Billy Childs

Billy Childs at Folly Theater

A 70th birthday calls for music with imagination, and Billy Childs brings his quintet to the Folly Theater for the occasion. The pianist and composer integrates jazz and classical ideas, with six Grammy awards and seventeen nominations to his credit. This celebration puts that musical curiosity in a quintet setting.

Childs treats jazz and classical ideas as possibilities to explore, not a choice he has to make. That curiosity is part of the pleasure of hearing his quintet. Albums like Winds of Change and Rebirth both won Best Instrumental Jazz Album, proof that technical ambition and emotional connection can coexist. Map to the Treasure reimagined Laura Nyro's catalog, showing how one artist's curiosity can illuminate another's songs.

A quintet format puts that imagination into conversation. The quintet setting gives Childs' musical ideas room to move among players, inviting you to follow how jazz and classical influences meet in a concert. It's a particular birthday outing for Kansas City listeners: an evening centered on the pianist and composer, rather than a survey of his awards.

The milestone is reason enough to celebrate, but the draw is hearing Childs with his quintet. Hear Billy Childs and his quintet celebrate his 70th birthday at the Folly Theater on March 7; get tickets.