Kris Davis Trio: Run the Gauntlet

Most tribute albums feature multiple artists covering one musician’s songs. Pianist Kris Davis takes a different tack on Run the Gauntlet, her first trio recording as a leader in a decade. Joined by bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Johnathan Blake, she pays homage to women jazz pianists who have profoundly influenced her. She doesn’t play their works, but rather fills herself with their inspiration and expresses her appreciation through idiosyncratic original pieces with titles drawn from her own life experiences: raising a son (“First Steps”), dealing with an invasive plant (“Knotweed”), or finding unique ways to end her tunes (“Coda Queen”). We might listen for echoes of the honorees—Geri Allen, Carla Bley, Marilyn Crispell, Angelica Sanchez, Sylvie Courvoisier, and Renee Rosnes—but it’s Davis’ musical voice we hear. The 14-minute title-track opener is an episodic representation of the challenging career journeys taken by her idols. It leads into ten shorter pieces of various degrees of density and spaciousness, excitation and reflection. Blake, who contributed one gorgeous composition, makes skins and cymbals sing. Hurst issues deep pulses, big tones, and bowed colors. And Davis runs the gamut of pianistic possibilities (boppish, free, romantic, prismatic, prepared) as she does her inspirations proud.