AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Kris Bowers

Artist:Kris Bowers

Song:Wake the Neighbors

Album:Heroes + Misfits

Though he has only recorded a couple of albums as a leader, jazz pianist Kris Bowers is making his mark as a film and TV composer. He has already been nominated for Emmys and won a Daytime Emmy for the 2016 Amazon TV special The Snowy Day. He was born Apr. 5, 1989 in Los Angeles. His father has written for TV and his mom works for DirecTV. Bowers took piano lessons as a child and attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts where Mulgrew Miller was one of his teachers. He earned a bachelor's and master's degree in jazz performance at Juilliard. He also performed in New York City clubs. Bowers recorded an album in Japan in 2010. Then he won the 2011 Thelonious Monk Jazz Piano Competition. That got him a record deal with Concord. He appeared on the 2011 Jay-Z and Kanye West album Watch the Throne. The 2014 album Heroes + Misfits is a mix of jazz and other music styles. Wake the Neighbors features guitarist Adam Agati who wrote the song with Bowers. Agati is currently a member of Marcus Miller's band. Other musicians are Burniss Earl Travis II on bass and Jamire Williams on drums. Guest performers include singers Jose James, Chris Turner and Julia Easterlin along with saxophonists Casey Benjamin and Kenneth Whalum. Since then Bowers has concentrated on film and TV music. Films include Green Book, Respect, King Richard and the upcoming film adaptation of the Broadway musical The Color Purple. On TV, he won a Daytime Emmy for The Snowy Day. He was Emmy nominated for the Netflix series When They See Us, the FX series Mrs. America and the Netflix series Bridgerton. He composed the music for the 2022 HBO miniseries We Own This City and the upcoming Disney+ Marvel miniseries Secret Invasion. That's what is keeping Bowers busy these days. Here's Kris Bowers performing Wake the Neighbors at The Bootleg Bar in Paris, France 2014.