Kris Davis

A special concert co-presented by the National Arts Centre and the Canada Council for the Arts for jazzahead! and Canada’s Guest of Honour presentation at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2021.

Canadian Pianist-composer Kris Davis was voted pianist of the year in the 2020 Downbeat Critics Poll and in the 2019 Jazz Times Critics Poll. She won both composer and pianist of the year in 2020 by the Jazz Journalists Association. The New York Times dubbed her as one of the top up-and-comers, 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 12 recordings as a leader. Her newest release, Diatom Ribbons, was voted jazz album of the year in The New York Times and NPR critic’s poll. Davis works as a collaborator and side person with artists such as John Zorn, Terri Lyne Carrington, Craig Taborn, Tyshawn Sorey, Eric Revis, Johnathan Blake, Michael Formanek, Tony Malaby, Ingrid Laubrock, Mary Halvorson, Stephan Crump, Eric McPherson 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. She is currently the Associate Director for the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and runs her music label, Pyroclastic Records.