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Kris Davis: The Solastalgia Suite
by John Sharpe
For her first excursion into string quartet writing, Canadian pianist Kris Davis shapes a restless interplay of atmospheric texture and rhythmic urgency on The Solastalgia Suite. The title takes its cue from philosopher Glenn Albrecht's term for mourning environmental loss, a concept that resonates throughout the work's uneasy lyricism. Commissioned by the Jazztopad Festival in Wrocław for the Lutosławski Quartet--following previous contributions from Craig Taborn, James Brandon Lewis, and Vijay Iyer--the suite was captured during the festival's 2024 edition in ...
Continue ReadingKris Davis: The Solastalgia Suite
by Mike Jurkovic
Pianist/composer/raconteur Kris Davis dazzles again with The Solastalgia Suite, her headfirst dive into third stream composition. Echoing Ravel's harmonic conversations and guided by the environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht, who describes his concept of solastalgia as a form of homesickness while we are still at home, Davis and Poland's revered Lutosławski Quartet, named for twentieth-century Polish composer Witold Lutosławski, sear into the slicing opener, “Interlude," with a furor only those generations threatened with death by storm front understand. But ...
Continue ReadingKris Davis and the Lutoslawski Quartet: The Solastalgia Suite
by Alberto Bazzurro
La pianista e compositrice canadese--ma ormai newyorchese d'adozione--Kris Davis, fra le personalità più interessanti affermatesi nel jazz di questa prima fetta di terzo millennio, va qui oltre quanto da lei fatto finora, almeno concettualmente, visto che si abbina a uno degi quartetti d'archi a sua volta più illustri di questi stessi anni per attraversare una propria suite in otto movimenti dalle movenze (perdonate il gioco di parole) squisitamente “contemporanee" (un tempo si sarebbe parlato, non a torto, di third stream) ...
Continue ReadingKris Davis and the Lutoslawski Quartet: The Solastalgia Suite
by Glenn Astarita
Kris Davis, the Vancouver-born, Brooklyn-based pianist and composer, stands as one of contemporary jazz’ most visionary figures. A master improviser and bandleader, she has earned multiple DownBeat Critics Poll Pianist of the Year honors, received a Doris Duke Artist Award and co-led the 2023 Grammy-winning album New Standards Vol. 1 (Candid, 2023) for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. These accolades merely confirm what her body of work has long suggested: Davis operates well ahead of the curve.Known for her ...
Continue ReadingKris Davis and the Lutoslawski Quartet: The Solastalgia Suite
by Don Phipps
Kris Davis's The Solastalgia Suite is a towering achievement. Straddling the diverse worlds of modern classical and jazz idioms, Davis, already a notable heavyweight on the jazz scene, has moved to another level, the emergence of a kind of beyond jazz. Here, teamed with the Lutoslawski Quartet--Roksana Kwasnikowska (1st violin), Marcin Markowicz (2nd violin), Artur Rozmysłowicz (viola), and Maciej Młodawski (cello)--Davis brings her skills as a composer and pianist to eight tracks of challenging, sublime, chaotic but controlled beauty and ...
Continue ReadingKris Davis Trio al Torrione di Ferrara
by Libero Farnè
Kris Davis Trio Jazz Club Il Torrione Ferrara in Jazz Ferrara 10 maggio 2025 Con il concerto del Kris Davis Trio, in cui la pianista canadese viene affiancata da Robert Hurst al contrabbasso e Johnathan Blake alla batteria, si è chiusa la sempre ricca stagione 2024-25 del Torrione Jazz Club. Era questa la prima apparizione in assoluto della Davis a Ferrara; irrinunciabile quindi l'occasione di ascoltare dal vivo questa formazione, il cui disco, Run ...
Continue ReadingKris Davis: Run the Gauntlet
by John Sharpe
While Kris Davis hews close to the hallowed piano trio format on Run The Gauntlet, her first return to the set-up since Waiting For You To Grow (Clean Feed, 2014), she inevitably gives it a few intriguing twists. By recruiting bassist Robert Hurst, alumni of Tony Williams, Steve Coleman and Wynton and Branford Marsalis, and drummer Johnathan Blake, a Blue Note leader also to be heard with Kenny Barron, Ravi Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, she ensures a driving beat which ...
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