For those unaware, on May 17th, 2024, BCM+D Records, the official record label of the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University, will release Labyrinth, an album that was conceived as a way to document an outstanding performance at Jazz at Lincoln Center in April 2023.

That performance centered around Billy Childs’ Labyrinth, a piece that Temple University commissioned to highlight the Temple University Studio Orchestra and two phenomenal faculty artists, Terell Stafford and Dick Oatts.

Bill Cunliffe’s Rainforests was also commissioned by the Boyer College at Temple University to engage similar forces, keeping the same large ensemble and expanding the faculty group to a sextet with Bruce Barth, Mike Boone, Justin Faulkner and Tim Warfield.

With two powerful pieces already on the program, Red Braid, available today on digital platforms, provided a bit of an interlude by featuring the Temple University Jazz Band, a subset of the larger Studio Orchestra.

Including Red Braid in the concert and on the album showcases a composition written by a Boyer College student and Temple University Jazz Band member, Banks Sapnar.

1. Labyrinth (by Billy Childs)
2. Red Braid (by Banks Sapnar)
3. Rainforests (by Bill Cunliffe)

One of the most critically acclaimed pianists in contemporary jazz and among America’s most awarded and commissioned modern classical composers, Billy Childs’ new recording opens on the strikingly cinematic title track, before along next is the sweepingly elegant red Braid by Banks Sapnar, the collection coming to a close on the sumptuously sculpted, rambunctiously-hued Rainforests by Bill Cunliffe.

Childs says a special challenge for him was to make big band, symphonic orchestra and small group with soloists congeal into an organic whole, from a sonic and orchestrational standpoint.

“So, in my mind, the big band took on the role of the symphonic brass and woodwind sections – at least in certain sections, like tutti passages, usually, where a lot of counterpoint and density was going on. I also included French horns, flutes and clarinets from the symphonic world because these instruments are very versatile sonically and blend well with other instruments.”

Official Purchase Link

www.billychilds.com