Kris Davis

Early life

Davis was born in Vancouver in 1980 and grew up in Calgary, Alberta. She studied classical piano from the age of six and discovered jazz while a high school student. She transcribed performances by pianists Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett. She later reported that, "By the eighth grade I knew I wanted to be a jazz musician." She later majored in jazz piano at the University of Toronto.

Later life and career

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

In 2009, Davis played solo concerts during a tour of Portugal. She followed this with a solo piano album, Aeriol Piano, which included sections for prepared piano. Her 2014 trio album Waiting for You to Grow was the follow-up to Good Citizen around five years earlier. 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".

In 2013, Davis composed a suite for four bass clarinets, guitar, piano, organ and drums. In 2014, Davis had a six-day residency at The Stone in New York City, and played in the UK for the first time. She plans to launch a record label, Pyroclastic Records, in 2016. 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.

Personal life

Davis was formerly married to the drummer Jeff Davis. She married guitarist Nate Radley in 2012 and they had a son in 2013.

Discography

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