William Edward Childs
Encyclopedia
William Edward Childs is a composer and jazz pianist from Los Angeles
.
Born March 8, 1957, he began piano lessons when he was six. When he was 16, Childs started attending the Community School of the Performing Arts, a prestigious music program sponsored by the University of Southern California
(USC). After having studied theory there with Marienne Uszler and piano with John Weisenfluh, he attended USC (1975–79), earning a bachelor of music degree in composition, under the tutelage of Robert Linn
.
Childs was playing professionally as a teenager and he made his recording debut in 1977 with the J. J. Johnson Quintet during a tour of Japan
that is documented as the Yokohama Concert. He gained significant attention during his six-years (1978–84) playing with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard
’s group. While influenced early on in his playing by Herbie Hancock
, Keith Emerson
, and Chick Corea
and in his composing by Paul Hindemith
, Maurice Ravel
, and Igor Stravinsky
, Childs nevertheless had an original conception of his own from near the start, developing his own voice as both a pianist and a composer in jazz and classical music genres.
resulted in Chick’s asking Billy to join his new (at the time) label, Stretch Records, upon Childs’ departure from Windham Hill Jazz. His next album, I’ve Known Rivers on Stretch/GRP (now Stretch/Concord) was released in 1995. Childs then followed withThe Child Within, released on the Shanachie record label in 1996.
' project The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan
, helping that recording to a 2002 Grammy award for "best jazz vocal CD." Other artists and producers for whom Childs has arranged include Sting, Yo-Yo Ma
, Chris Botti
, Gladys Knight
, Michael Bublé
, David Foster
, Phil Ramone
, and Claudia Acuña
.
's collaborations with Alice Coltrane
(on "Christmas and the Beads of Sweat") and partly influenced by a desire to merge the classical and jazz music genres. The Jazz-Chamber Ensemble was the result and the group consists of: piano, bass, drums, acoustic guitar, harp and woodwinds. Sometimes the core group is augmented by string quartet, woodwind quintet, or both.
In 2005, the ensemble released its first CD, Lyric, Jazz-Chamber Music, Vol. 1. The CD was nominated for three 2006 Grammy awards (best jazz CD, best instrumental composition, and best instrumental arrangement), winning for best instrumental composition, "Into the Light".
2006 - Grammy Award - best instrumental composition Into The Light
2006 - Grammy Award - best arrangement accompanying a vocalist What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?
2009 - Guggenheim Fellowship - music composition
2011 - Grammy Award - Best Instrumental Composition The Path Among the Trees from his ArtistShare
release - Autumn in moving pictures.
1993 - Los Angeles Philharmonic
, Tone Poem for Holly (Esa-Pekka Salonen
- conductor)
1994 - Los Angeles Philharmonic
, Fanfare for the United Races Of America (Esa-Pekka Salonen
- conductor)
1994 - Monterey Jazz Festival
, Concerto Piano and Jazz-Chamber Orchestra (Billy Childs - soloist)
1995 - Akron Symphony Orchestra, The Distant Land (Alan Balter - conductor)
1997 - Akron Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Just Like Job (Alan Balter - conductor)
1997 - The Dorian Wind Quintet, A Day in the Forest of Dreams (Billy Childs - piano, with Dorian Wind Quintet)
1997 - Mancini Institute, The Winds of Change (Roy Hargrove
- soloist)
2001 - Kuumbwa Jazz Society, Into the Light (Billy Childs Jazz-Chamber Ensemble)
2004 - Los Angeles Philharmonic
, For Suzanne (Dianne Reeves
- vocal soloist, Billy Childs - piano soloist)
2004 - Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, The Fierce Urgency of Now (Wynton Marsalis
- musical director)
2005 - Los Angeles Master Chorale
, The Voices of Angels (Grant Gershon
- conductor)
2007 - The American Brass Quintet
, 2 Elements (Billy Childs - piano, with American Brass Quintet
)
2007 - Fontana Chamber Arts, The Path among the Trees (Billy Childs Jazz-Chamber Ensemble with Ying Quartet
)
2010 - Detroit Symphony, Concerto For Violin And Orchestra (Regina Carter
, soloist)
2010 - Monterey Jazz Festival
, Music For Two Quartets (Kronos Quartet
with Billy Childs, Brian Blade
, Scott Colley
, and Steve Wilson
)
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
Born March 8, 1957, he began piano lessons when he was six. When he was 16, Childs started attending the Community School of the Performing Arts, a prestigious music program sponsored by the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
(USC). After having studied theory there with Marienne Uszler and piano with John Weisenfluh, he attended USC (1975–79), earning a bachelor of music degree in composition, under the tutelage of Robert Linn
Robert Linn (composer)
Robert Linn was an American composer and an educator at the University of Southern California. His notable students there included Morten Lauridsen....
