Pianist-composer Kris Davis was named 2017 Rising Star Pianist and 2018 Rising Star Artist in DownBeat magazine and 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: “One method for deciding where to hear jazz on a given night has been to track down the pianist Kris Davis.” To date, Davis has released twelve recordings as leader. Her 2016 release, Duopoly, made the New York Times, Pop Matters, NPR, Los Angeles Times, and JazzTimes best albums of 2016. In 2019, her album Diatom Ribbons was named jazz album of the year by both the New York Times and the NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll.
Davis works as a collaborator and side person with artists such as John Zorn, Terri Lyne Carrington, Craig Taborn, Tyshawn Sorey, Eric Revis, Michael Formanek, Tony Malaby, Ingrid Laubrock, Julian Lage, Mary Halvorson, and Tom Rainey. Davis received a Doris Duke Impact award in 2015 and multiple commissions to compose new works from The Shifting Foundation, The Jazz Gallery/Jerome Foundation, and the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2021, Kris reciebved 2021 Doris Duke Artist in the jazz category. She is the Associate Program Director of Creative Development for the Institute Jazz and Gender Justice at Berklee College of Music.
In 2023, Davis won a Grammy for Terri Lyne Carrington’s album New Standards, Vol. 1 for Best Instrumental Jazz Album.
