Caroline Davis Solo Concert

Caroline Davis’ solo performances are chosen spontaneously, given the atmosphere of the room and the people present. She explores sonic textures offered by interactive technologies, sharing sounds from the saxophone that she considers to be distinctive and quirky. She makes use of Pure Data patches developed by the open source community surrounding the Organelle (the technobear, shreeswifty, critterandguitari, tony j morton, nobuyasu sakonda, soxsa, varicela, nicky-system, samesimilar, and chrisk). Most of the titles and songs from her solo performances are in reverence to bell hooks and include: Love as a practice of freedom, Radical openness, Pain severing bonds, Maintenance of commitment, Using community as a means of escape, Accept when, Belief in one's capacity to transform, Deep longing to avoid conflict, What it means to listen, Eliminating elimination.

Caroline Davis is a Brooklyn-based saxophonist, composer, and activist whose work is rooted in improvisation, social inquiry, and a belief in music’s power to foster connection. A 2025 Guggenheim Fellow in Composition, she has received the DownBeat Critics Poll Alto Saxophone Rising Star Award and fellowships from NYFA, the Jerome Foundation, Chamber Music America, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.

Davis has released eight albums as a leader and collaborated with artists including Allison Miller, Lee Konitz, John Zorn, and Nicole Mitchell. Her most recent release, Portals, explores themes of grief and memory, and she is a contributor to Terri Lyne Carrington’s New Standards. She is also an educator at The New School and the Manhattan School of Music, and her artistic practice is deeply intertwined with advocacy for gender equity and incarcerated communities.