Billy Childs Quartet

Pianist, composer, and arranger Billy Childs won Best Jazz Instrumental Album at this year’s Grammy Awards for his album Rebirth. Childs began his remarkable career as a journeyman musician with the bands of Freddie Hubbard and J.J. Johnson in the late 70s and early 80s. In 1988, he launched his recording career as a leader with Take For Example, This… – the first of his four critically acclaimed albums for Windham Hill Jazz. Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro (Sony Masterworks, 2014) was produced by Larry Klein and featured such guest artists as Renee Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Wayne Shorter, Alison Kraus, Dianne Reeves, Chris Botti, and Esperanza Spalding. Rebirth (Mack Avenue) marks “a return to the snaking quickfire hard–bop Childs played in the ‘70s, albeit infused with all the musics he has visited so intelligently since…It’s ultra-sophisticated, gracefully crafted jazz, but full of dynamism,” says The Guardian.

“As a pianist, he possesses the improvisatory skills and powerful sense of swing one associates with world-class artists… Childs is an inventive composer and arranger whose effort in those areas consistently expand the dimensions of the jazz genre — and beyond.”  — The Los Angeles Times

Billy Childs, piano
Dayna Stephens, saxophone
Hans Glawischnig, bass
Ari Hoenig, drums