Billy Childs Trio + Special Guests

*PLEASE NOTE: All 6:30PM and 8:30PM shows at Smoke are Dinner Shows

$25.00 / $40.00 / $50.00 / $55.00 – Wed, Thu, Fri & Sun

$25.00 / $45.00 / $55.00 / $60.00 – Sat

Billy Childs – piano

Matt Penman – bass

Ari Hoenig – drums

plus special guests

Michael Rodriguez – trumpet (wed - fri)

Steve Wilson – alto saxophone (sat - sun)

“One of the most critically acclaimed pianists in modern jazz”

– All About Jazz

Renowned pianist and composer Billy Childs and his trio with bassist Matt Penman and drummer Ari Hoenig feature special guests trumpeter Michael Rodriguez (Wednesday - Friday) and saxophonist Steve Wilson (Saturday - Sunday)

A native of Los Angeles, Childs grew up immersed in jazz, classical, and popular music influences, which he blends in a powerful and personal compositional and performing voice. A child prodigy who started performing at age six and studying at USC at 16, he was “discovered” by trumpet legend Freddie Hubbard, with whom he embarked on a successful performing and recording tour.

He also recorded and performed with a number of other influential jazz musicians, including J.J. Johnson, Joe Henderson, Wynton Marsalis, Jack DeJohnette, and Dave Holland, among many others, and with such varied artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Sting, Renee Fleming, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Kronos Quartet.

Downbeat reports, “The same creative spirit that’s propelled him from the bands of bop giants as a twenty-something side-player to a composer renowned throughout concert halls and across jazz festival stages remains unhampered.” The Los Angeles Times adds, “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.”