Kris Davis: Run the Gauntlet
Pyroclastic Records

It's rare and refreshing to hear an artist openly acknowledge insecurity, but pianist Kris Davis does exactly that in her statement, “The piano trio format has always been kind of daunting for me.” While they might not publicly say so, many other pianists would no doubt concur for the simple reason that few other formats shine as bright a spotlight on the lead player. For Davis, Run the Gauntlet is the first trio release issued under her own name since 2014's Waiting For You To Grow, which she created while pregnant with her son. The new release also sees her pivoting from two recent albums with her Diatom Ribbons ensemble, its eponymous debut in 2019 and live Village Vanguard-recorded follow-up four years later. Seeing herself as a stronger player and composer than when Waiting For You To Grow was issued, Davis was eager to tackle the piano trio format again to see what might happen. Of course she's not alone on the release, and the dynamic partners she's recruited are integral to the music's character and impact. Bassist Robert Hurst's history with Branford Marsalis and others preceded his involvement with Davis; her familiarity with drummer Johnathan Blake extends further as she's played with him on and off for years. Being a recently formed trio, there's freshness and excitement in their playing, which Run the Gauntlet thoroughly documents in its hour-long running time.

As important to the release is the concept behind it, with Davis paying tribute to six inspirational pianists, Geri Allen, Carla Bley, Marilyn Crispell, Angelica Sanchez, Sylvie Courvoisier, and Renee Rosnes, who helped pave the way for Davis and in some cases provided personal support. Early in her career, she was hired by Rosnes to babysit her son; a decade later, she saw her friend Sanchez become a mother too, which afforded Davis the opportunity to see how another jazz artist might handle the challenges of parenting without putting musical aspirations on hold. Courvoisier proved an inspiration for the incorporation of prepared piano techniques into her music, something Davis does on the new album's “Softly, As You Wake” and “Subtones.” And of course Allen and Bley are important figures, not just for fellow pianists but artists of any gender and stylistic stripe. In Davis's words, the pianists collectively proved to her that “a career in music—whether as a woman, an immigrant, a parent, or a fan of avant-garde music—was attainable.” To be clear, the trio doesn't present cover versions of the pianists' material on Run the Gauntlet; instead, the album presents a set of (with one exception, Blake's “Beauty Beneath the Rubble”) Davis originals that reflects a sensibility influenced by the women in different ways. As satisfying as the release is, a double-disc iteration coupling the album as issued with a second one featuring cover treatments of their music is a tantalizing prospect.

No performance better represents the album's character and the trio's attack than the travelogue-styled title track, which more throws down the gauntlet than runs it when it advances through a series of vamps over fourteen titanic minutes. With the drummer and bassist powering the music with endless invention and Davis delivering her own customary brilliance, this is a group that never swings in the traditional way but in a manner all its own. Hurst's often the centre of the storm, a stabilizing presence around which the others swirl, but when he and Blake solo Davis assumes the role of anchor. Roles shift from one trio member to another with uncanny ease, and the to-and-fro between the players is a constant source of stimulation. Perhaps spurred on by her bandmates, Davis is in particularly free form here and moves breezily from passages of controlled restraint to wild flights of fancy. The late-inning solo by Blake shows him to be a colossal force-of-nature.

A three-part composition connects the new trio release to the earlier one, with “First Steps,” “Little Footsteps,” and “Heavy-Footed” all referencing the growth of her now almost eleven-year-old son. Delivered by Davis alone, the first of three stumbles determinedly along, not entirely secure in its footing. More confident in its movements is “Little Footsteps,” which finds Davis furiously barreling along with her partners' insistent rhythms lending thrust. Titled after an obnoxious weed that's invaded her Massachusetts home, “Knotweed” is as relentless and strong-willed as the perennial herbaceous plant. Evoking the meditative flow of a gamelan piece, a different sound world is generated during “Softly, As You Wake” when Hurst bows alongside Blake's percussive flutterings and the leader's prepared piano voicings. On an album that's often tumultuous, Blake's contemplative “Beauty Beneath the Rubble” provides a welcome moment of calm; the sparkling “Meditation” treatment that extends out of it revisits the gamelan vibe of “Softly, As You Wake.” The aptly named “Dream State” likewise opts for ruminative reflection in its own relaxed exploration.

September 2024