“Through their donations we are able to support artists with the infrastructure of hiring a publicist, printing CDs and getting them a bit of money to record and do the artwork and everything. As well as the Artistic Board there is also a Board of Directors, which brings together individuals with an interest in the music. When initiating Pyroclastic, Davis benefitted from John Zorn’s experience with Tzadik and was able to discern a potentially workable model based on setting up the label as a non-profit. We’re trying to aim for five to six recordings now per year, that’s the goal for 20.” So between the four of us we decide who we will put out on the label each year. Part of that is we have an Artistic Board with Terri Lyne Carrington, Rio Sakairi from The Jazz Gallery and also David Breskin. Then I have a web person up in Toronto and Stephanie Jones is writing all the liner notes and Ann Braithwaite is doing all the press. I’ve hired a couple of people to help, a young saxophonist David Leon and also Rob Martino who’s a drummer. He’s been part of that as well.”Īs a result of such support Davis has been able to enlist further assistance. That’s how I’ve been able to create these large-scale projects and have such nice video, nice packaging for Duopoly and also Diatom Ribbons.
Davis elaborates: “He also runs The Shifting Foundation, which has supported probably my last four or five CDs. She developed the concept in collaboration with a longtime ally, producer David Breskin, whose involvement has been crucial. Every aspect of the date was carefully thought through, from the palindromic sequencing of compositions and improvisations and video by filmmaker Mimi Chakarova to the stylish packaging. She launched the label in 2016 with her ambitious Duopoly project, a two CD/one DVD set matching Davis with eight different collaborators (guitarists Bill Frisell and Julian Lage, pianists Craig Taborn and Angelica Sanchez, drummers Billy Drummond and Marcus Gilmore and reedplayers Tim Berne and Don Byron). And I was feeling that sometimes my playing is a little bit like that.” “Pyroclastic is explosive material that comes out of a volcano. A lot of the small labels take some kind of publishing and I just felt like I want to own my own music.” The name stems from an analogy with Davis’ sometimes fiery pianistics. More on that later.Īlthough she has released music on a variety of outlets, including Clean Feed, Fresh Sound and Intakt, Davis explains the impetus to start Pyroclastic: “As I was growing and creating more work I just wanted to localize where that work was. It was selected as The New York Times Best Jazz Album of 2019 and also took top spot in the prestigious NPR Critics Poll. The label likely came to the attention of many jazz fans thanks to the sustained critical praise for Diatom Ribbons, Davis’ shapeshifting extravaganza built upon the foundation of her trio with drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and electronicist Val Jeanty. Not content with forging new models on the bandstand, pianist Kris Davis seeks to achieve similar ends with her Pyroclastic Records imprint, which she has set up as a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting innovative artists who create art for noncommercial purposes.
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