.
Childs was playing professionally as a teenager and he made his recording debut in 1977 with the J. J. Johnson Quintet during a tour of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
that is documented as the Yokohama Concert. He gained significant attention during his six-years (1978–84) playing with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
’s group. While influenced early on in his playing by Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, Keith Emerson
Keith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...
, and Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
and in his composing by Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
, Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
, and Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
, Childs nevertheless had an original conception of his own from near the start, developing his own voice as both a pianist and a composer in jazz and classical music genres.
Solo recordings (Windham Hill, Stretch and Shanachie)
Childs’ solo jazz recording career began in 1988, when he released Take for Example, This..., the first of four critically acclaimed albums on the Windham Hill Jazz label. He followed that album with Twilight Is Upon Us (1989), His April Touch (1992), and Portrait of a Player (1993). A long friendship with Chick CoreaChick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
resulted in Chick’s asking Billy to join his new (at the time) label, Stretch Records, upon Childs’ departure from Windham Hill Jazz. His next album, I’ve Known Rivers on Stretch/GRP (now Stretch/Concord) was released in 1995. Childs then followed withThe Child Within, released on the Shanachie record label in 1996.
Work as arranger
In 2000 Childs arranged, orchestrated and conducted for Dianne ReevesDianne Reeves
Dianne Reeves is an American jazz singer. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado.-Early life:Reeves was born in Detroit, Michigan to a very musical family. Her father, who died when she was two years old, was also a singer. Her mother, Vada Swanson, played trumpet. A cousin, George Duke, is a...
' project The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
, helping that recording to a 2002 Grammy award for "best jazz vocal CD." Other artists and producers for whom Childs has arranged include Sting, Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
, Chris Botti
Chris Botti
Christopher Stephen "Chris" Botti , is an American trumpeter and composer. In 2007, Botti was nominated for two Grammy Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album. On December 4, 2009, he was nominated for three more Grammy Awards including Best Pop Instrumental Album and Best Long Form Music Video...
, Gladys Knight
Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight , known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author...
, Michael Bublé
Michael Bublé
Michael Steven Bublé is a Canadian singer. He has won several awards, including three Grammy Awards and multiple Juno Awards. His first album reached the top ten in Canada and the UK. He found worldwide commercial success with his 2005 album It's Time, and his 2007 album Call Me Irresponsible was...
, David Foster
David Foster
David Walter Foster, OC, OBC , is a Canadian musician, record producer, composer, singer, songwriter, and arranger, noted for discovering singers such as Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, and Charice Pempengco; and for producing some of the most successful artists in the world, such as Céline Dion, Toni...
, Phil Ramone
Phil Ramone
Phil Ramone is a South-African violinist, composer, recording engineer, and record producer.-Biography:As a young child in South Africa, Ramone was a musical prodigy, beginning to play the violin at age three and performing for Queen Elizabeth II at age ten...
, and Claudia Acuña
Claudia Acuña
Claudia Acuña is a Chilean vocalist. Born in Santiago and raised in Concepcion, she was inspired as a child to perform a variety of music, including folk, pop and opera, by Victor Jara and Violetta Parra. Her attention turned to American popular music and jazz at the age of 15, when she first...
