Kris Davis and Craig Taborn

“Over the last couple of years in New York one method for deciding where to hear jazz on a given night has been to track down the pianist Kris Davis.”—New York Times

Rising star jazz pianist Kris Davis teams up with Craig Taborn in this special dual-piano performance. Davis has been turning heads on the New York scene ever since she relocated to Brooklyn from Vancouver and began to lead her own groups as well as play alongside such esteemed musicians as Paul Motian, Tim Berne, and Mary Halvorson. In just a short time she earned second place in the Rising Star Pianist category of DownBeat’s tastemaking Critics Poll, while major fan and jazz star Jason Moran included her in his Artforum “Best of the Year” piece. “A freethinking, gifted pianist on the scene, Davis lives in each note that she plays,” he enthused. “Her range is impeccable…I consider her an honorary descendant of Cecil Taylor and a welcome addition to the fold.”

Davis’s upcoming release Duopoly features a series of stellar duos with Taborn, Bill Frisell, Julian Lage, and Don Byron, among others. For our concert she’ll double down on dual pianos with Taborn, a restless innovator and familiar favorite of Wex jazz fans. With his intense, cerebral, and highly individualistic approach, Taborn is the perfect foil for Kris Davis as they explore the kaleidoscopic possibilities of the instrument together.