Diatom Ribbons (Live At The Village Vanguard) Kris Davis

• 1 Alice In The Congo (Live) 12:16
• 2 Nine Hats (Live) 06:19
• 3 The Dancer (Live) 06:43
• 4 VW (Live) 06:38
• 5 Dolores (Live - Take 1) 10:06
• 6 Bird Suite, Pt. 1: Kingfisher (Live) 11:36
• 7 Endless Columns (Live) 11:01
• 8 Bird Suite, Pt. 2: Bird Call Blues (Live) 10:54
• 9 Bird Suite, Pt. 3: Parasitic Hunter (Live) 11:00
• 10 Brainfeel (Live) 07:29
• 11 Dolores (Live - Take 2) 10:43
• Total Runtime 01:44:45

Info for Diatom Ribbons (Live At The Village Vanguard)

It is no coincidence that Canadian pianist Kris Davis has become one of the most sought after collaborators on the world jazz stage. In addition to releasing over 20 albums as leader or co-leader, her innate ability to include strong melodic lines within a progressive and at times ‘free’ approach to improvisation, has made her one of those artists who extend the boundaries of contemporary music. This has attracted collaborations with such jazz giants as Dave Holland, Bill Frisell, Ambrose Akinmusire, John Zorn and many others. Two more recent luminaries Terri Lyne Carrington and Julian Lage appear on this latest release on Davis’ own highly regarded label, Pyroclastic Records.

The expansive concept of Diatom Ribbons begged to be explored live. Thankfully, in 2022, Davis, Carrington, Jeanty, and Dunn went to the Village Vanguard along with guitarist Julian Lage to do exactly that. Diatom Ribbons Live at the Village Vanguard (Pyroclastic Records, 2023) does not have the same songs as the previous album – it presents new Davis compositions and other tunes under a similar experimental lens. Perhaps as a reference to when Davis and Carrington began performing together, Geri Allen’s “The Dancer” was released as the lead single. Davis takes the theme at a more steady pace and employs prepared piano with gaff tape that gives the notes a more percussive quality. The use of dissonance to punctuate phrases combined with the piano’s altered tone gives the tune a subtle catchy groove. Lage provides fine accompaniment, elaborating on Davis’ lines with soulful flourishes packed with graceful trills.

Jeanty’s turntablism feels at home within the head-nod-inducing environment of “The Dancer,” and is incorporated well throughout the album. Scratches and vocal samples enhance the pulsating march of Ronald Shannon Jackson’s “Alice in the Congo” as Davis shimmers through the motif. Davis and Lage get the track off to a fine start with impressive bluesy playing. Things get more rambunctious as the piece moves into a more abrasive cloud of improvisation that gives way to a storm of drums and piano. Davis’ dissonant and complex playing jumps around at a breakneck pace. Carrington matches that energy with a stunning performance that ends with a thunderous solo and a very brief venture into a hip-hop-esque beat.

Like the studio album that came before it, Diatom Ribbons Live at the Village Vanguard is a distinctly modern recording that has something for most jazz fans; that statement could apply to the “Bird Suite” alone. Playing out over three tracks, “Bird Suite” rocks and crashes (“Part 1: Kingfisher”), has gorgeous swinging playing (“Part 2: Bird Call Blues”) and closes with the more avant-garde and hypnotic side of Davis’ style (“Part 3: Parasitic Hunter”). The pianist’s skill with interlocking patterns shines at the end of “Part 3: Parasitic Hunter” and in “VW,” a sparser, more jagged number that features a Sun Ra vocal sample. Sun Ra remarks that “this music is from another dimension,” and after spending a good amount of time with this album, it’s hard to disagree. Listeners will finish this live set jealous of the audience.

"There are muscular Davis reworkings of pieces by Ronald Shannon Jackson (a clamorous, chattering ‘Alice In The Congo’); Geri Allen (a slow, minimally-circling ‘The Dancer’); and Wayne Shorter (two surging bop/swing versions of ‘Dolores’), while seven strikingly different tracks are the leader's own. ‘Nine Hats’ turns on slowly repeating guitar figures becoming a dancing motif embroidered by electronics; the trundling, throbbing ‘VW’ wraps around a radio interview with Sun Ra; ‘Bird Call Blues’ is a modern-bebop cruiser laced with birdsong; and an interview with Paul Bley about the Bird himself, Charlie Parker. Davis herself can be Monkish and flinty or Tayloresque and torrential, and the drifting, sidewise progress of her tunes is constantly compelling, however enigmatic it can sometimes seem at first." (John Fordham, jazzwise.com)

Kris Davis, piano, prepared piano, arturia microfreak synthesizer
Terri Lyne Carrington, drums
Val Jeanty, turntables, electronics
Julian Lage, electric guitar
Trevor Dunn, electric bass, double bass

Recorded at the Village Vanguard on May 27 and 28th, 2022
Recorded & mixed by Ron Saint Germain
Mastered by Scott Hull at Masterdisk
Produced By Kris Davis

Kris Davis
is a Grammy award-winning pianist and composer described by The New York Times as a beacon for “deciding where to hear jazz [in New York] on a given night.” Davis has released 24 recordings as a leader or co-leader and collaborated with artists such as Terri Lyne Carrington, Dave Holland, John Zorn, Craig Taborn, Ingrid Laubrock, Tyshawn Sorey and Esperanza Spalding. She was named a 2021 Doris Duke Artist alongside Wayne Shorter and Danilo Perez, Pianist of the Year by DownBeat magazine in 2022 and 2020, and Pianist and Composer of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2021. In 2019, Kris Davis’ “Diatom Ribbons” was named jazz album of the year by both the New York Times and the NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll. The album draws from the musical worlds of free improvisation, spoken word, electronica, mainstream jazz, R&B and rock. In September 2023, Davis released ‘Diatom Ribbons – Live at the Village Vanguard’ featuring Grammy winner and NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington on drums, Julian Lage on guitar, Val Jeanty on turntables and electronics, and Trevor Dunn on bass. Davis is the Associate Program Director of Creative Development at the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and the founder of Pyroclastic Records. Davis is a Steinway Artist.

This album contains no booklet.