Kris Davis Diatom Ribbons

Kris Davis released LP ft. Nels Cline, Marc Ribot, Esperanza Spalding; playing shows

Canadian-born, New York-based pianist Kris Davis has been a force in the local NYC jazz scene since moving here in the early 2000s, and she remains very active both live and in the studio, with several upcoming performances and a great new album Diatom Ribbons released on her own Pyroclastic Records label earlier this month. The album covers a lot of musical ground, aided in part by some big-name guests. Esperanza Spalding‘s guest vocals on “The Very Thing” make that song as gorgeous and accessible as anything on Esperanza’s own recent album, guest guitarist Nels Cline helps veer the album into psychedelic jam territory, and Kris embraces some of her most avant-garde tendencies with a little help from Marc Ribot. The album also features contributions from Mr. Bungle’s Trevor Dunn, Ches Smith, JD Allen, Tony Malaby, Val Jeanty, and Terri Lyne Carrington, and the whole thing is very worth a listen. If you haven’t heard it yet, you can stream it below.

As is often the case, Kris has a lot of live appearances coming up, including several in NYC. She’s playing with the Jazz and Gender Justice Student ensemble on 11/11 at Dizzy’s Club, as a member of the Borderlands Trio on 11/23 at The Stone Series at Brooklyn’s happylucky no.1, as a member of Johnathan Blake Group at Village Vanguard from 12/6-8, at Ches Smith’s residency at The Stone on 1/15, as a member of Jen Shyu Trio at The Stone on 1/22, and she’s doing her own Stone residency from 1/28-21. Kris is performing in other cities too. All upcoming performances and more details here.