.
Jazz Chamber Ensemble
Around 2001 Childs had an idea for a group which would have, at its nucleus, piano, acoustic guitar, and harp. It was a sound partly influenced by Laura NyroLaura Nyro
Laura Nyro was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved considerable critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession and New York Tendaberry, and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and The 5th...
's collaborations with Alice Coltrane
Alice Coltrane
Alice Coltrane, née McLeod was an American jazz pianist, organist, harpist, and composer.-Biography:...
(on "Christmas and the Beads of Sweat") and partly influenced by a desire to merge the classical and jazz music genres. The Jazz-Chamber Ensemble was the result and the group consists of: piano, bass, drums, acoustic guitar, harp and woodwinds. Sometimes the core group is augmented by string quartet, woodwind quintet, or both.
In 2005, the ensemble released its first CD, Lyric, Jazz-Chamber Music, Vol. 1. The CD was nominated for three 2006 Grammy awards (best jazz CD, best instrumental composition, and best instrumental arrangement), winning for best instrumental composition, "Into the Light".
Awards
2003 - Chamber Music America New Composition Grant2006 - Grammy Award - best instrumental composition Into The Light
2006 - Grammy Award - best arrangement accompanying a vocalist What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?
2009 - Guggenheim Fellowship - music composition
2011 - Grammy Award - Best Instrumental Composition The Path Among the Trees from his ArtistShare
ArtistShare
ArtistShare is a crowdfunding website and labelWharton Innovation and Entrepreneurship Consulted on 10/12/2011 for musicians and other creative artists which allows them to fund their projects utilizing a "fan-funding" model to allow the general public to directly finance, watch the creative...
release - Autumn in moving pictures.
Classical commissions
1992 - Grenoble Jazz Festival, Chamber Orchestra Music (Steve Houghton - soloist)1993 - Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
, Tone Poem for Holly (Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.-Early career:...
- conductor)
1994 - Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
, Fanfare for the United Races Of America (Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.-Early career:...
- conductor)
1994 - Monterey Jazz Festival
Monterey Jazz Festival
The Monterey Jazz Festival is one of the longest consecutively running jazz festivals. It debuted on October 3, 1958 and was founded by San Francisco jazz radio broadcaster Jimmy Lyons.-History:...
, Concerto Piano and Jazz-Chamber Orchestra (Billy Childs - soloist)
1995 - Akron Symphony Orchestra, The Distant Land (Alan Balter - conductor)
1997 - Akron Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Just Like Job (Alan Balter - conductor)
1997 - The Dorian Wind Quintet, A Day in the Forest of Dreams (Billy Childs - piano, with Dorian Wind Quintet)
1997 - Mancini Institute, The Winds of Change (Roy Hargrove
Roy Hargrove
Roy Anthony Hargrove is an American jazz trumpeter. He won worldwide notice after winning two Grammy Awards for differing types of music, in 1997, and in 2002...
- soloist)
2001 - Kuumbwa Jazz Society, Into the Light (Billy Childs Jazz-Chamber Ensemble)
2004 - Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
, For Suzanne (Dianne Reeves
Dianne Reeves
Dianne Reeves is an American jazz singer. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado.-Early life:Reeves was born in Detroit, Michigan to a very musical family. Her father, who died when she was two years old, was also a singer. Her mother, Vada Swanson, played trumpet. A cousin, George Duke, is a...
- vocal soloist, Billy Childs - piano soloist)
2004 - Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, The Fierce Urgency of Now (Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
- musical director)
2005 - Los Angeles Master Chorale
Los Angeles Master Chorale
The Los Angeles Master Chorale is a professional chorus in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1964 by Roger Wagner to be one of the three original resident companies of the Music Center of Los Angeles County...
, The Voices of Angels (Grant Gershon
Grant Gershon
Grant Gershon is an American conductor and pianist. He is Music Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Associate Conductor/Chorus Master of the Los Angeles Opera, member of the Board of Councillors for the USC Thornton School of Music and a member of the Chorus America Board of...
