"Good Citizen is anything but the law-abiding personage of the typical jazz trio release. No cloying ballads or rehashed standards to be found. As in Davis' previous projects as a leader on Fresh Sound Records—Rye Eclipse (2008) and The Slightest Shift (2006)—she continues the arduous pursuit of thought-provoking composition and improvisation. Here, she finds two like-minded cohorts in drummer Tom Rainey and bassist John Hébert, both well-known purveyors of boundary-pushing music. This recording is one of the most out-front displays of Davis' playing. Her piano dances from skittering flights to frenzied syncopations within the title track's blistering tempo. "Where Does The Tunnel Go" is an unforgettable jaunt with a punctuating pop hook propelled by snappy beats and a thundering foundation. "Desert Prayer" is yet another striking statement of the pianist's writing and playing: the cerebral solo piano intro; the deep pocketed mid-tempo groove; and the piano's minimalism, all powerful components that work together in harmony.

Kris Davis Trio / 'Good Citizen'

Hebert and Rainey are in typical form. They provide texture and tone to the pensive "Skinner Box" and sensational swing-time in "B Side." With examples such as the varying contrasts between "KTJ 1"'s dark tint and "KTJ 2"'s soaring free flight, or Rainey's drums brilliantly mimicking Davis' keys in "Human Condition" with colorful taps and shuffles, the music continually delivers the unexpected. Good Citizen is yet another top notch release from a pianist/composer cut from the same cloth as Myra Melford and Geri Allen." Mark F. Turner -All About Jazz (October, 2010)

Originally from Canada, Davis studied classical piano through the Royal Conservatory of Music and received her bachelors degree from the University of Toronto. She attended the Banff Centre for the Arts jazz program in 1997 and 2000, where she met future band mate Tony Malaby. Two years later she received a Canada Council grant to relocate to New York and study composition with Jim McNeely and in 2006 was awarded another Canada Council grant to study extended piano techniques with pianist Benoit Delbecq in Paris, France.

In addition to her efforts as a band leader, Davis has performed with John Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble, Theo Bleckmann, Ron Horton, Ingrid Jensen, Steve Swell, Peter Herbert, and Chris Speed. Davis is a founding member of the RIDD quartet which will release it’s first record in 2008, Fiction Avalanche, on the Clean Feed Label. She performs regularly as a sideman for many up-and-coming leaders such as Jon Irabagon and Tony Barba and plays harmonium in the Brooklyn Qawwali Party. Davis teaches at the Maine Jazz Camp and for the Preparatory Jazz Studies at Queens College.