Kris Davis teaches piano and ensembles in Basel
Grammy award-winning pianist and composer Kris Davis will be a professor of piano and ensembles at the FHNW Jazz Institute from the fall semester 2026.
Kris Davis‘ music moves between improvisation, composition, electronic soundscapes, spoken word and experimental forms. She is Associate Program Director of Creative Development at the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and founder of the label Pyroclastic Records. She has received numerous awards for her artistic work, including the Doris Duke Artist Award and several honors from the DownBeat Magazine and the Jazz Journalists Association.
In recent years, Davis has released 24 albums as leader or co-leader, and she has collaborated with Terri Lyne Carrington, Dave Holland, John Zorn, Esperanza Spalding, Tyshawn Sorey and Ingrid Laubrock, among others. Her album Diatom Ribbons was recognized in 2019 by both the New York Times as well as being voted Jazz Album of the Year by the NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll. 2023 saw the release of Diatom Ribbons - Live at the Village Vanguard a live version of the project with Terri Lyne Carrington, Julian Lage, Val Jeanty and Trevor Dunn.
