Pianist

The series opens on Wednesday, October 29, with an Athenaeum debut by the Kris Davis Trio, featuring Davis on piano, Robert Hurst on bass, and Johnathan Blake on drums. Recognized in the DownBeat Critics Poll as Pianist of the Year in 2025, 2022, and 2020, Davis has become one of the most celebrated jazz pianists of her generation.

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Kris Davis Trio

Athenaeum Music & Arts Library

Kris Davis is a Grammy award-winning pianist and composer described by The New York Times as a beacon for “deciding where to hear jazz on a given night.”

Kris Davis Trio feat. Robert Hurst & Johnathan Blake

Cadillac Square

The Angel City Jazz Festival consistently features the most innovative and original musicians working today, balancing established artists with emerging talent and focusing on West Coast creative jazz—past, present, and future.

Steve Lehman & Garden of Klōns, Kris Davis Trio

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Saxophonist, pianist, and composer Edmar Colón returns to Neighborhood Arts with his Quartet, featuring two very special guests: multi-Grammy winning drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and pianist Kris Davis. This stellar band performs new and original songs by Edmar alongside timeless classics from his native Puerto Rico.

Edmar Colón Jazz Quartet

Roxbury Community College

Part of Poland’s 8th Jazztopad Festival, Dizzy’s Club proudly presents Kris Davis and the Lutoslawski Quartet premiering The Solastalgia Suite. Drawing inspiration from Olivier Messiaen’s haunting Quartet for the End of Time composed amid the turmoil of World War II, The Solastalgia Suite explores the impact of environmental change. Davis bonds influential elements from Messiaen, Beyoncé, and Cecil Taylor, creating a living work that dissolves clear boundaries between what’s scripted and what’s spontaneous.

Jazztopad Festival: Kris Davis & Lutoslawski Quartet

Jazz At Lincoln Center

Led by 2023 Grammy-winning pianist/composer Kris Davis, this special concert is named for Davis’s 2019 breakthrough album, which was awarded “Jazz Album of the Year” by both The New York Times and NPR. “Bringing together wildly diverse musicians in tangled unity,” Davis often sets her improvisations to “grooves played with prismatic nuance” (The New York Times) by drummer Terri Lyne Carrington—a four-time Grammy winner and NEA Jazz Master herself. Turntablist and electronic musician Val Jeanty, bassist Trevor Dunn, and guitarist Julian Lage add layers of sonic texture for a thrilling and unexpected sound.

Kris Davis Diatom Ribbons

College of Charleston

Renowned drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and acclaimed vocalist Dianne Reeves unite. Inspired by Carrington’s Grammy Award-winning 2022 album New Standards, Carrington and Reeves perform a rich selection of works by female jazz composers that span eras, geographical borders, and genres — from blues to bebop and beyond. Energized by the remarkable talents of multiple Grammy winners and NEA Jazz Masters Carrington and Reeves, New Standards is a sensational celebration of the accomplishments of women in jazz.

Terri Lyne Carrington New Standards with Special Guest Dianne Reeves

The iconic bassist’s second night of residency features the Bay Area premiere of his new quartet of masters, each an established bandleader and composer, including alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw, pianist Kris Davis, and drummer Nasheet Waits.

Known to SFJAZZ audiences through his standout 2022 performance with drummer Nate Smith’s KINFOLK, Philadelphia-born Shaw is the standard bearer for young altoists in the 21st century.

Davis was named Pianist of the Year in the 2020 DownBeat Critics Poll and has recorded 24 albums as leader or co-leader, winning a GRAMMY for her work on Terri Lyne Carrington’s New Standard Vol. 1.

Dave Holland New Quartet

SFJAZZ Center

Inspired interplay is a given as the bass legend begins his week in an intimate duo performance with the visionary pianist and composer Kris Davis.

Since her emergence on the New York scene in 2001, Davis has become one of the music’s singular talents—a deeply thoughtful, resolutely individual artist whose music lives at the intersection of jazz improvisation and contemporary classical composition. The Vancouver-born Davis was named Pianist of the Year in the 2020 DownBeat Critics Poll and dubbed one of the music’s top up-and-comers by The New York Times. She’s led or co-led 24 albums and won a GRAMMY for her contributions to SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director Terri Lyne Carrington’s landmark 2022 release New Standards Vol. 1.

Dave Holland & Kris Davis

Kris Davis is a Grammy award-winning pianist and composer described by The New York Times as a beacon for “deciding where to hear jazz (in New York) on a given night.”Davis has released 23 recordings as a leader or co-leader and collaborated with artists such as Terri Lyne Carrington, Dave Holland, John Zorn, Craig Taborn, Ingrid Laubrock, Tyshawn Sorey, Julian Lage and Esperanza Spalding.  She was named a 2021 Doris Duke Artist alongside Wayne Shorter and Danilo Perez, Pianist of the Year by DownBeat magazine in 2022 and 2020, and Pianist and Composer of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2021.  Her latest release, Diatom Ribbons Live at the Village Vanguard, was voted best album of 2023 by NPR, Pop Matters, and Downbeat among others.

Emerson/Harris Masterclass: Kris Davis

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Stone at The New School serves as an artist-centric home and community for experimental and avant-garde artists, where they can perform what they want without any interference. With concerts every Tuesday through Saturday evening, The Stone at The New School continues the tradition of the landmark non-profit performance space founded in 2005 by Artistic Director John Zorn, within a greatly improved space.

The Stone at The New School Presents: Marty Ehrlich

Arnhold Hall

In her Run the Gauntlet album, Kris Davis, accompanied by the extraordinary talents of bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Johnathan Blake, pays homage to six trailblazing women pianists who have influenced her development as a pianist and composer. Seamlessly melding composition with improvisation, this album stands as a testament to Davis’ singular voice within the jazz landscape.

Pianist

Kris Davis

Events

Upcoming events

Mar 7, 2026

Kris Davis Trio · Celebrity Series of Boston

Past events

Oct 29, 2025

Kris Davis Trio · Chamber Music SoCal

Sep 1, 2025

Kris Davis Trio feat. Robert Hurst & Johnathan Blake · Detroit Jazz Festival

About

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