Billy Childs · Piano

Matt Penman · Bass

Ari Hoenig · Drums

Billy Childs stands in a category of his own in contemporary jazz. A pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor whose music moves effortlessly between jazz and the classical tradition, he has garnered six Grammy Awards and seventeen nominations — including back-to-back wins for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for Rebirth (2018) and The Winds of Change (2024). The Guggenheim Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters have all recognized his work. DownBeat simply calls him “one of the foremost American composers of his era.”

Childs began his career in the late 1970s apprenticing alongside Freddie Hubbard and J.J. Johnson — two of jazz’s all-time giants. Since then he has performed and collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, Wayne Shorter, Sting, Esperanza Spalding, Dianne Reeves, the Kronos Quartet, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among many others. His compositions have been commissioned by the LA Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and the LA Master Chorale.

At The Side Door, he brings the piano trio format down to its most intimate — just three musicians in a room, playing at the highest level. This is a rare opportunity to hear one of jazz’s true masters in close quarters.

The Side Door Jazz Club is a dedicated jazz listening room located inside the historic Old Lyme Inn, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT. Tickets are reserved seating. Guests dining at the Old Lyme Inn restaurant prior to the show receive 10% off their dinner bill.