KRIS DAVIS

RUN THE GAUNTLET

Pyroclastic Records

Kris Davis, piano/prepared piano; Robert Hurst, bass; Johnathan Blake, drums.

The Kris Davis “Run the Gauntlet” album is a tribute to six extraordinary female pianists: Geri Allen, Carla Bley, Marilyn Crispell, Angelica Sanchez, Sylvie Courvoisier and Renee Rosnes. These are artists who have helped to shape the texture and musicality of Davis’s career.

The title track is an original composition by Kris Davis that features a series of ostinatos (a musical phrase repeated over and over again) for her trio to improvise over. In fact, Davis has composed all the music on this album.

Kris Davis explained, “The structure of the composition is meant to reflect their journeys through various challenges as women in jazz, each forging successful and unique careers with remarkable grace and strength. These trailblazing women were beacons of possibility during different stages of my development, showing me that a career in music – – whether as a woman, an immigrant, a parent, or a fan of Avant-garde music- – was attainable.”

Her tribute to the growth of her son, from little boy “First Steps” to “Little Footsteps” and finally “Heavy Footed” become three compositions that delineate her son’s development like pencil marks on the wall showing a child’s height and growth.  Like her son’s journey to adulthood, Davis’s music grows on me. Although seemingly obsessed with the ostinatos she uses in each piece, her tinkling piano improv dancing above the repetition, endears her style to me.  She’s a wonderful pianist, with technique and creativity amassed in her compositions and inside this production. I hear her uniqueness blossom. On “Little Footsteps” Robert Hurst uses his double bass to represent trembling, busy, small child feet racing around what we used to call the ‘terrible twos.’ Also, prominent on this composition are the impressive Jonathan Blake drums, not only supporting the time and tempo, but improvising beneath each solo, each phrase, each childlike footstep reiterated by the tap of his sticks against the drum skins. Her composition, “Beauty Beneath the Rubble” is so lovely it takes my breath away. I love the techniques Robert Hurst exhibits on his bass instrument. “Knotwood” is funky and once again, showcases the brilliance of Blake on drums.

Kris Davis becomes another gifted and growing artist that Pyroclastic Records supports and empowers, spotlighting her continuing genre-bending, unconventional piano art. She is currently an award-winning pianist and composer who has released 25 recordings as a leader and/or co-leader.  She was named a 2021 Doris Duke Artist alongside Wayne Shorter and Danilo Perez, also Pianist of the Year by DownBeat magazine in both 2020 and 2022.  The Jazz Journalist Association named her Pianist and Composer of the Year in 2021. Davis is the Associate Program Director of Creative Development at the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, the founder of Pyroclastic Records and co-founder of the International Creators and Collaborators Workshop. Her current album sounds like another Grammy nomination.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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