Billy Childs has waited 25 years to make another trio album, and ‘Triumvirate’ makes clear it was worth every year. The six-time GRAMMY-winning pianist and composer releases the new record on Mack Avenue Records, bringing together bassist Matt Penman and drummer Ari Hoenig for an intimate, deeply swinging session built around material revisited from his earliest recordings. It’s a long-overdue return to a format that suits Childs completely.
The company he keeps here is elite. Penman, a longtime member of the all-star SFJAZZ Collective, has worked with John Scofield, Joe Lovano, and Wayne Shorter, and co-founded the collective quartet James Farm with Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, and Eric Harland. Hoenig has logged time with Chris Potter Underground, the Kurt Rosenwinkel Group, and bands led by Wayne Krantz, Mike Stern, Richard Bona, and Pat Martino. While Childs hadn’t officially recorded with either before, the three had shared stages as a rhythm section behind frontline players including Steve Wilson, Chris Potter, and Sean Jones, and that existing chemistry translates powerfully to tape.
‘Triumvirate’ follows Childs’ 2023 LP ‘The Winds of Change,’ which took home the GRAMMY for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. Across eight tracks including “One Fleeting Instant,” “Flamenco Sketches,” and “Whisper Not,” the album moves with the kind of equal-power interplay the title promises, each member steering the sound from moment to moment with full creative authority. Nearly 50 years into a career that has earned him six GRAMMYs and 17 nominations, with commissions from the Kronos Quartet, the LA Philharmonic, and performances at Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center, Childs sounds as focused and present as ever.
Childs brings ‘Triumvirate’ to San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and beyond in the weeks ahead.
Tour Dates:
April 30, San Francisco, CA, Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall *
May 5, Los Angeles, CA, Walt Disney Concert Hall +
May 13-17, New York, NY, Smoke Jazz Club
May 19, Washington, D.C., Blues Alley
May 22, Rockport, MA, Shalin Liu Center
May 23, Old Lyme, CT, Side Door
May 29-30, Los Angeles, CA, Catalina’s
July 5, Portsmouth, NH, Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club
*RJAM Big Band featuring Billy Childs on piano
+Billy Childs on piano, Dan Chmielinski on bass, Christian Euman on drums, with strings from the LA Phil
‘Triumvirate’ Track Listing:
One Fleeting Instant
Carefree
Like Father Like Son
Heroes
Whisper Not
Ask Me Now
Lazy Afternoon
Flamenco Sketches