Billy Childs – The Winds of Change (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 52:34 minutes | 1,03 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mack Avenue Records
For his third Mack Avenue Records release, 5-time Grammy Award-winner Billy Childs assembles an all-star quartet with trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Brian Blade.
On The Winds of Change, the critically acclaimed pianist/composer offers 5 brand new original compositions alongside exhilarating arrangements of Chick Corea’s “Crystal Silence” (originally on Corea’s 1972 ECM recording of the same name with vibraphonist Gary Burton) and Kenny Barron’s “The Black Angel” (originally on trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s 1970 Atlantic recording of the same name) to push the creative boundaries of the group and inspire a collective new sound to pay homage to jazz legends and the artistry.
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Billy Childs – Rebirth (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 56:30 minutes | 1,17 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mack Avenue Records
The Grammy-winning American pianist and composer Billy Childs is a contemporary-classical composer as much as a jazz artist, but “Rebirth” means exactly what it says. Much of this scintillating set is 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, and his partners here include alto saxist Steve Wilson, Charles Lloyd drummer Eric Harland, and Chilean singer Claudia Acuña. The snappy, twisting Backwards Bop never lets up, whether in Childs’ cannily paced and sleekly phrased piano improv against Harland’s whipcrack accents, or Wilson’s swerving, Art Pepper-ish alto solo. “Rebith” won the 2018 Grammy Award for “Best Jazz Instrumental Album”.
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Billy Childs – Map To The Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:01:21 minutes | 668 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Masterworks
When Billy Childs was 11 years old, his older sister introduced him to the work of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter Laura Nyro. Her blend of Broadway inspired melodies, jazz improvisation and socially conscious lyrics have stayed with him. Now Billy has returned to his early source of inspiration, conceiving and orchestrating the new album, Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro, which features an incredible range of musicians who join him in interpreting her narratives.
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Billy Childs – Acceptance (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 53:26 minutes | 1,05 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mack Avenue Records
Pianist Billy Childs thrives on group improvisation and has recruited fellow master musicians – saxophonist Steve Wilson, bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Eric Harland – as the core ensemble for this collection, ‘Acceptance’.
Elena Pinderhughes on flute; vocalists Alicia Olatuja, Aubrey Johnson and Sara Gazarek; and percussionists Rogerio Boccato and Munyungo Jackson complete the stellar lineup on this recording.
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