- conductor)
2007 - The American Brass Quintet
American Brass Quintet
When the American Brass Quintet gave its first public performance on December 11, 1960, brass chamber music was still relatively unknown to concert audiences...
, 2 Elements (Billy Childs - piano, with American Brass Quintet
American Brass Quintet
When the American Brass Quintet gave its first public performance on December 11, 1960, brass chamber music was still relatively unknown to concert audiences...
)
2007 - Fontana Chamber Arts, The Path among the Trees (Billy Childs Jazz-Chamber Ensemble with Ying Quartet
Ying Quartet
The Ying Quartet is an American string quartet. The Ying siblings from Winnetka, Illinois, formed the quartet in 1988 while studying at the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music. The quartet began performing in the farm town of Jesup, Iowa, as the first artists involved in the National...
)
2010 - Detroit Symphony, Concerto For Violin And Orchestra (Regina Carter
Regina Carter
Regina Carter is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of famous jazz saxophonist James Carter.-Early life:...
, soloist)
2010 - Monterey Jazz Festival
Monterey Jazz Festival
The Monterey Jazz Festival is one of the longest consecutively running jazz festivals. It debuted on October 3, 1958 and was founded by San Francisco jazz radio broadcaster Jimmy Lyons.-History:...
, Music For Two Quartets (Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...
with Billy Childs, Brian Blade
Brian Blade
Brian Blade in Shreveport, Louisiana is an American jazz drummer, composer, session musician, and singer-songwriter.-Early years:...
, Scott Colley
Scott Colley
Scott Colley is an American jazz bassist and Composer.Scott has performed extensively in bands led by: Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall, Andrew Hill, Michael Brecker, Chris Potter, Pat Metheny, Carmen McRae, Edward Simon, Adam Rogers, Brian Blade, David Binney, Antonio Sanchez, Kenny Werner...
, and Steve Wilson
Steve Wilson
Steve Wilson may refer to:* Steve Wilson , baseball player* Steve Wilson , former NFL player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers* Steve Wilson , former NFL player for the Denver Broncos...
)
Discography
| Title | |Year of Release | Label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Take for Example This | 1988 | Windham Hill Jazz Windham Hill Records Windham Hill Records is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment specializing in Acoustic, New Age and Folk music. Originally founded in 1976 as an Independent record label by guitarist and carpenter William Ackerman and his then-wife Anne Robinson, Windham Hill was a successful and well-respected... |
||
| Twilight Is Upon Us | 1989 | Windham Hill Jazz | ||
| His April Touch | 1991 | Windham Hill Jazz | ||
| Portrait of a Player | 1993 | Windham Hill Jazz | ||
| I've Known Rivers | 1995 | Stretch Stretch Records Stretch Records was established in 1997 by pianist/composer/producer Chick Corea and music industry veteran Ron Moss.The label claims to promote "music with no boundaries" though it has mostly released jazz music.... |
||
| The Child Within | 1996 | Shanachie Shanachie Records Shanachie Records was founded in 1976 by Richard Nevins and Dan Collins. According to Harvey Pekar , it is one of the largest independent record labels in the world, and is currently distributed by E1 Music. Starting as a label that specialized in fiddle music, they began releasing work by Celtic... |
||
| Skim Coat | 1999 | Metropolitan | ||
| Bedtime Stories | 2000 | 32 Jazz | ||
| Lyric - Jazz/Chamber Music, Vol. 1 | 2005 | Lunacy | ||
| Autumn: In Moving Pictures - Jazz/Chamber Music, Vol. 2 | 2010 | ArtistShare ArtistShare ArtistShare is a crowdfunding website and labelWharton Innovation and Entrepreneurship Consulted on 10/12/2011 for musicians and other creative artists which allows them to fund their projects utilizing a "fan-funding" model to allow the general public to directly finance, watch the creative... |