Keyboardist Kris Bowers leads his band this weekend at Bohemian Caverns.

The Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition is among the world’s most prestigious showcases for young jazz musicians. Hosted by the Kennedy Center every year, the Monk Competition has launched the careers of many internationally renowned musicians, from vocalists Joshua Redman and Jane Monheit, all the way to recent finalists like D.C. native Ben Williams.

One of the biggest perks of winning the competition is a deal with Concord Records, which releases an album from each winner. Sometimes, this has the unintended effect of speeding up the creative process.

“I had to do something whether I was ready or not,” said keyboardist Kris Bowers, winner of the 2011 Monk Competition. “So it was really important to me, once I was given this opportunity, to take the time to come up with a concept and a body of work I felt was unique to me and that I could stand behind. That whole process involved a lot of self-reflection.”

The result of this reflection is Heroes + Misfits, an ambitious debut from the 24-year-old musician. The album will be highlighted as Bowers leads his group on Friday and Saturday at Bohemian Caverns. Heroes + Misfits brings together a lot of themes that tie together Bowers’ experience not only as a jazz artist in the 21st century, but also as a millennial coming of age.

“Ultimately, the album is about my generation, our relationship with technology and how it’s given us access to limitless amounts of information, connected us to one another and given our voices substantial power,” Bowers explained. “We have the potential to be a pretty powerful generation, and it’s a celebration of that.”

A Los Angeles native, Bowers’ first exposure to music came through his parents’ collection of classic R&B and funk. He received training in both classical music and jazz before completing his undergraduate studies at Juilliard. He also cites ’90s hip-hop as a major influence, along with film composers like Howard Shore, John Williams and Danny Elfman. This interest in combining music with images led Bowers to stay on at Juilliard for a masters degree in film composition. He has also recorded with the likes of Jay-Z and Kanye West. All of these experiences are evident on Heroes + Misfits. In that way, Bowers is completely of his generation in that he has taken the enormous amount of information to which he has access and is finding a way to synthesize it into a coherent set of ideas.

“The funny thing about your first album is that you feel the need to describe your entire life up until this moment,” Bowers said. “So trying to cram all of those inspirations into one project can be a bit of a headache at times.”

Joining Bowers at the Caverns will be Adam Agati on guitar, Burniss Earl Travis on bass, Corey Fonville on drums and special guest vocalist Chris Turner. The band will focus on material from Heroes + Misfits, but there will also be some surprises.

“Each song has strong concepts and emotions that we’re trying to convey, so if we’re doing our job, the audience will feel something,” Bowers said. “It’s always hard to do when playing mostly instrumental music, but when the emotion behind a song is made the priority, it always makes for a better performance in my opinion.”

Kris Bowers & Co. perform on May 16 and 17 at Bohemian Caverns. 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. sets. Tickets $20 online/$25 at the door.