Billy Childs

Childs worked across composer, pianist, jazz musician and musician. The registers place that work in jazz and easy listening. This article rests on 63 catalogued compositions, 1 published texts, 25 issued recordings and 2 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

Billy Childs studied at University of Southern California, USC Thornton School of Music and Alexander Hamilton High School. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are jazz and easy listening. Distinctions recorded are Guggenheim Fellowship and Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals.

• Name — Billy Childs • Birth Name — William Edward Childs • Born — 8 March 1957 • Birthplace — Los Angeles, California, US • Genre — Jazz • Occupation — Musician • Instrument — Piano • Years Active — 1977–present • Label — Stretch Records

When he was 16, Childs attended the Community School of the Performing Arts sponsored by the University of Southern California (USC). He studied music theory with Marienne Uszler and piano with John Weisenfluh. From 1975 to 1979, Childs attended USC and earned a degree in composition under the tutelage of Robert Linn.[4] While still a teenager, Childs was playing professionally. He made his recording debut in 1977 with the J. J. Johnson Quintet during a tour of Japan, documented as "the Yokohama Concert". Childs gained significant attention during the six years (1978–84) he spent in trumpeter Freddie Hubbard's group. His early influences as a pianist included Herbie Hancock, Keith Emerson, and Chick Corea. As a composer he is influenced by Paul Hindemith, Maurice Ravel, and Igor Stravinsky. Childs's sister is the playwright Kirsten Childs.[5]

Childs's solo jazz recording career began in 1988, when he released Take for Example, This..., the first of four critically acclaimed albums on Windham Hill Jazz. He followed that with Twilight Is Upon Us (1989), His April Touch (1992), and Portrait of a Player (1993). Chick Corea asked Childs to join his label, Stretch Records. Childs's next album, I've Known Rivers, appeared on Stretch/GRP (now Stretch Records/Concord Records) in 1995. The Child Within on Shanachie Records was released in 1996.

In 2000, Childs arranged, orchestrated, and conducted Dianne Reeves's project The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan, which won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Other artists and producers for whom he has arranged include Sting, Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Botti, Gladys Knight, Michael Bublé, David Foster, Phil Ramone, and Claudia Acuña.

• Illustration — The Ensemble at the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island, August 2015 In 2001, Childs formed a chamber jazz group consisting of piano, bass, drums, acoustic guitar, harp, and woodwinds. Sometimes the core group is augmented by string quartet, woodwind quintet, or both. Childs was influenced by Laura Nyro's collaborations with Alice Coltrane (on Christmas and the Beads of Sweat) and by a desire to merge classical and jazz music.[7] In 2005, the ensemble released its first album, Lyric, Jazz-Chamber Music, Vol. 1, which was nominated for three Grammy awards: Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Best Instrumental Composition, and Best Arrangement, and won best instrumental composition for "Into the Light".

• 1993: Los Angeles Philharmonic, "Tone Poem for Holly" (Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor) • 1994: Los Angeles Philharmonic, "Fanfare for the United Races of America" (Salonen conductor) • 1995: Akron Symphony Orchestra, "The Distant Land" (Alan Balter conductor) • 1997: Akron Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, "Just Like Job" (Balter conductor) • 1997: Dorian Wind Quintet, "A Day in the Forest of Dreams" (Childs piano, with Dorian Wind Quintet) • 2004: Los Angeles Philharmonic, "For Suzanne" (Dianne Reeves vocal soloist, Childs piano soloist) • 2005: Los Angeles Master Chorale, "The Voices of Angels" (Grant Gershon conductor) • 2007: American Brass Quintet, "2 Elements" (Childs piano, with American Brass Quintet) • 2007: Fontana Chamber Arts, "The Path Among the Trees" (Billy Childs' JazzChamber Ensemble with Ying Quartet) • 2009: Pacific Serenades, "String Quartet No. 1"[9] • 2010: Detroit Symphony, "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra" (Regina Carter, soloist) • 2012: Ying Quartet, "Awakening String Quartet No. 2" (The Ying Quartet) • 2022: Young Concert Artists (and a consortium of nine orchestras), "Diaspora: Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra" (Steven Banks, soloist)[10]

• 1992: Grenoble Jazz Festival, "Chamber Orchestra Music" (Steve Houghton soloist) • 1994: Monterey Jazz Festival, "Concerto Piano and JazzChamber Orchestra" (Childs soloist) • 1997: Mancini Institute, "The Winds of Change" (Roy Hargrove soloist) • 2001: Kuumbwa Jazz Center "Into the Light" (Billy Childs JazzChamber Ensemble) • 2004: Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, "The Fierce Urgency of Now" (Wynton Marsalis musical director) • 2010: Monterey Jazz Festival, "Music for Two Quartets" (Kronos Quartet with Childs, Brian Blade, Scott Colley, and Steve Wilson)

• Title — Label — Year released — Notes • Midland — Lunacy Records — 1985 • Take for Example This... — Windham Hill Records — 1988 • Twilight Is Upon Us — Windham Hill — 1989 — Top Jazz Albums 11 • His April Touch — Windham Hill — 1991 • Portrait of a Player — Windham Hill — 1993 — Top Jazz Albums 12 • I've Known Rivers — Stretch Records — 1995 • The Child Within — Shanachie Records — 1996 • Skim Coat — Metropolitan Records — 1999 • Bedtime Stories — 32 Jazz — 2000 • Lyric: Jazz Chamber Music Vol. 1 — Lunacy Music — 2005 — Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition (Into the Light) • Autumn: In Moving Pictures (Jazz Chamber Music Vol. 2) — Lunacy Music — 2009 — Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition (The Path Among the Trees) • Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro — Sony Masterworks — 2014 — Top Jazz Albums 1, The Billboard 200 104 • Rebirth — Mack Avenue — 2017 — Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album • Acceptance — Mack Avenue — 2020 • The Winds of Change — Mack Avenue — 2023 — Quartet with Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet), Scott Colley (bass), Brian Blade (drums) Main source:[11]

With Chris Botti • When I Fall In Love (Columbia, 2004) With Lou Rawls • Seasons 4 U (Rawls & Brokaw, 1998)[12][13] With Bunky Green • Healing the Pain (Delos, 1990) With J. J. Johnson and Nat Adderley • The Yokohama Concert (Pablo Live, 1978) • Concepts in Blue (Pablo Today, 1981) • Chain Reaction: Yokohama Concert, Vol. 2 (Pablo, 2002) – rec. 1977 With Bunny Brunel • For you to play (Nikaia Records, 1994)

Billy Childs is recorded with the occupation jazz musician. Classed in the genre easy listening. Recorded as having studied at University of Southern California, USC Thornton School of Music and Alexander Hamilton High School.