want to ...
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Performance / Tour

Jazz this week: Bill Charlap, Kris Davis & Craig Taborn, Jason Marsalis, and more

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
September 29, 2016

It's a busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with several noteworthy touring performers in town, including three top-flight pianists, two of whom will be performing together as a duo. Let's go to the highlights... Wednesday, September 28 Pianist Bill Charlap returns with his trio for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro. Charlap was here most recently in February 2014 with saxophonist Houston Person at the Bistro, but this time, the focus is ...
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Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Sachal Vasandani, Galactic, Kris Davis Quintet, Jan Shapiro, Bucky Pizzarelli and Denise Thimes, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
February 14, 2013

It's a jam-packed week of jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with local debuts from two noteworthy touring musicians, the return of some familiar favorites, homecoming gigs for three local expats, and lots more. Let's go to the highlights... Tonight, singer Sachal Vasandani will make his St. Louis debut, beginning a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro. Along with Gregory Porter, whom the Bistro presented for the first time in January, Vasandani is one of the most talked-about ...
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Video / DVD

STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Introducing Kris Davis

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
February 3, 2013

This week, let's get acquainted with pianist Kris Davis, who will be making her St. Louis debut as a leader in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, February 16 at 560 Music Center. Davis will be touring in support of her most recent CD, Capricorn Climber, which was released late last year on Clean Feed Records. It features her performing with two of her most frequent collaborators, saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and drummer Tom Rainey, along with violist ...
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Recording

Kris Davis - Aeriol Piano (Clean Feed, 2011)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
October 27, 2011

The profile of pianist and composer Kris Davis has been rapidly rising in the jazz world. Recently the recipient of a glowing write-up in the New York Times and the leader or co-leader of several renowned groups, this is her first solo piano album. Davis has a fascinating and unique piano style which incorporates the entire keyboard and even the interior of the piano, making the most of her available possibilites. This album begins with a fascinating reconstruction of the ...
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Radio

The Jazz Session #290: Kris Davis

Source: AAJ Staff
July 9, 2011

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Recording

Stephen Gauci/ Kris Davis/ Michael Bisio - SKM (Clean Feed)

Source: Master of a Small House
August 19, 2010

Operating under the ostensible leadership of saxophonist Stephen Gauci, but still very much an ensemble affair, versatility factors prominently on this straightforward trio set. Gauci and bassist Michael Bisio are well-established colleagues, their associations formed in the last decade on a number of projects for CIMP. Canadian pianist Kris Davis moves in similar circles having worked with New York notables like Tony Malaby and Tom Rainey. Their rapport manifests right away, stressing spontaneity rather than any predictable path with their ...
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Performance / Tour

Firehouse 12 to Present the Kris Davis Quartet May 25th

Source: Improvised Communications
April 25, 2007

On Friday, May 25th, New Haven's Firehouse 12 will present New York-based pianist/composer Kris Davis and her acclaimed five year-old ensemble, the Kris Davis Quartet. The group, which features saxophonist Tony Malaby, bassist Eivind Opsvik and drummer Jeff Davis, will be playing music from Ms. Davis' second and most recent CD, The Slightest Shift (Fresh Sound New Talent).

“The adjective that comes to mind again and again listening to pianist and composer Kris Davis' quartet recording The Slightest Shift is ...
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