Music like Kris Bowers

Kristopher Bowers (born 1989) is an American composer and pianist. He has composed scores for films, video games, television and documentaries including Bridgerton, Green Book, Madden NFL, Dear White People, and Kobe Bryant's Muse. He has recorded, performed, and collaborated with Jay-Z, Kanye West, and José James. He won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition in 2011 and a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition in 2017 for The Snowy Day. He has also composed the score for Ava DuVernay's Netflix mini-series When They See Us.

Bowers was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1989. His father is a film and television writer, and his mother is an executive at DirecTV. Although neither of his parents received more than a high school education, they wanted their son to play the piano, so they played recordings of pianists while he was still in the womb. They sent him to lessons beginning at the age of 4. He had private classical music lessons starting at around the age of 9. He listened to "classic soul records and hip-hop before falling under the spell of jazz, classical music, and film scores." Bowers studied jazz and classical piano at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts where his teachers included Mulgrew Miller and Donald Vega. He studied jazz at Colburn School for Performing Arts. He graduated in 2006 then attended Juilliard and obtained a bachelor's and master's degree in jazz performance. While a student, he performed frequently in New York City.