INTERVIEW: Kris Bowers

Throughout the 2010’s, nestled in North Carolina’s Bull City stood one of the premier jazz and R&B festivals. Assembling historic lineups with ease, where one could view legendary and rising talent favs at several venues across Durham, the Art of Cool Fest became a yearly highlight. During its second year, it drew bandleader, film and TV composer Kris Bowers. Connecting with him then in 2015, he spoke of working on Showtime’s Kobe Bryant ‘Muse’ documentary and the booked and busy musical road ahead of him.

Nine years later, he’s a Emmy winner, Grammy and Academy Award nominated and stands a great shot at winning his first Oscar this March for co-directing two documentaries (‘A Concerto is A Conversation’ and ‘The Last Repair Shop’) nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject. Reflecting back on our interview, I could tell this sky was the limit for this versatile Renaissance man, “hero and misfit”. Peep this #tbt interview clip about Kris’ WTF moments with President Obama, Kanye, Aretha Franklin and his future projects with Kobe Bryant and Jack White!