The Gathering with Caroline Davis

The Gathering is an ongoing series presented by the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. Events are open to the greater Berklee community and public, and feature performances, guest lectures, workshops, and discussions—all with gender and racial equity as a guiding principle.  Please note: Berklee will be following a Monday schedule on Wednesday, April 22 due to the Patriot's Day holiday.

Caroline Davis is a Brooklyn-based saxophonist, composer, and activist, whose work is driven by a desire for connection and a belief in music’s capacity to expand listeners’ ears, minds, and hearts. A 2025 Guggenheim Fellow in composition, she is the recipient of the DownBeat Critics Poll Alto Saxophone Rising Star Award, as well as fellowships from the Jerome Foundation, Chamber Music America, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Her residencies include MacDowell, the Jazz Gallery, Civitella Ranieri, and the Rockefeller Estate, and she has served as a mentor for New Music USA’s Next Jazz Legacy program.

Davis’s work spans a wide range of creative contexts, rooted in improvisation and social inquiry. She has released eight albums as a leader and collaborated with artists such as Allison Miller, Lee Konitz, John Zorn, Angelica Sanchez, the Femme Jam, Miles Okazaki, Nicole Mitchell, Rajna Swaminathan, and Matt Mitchell. Her most recent release, Portals, explores themes of grief and memory, and she is also a contributor to Terri Lyne Carrington’s New Standards, a landmark collection of jazz compositions by female-identifying composers.

In addition to her work as a performer and composer, Davis is a dedicated educator, teaching courses on gender in jazz at the New School and maintaining a private studio at the Manhattan School of Music. Her artistic practice is deeply intertwined with advocacy, including work for gender equity through This Is a Movement, and for current and formerly incarcerated individuals through initiatives such as Justice for Keith LaMar, Freer Records, Keys Beats Bars, and Creative Beyond Incarceration.