Kris Davis

Davis was born in Vancouver in 1980 and grew up in Calgary, Alberta.[1] She studied classical piano from the age of six[1] and discovered jazz while a high school student.[2] She transcribed performances by pianists Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett.[2] She later reported that, "By the eighth grade I knew I wanted to be a jazz musician."[1] She later majored in jazz piano at the University of Toronto.[1][2] Her most important teacher of that Toronto times has been the pianist Gary Robert Williamson, known for teaching a technique developed by classical pianist Leopold Godowsky.[3] She also sees György Ligeti as the most important musician of the 20th century for admiration of his piano etudes.[3]

Davis moved to New York in 2001.[2] Her piano style changed after her first album, Lifespan – "I decided not to play chords anymore, just to play lines".[2] She later obtained a classical composition degree from the City College of New York.[2]

In 2009, Davis played solo concerts during a tour of Portugal.[2] She followed this with a solo piano album, Aeriol Piano,[2] which included sections for prepared piano.[4] Her 2014 trio album Waiting for You to Grow was the follow-up to Good Citizen around five years earlier.[1] She commented that, on the earlier release, "I had this concept to make it almost like a pop record, where the tunes are really short [while] on the new record the tunes are much longer and explore multiple areas. I just wanted to write and not have any preconceived ideas".[1]

In 2013, Davis composed a suite for four bass clarinets, guitar, piano, organ and drums.[4] In 2014, Davis had a six-day residency at The Stone in New York City,[1] and played in the UK for the first time.[5] She launched her own record label, Pyroclastic Records, in 2016 and made it a nonprofit organisation. They tend to release 5-6 albums per year.[3][6] A new quartet, with guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Drew Gress, and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, will play John Zorn compositions in the second half of 2016.[6] She was named 2018 Rising Star – Jazz Artist by DownBeat critics.[7] In 2020 she will play at the first edition of the Monheim Triennale.[8]

Davis was formerly married to the drummer Jeff Davis.[2] She married guitarist Nate Radley in 2012 and they had a son in 2013.[1] She said, it was her greatest artistic triumph to keep sustaining a music career after becoming a mother.[3]

• 2016: DownBeat magazine: “25 for the Future”[9]

An asterisk (*) indicates that the year is that of release.