A child of the piano

Paul Saitowitz

From his earliest memories the black keys, the white keys, the foot

pedals, the high notes and the low notes gave him a feeling of

clarity. Jazz, classical, even some rock, he could play it all. No

struggle through lessons or practices, just smooth sailing.

“The piano was just something that made sense to me,”

pianist/composer Billy Childs said. “I looked at it, and I was able

to understand the way it worked.”

The 46-year-old three-time Grammy-nominated Los Angeles native

will appear along with Claudia Acuna at the Orange County Performing

Arts Center tonight and Saturday as part of the Scott’s Seafood Jazz

Series.

Growing up with a piano in the house gave him a jump-start, but it

wasn’t until his older sister introduced him to jazz when he was 11

that he became obsessed with music.

He spent hours playing every day and ended up befriending the son

of jazz trombonist J.J. Johnson. At 19, he went with Johnson and his

son on a club tour of Japan.

“That was basically my first gig,” he said. “I had started

composing music before that, but that was my first time on the road.”

During that same time, he was studying music composition at USC,

which expanded his appreciation for classical music. Right out of

college he got his first commission from the North Texas State Wind

Orchestra to write a concerto for percussion. He has since been

commissioned to write several pieces, including works for the L.A.

Philharmonic, the Akron Symphony Orchestra and the Plymouth Music

Series.

“When you think about it, the two are not that different,” Childs

said. “I look at jazz as America’s classical music ... it just has

more room for improvisation than classical does. The thing is that

the more free you are, the more constrained you are. If you improvise

and just play a bunch of nonsense it’s not going to work, it can be

really hit or miss.”

He has branched into film-scoring and was nominated for an

Australian Film Institute award for the work he did on the Aussie

film “Flynn.”

“I haven’t done any major films yet, but that is something that I

am definitely trying to pursue,” he said.

Although he has a studio in his house, where he records his work

as well as the work of artists he produces, it is difficult to find

inspiration in a regular 9-to-5 routine.

“It takes me about two to three months to put a 20-minute piece

together,” Childs said. “Sometimes ideas come to me and sometimes I

have to just wait for them. I’ll write the entire thing out on piano

and then transcribe it and give it to the orchestra.”

Childs, who only plays the piano, arranges most of his orchestral

pieces in his head and doesn’t get a chance to hear them until they

are performed live.

“That’s one thing that is always a thrill for me,” he said. “I

have a pretty good idea of what it’s going to sound like, but hearing

it all together is a great feeling.”