Kris Bowers

SEP 23-26 | Opening Week

Sep 23, 2021

Miner Auditorium

PLEASE NOTE:
This page is an archive of a past production

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Original show description below.

Kris Bowers is a brilliant young pianist who contains multitudes. He’s a Juilliard graduate who collaborated with Kanye West and Jay-Z on the hit 2011 album Watch the Throne. He’s a bold and subtle improviser who triumphed at the 2011 Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition, wowing a heavyweight panel of judges (Renee Rosnes, Jason Moran, Danilo Pérez, Ellis Marsalis, and Herbie Hancock). And he’s a film music aficionado who composed scores for Bridgerton, The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Green Book, When They See Us, Dear White People, Seeds of Time and Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me.

Marshalling his far flung interests the Los Angeles native displayed maturity far beyond his years on his critically hailed 2014 debut album Heroes + Misfits (Concord Jazz), an ambitious, stylistically expansive project that owes as much to his love of cinematic sound tracks and hip hop as his passion for jazz piano legends Ahmad Jamal, Wynton Kelly and Oscar Peterson. While he’s contributed to acclaimed albums by trumpeter Etienne Charles and vocalist José James, Bowers is rapidly building his own identity as a bandleader, forging a seductive and strikingly original 21st century sound.

The pianist will utilize SFJAZZ’s immersive media system to explore cinematic themes from his film scores, featuring improvisational instrumentation and visual projections.

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