Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro

by Billy Childs

Overview

A technically adroit pianist with an ear for sensitive, emotive accompaniment, Billy Childs has built a career primarily around backing other artists, including trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, vocalist Dianne Reeves, and trumpeter Chris Botti. Although he's recorded a number of superb solo dates, on 2014's Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro, Childs once again sets himself just outside of the spotlight as he gathers various musical friends to pay homage to his longtime idol, the late singer/songwriter Laura Nyro. Having discovered Nyro's emotive and lyrically thoughtful genre-crossing folk recordings in his teens while studying jazz and classical music at the University of Southern California's Community School for the Performing Arts, Childs would eventually get to work with Nyro prior to her death from ovarian cancer in 1997. One gets the sense that in an ideal world, Childs might have recorded this album with Nyro herself as a kind of retrospective anthology. In lieu of that poignant fantasy, here Childs, along with producer and former USC Community Schools classmate Larry Klein, have reinterpreted a handful of Nyro's songs, taking an ambitious, cross-genre approach that balances the intimate folk of her original recordings with a layered jazz and symphonic pop sound. Along with the aforementioned Reeves and Botti, Childs is joined by such like-minded luminaries as vocalist Renee Fleming, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, singer/songwriter Rickie Lee Jones, bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and others. Ultimately, with Map to the Treasure, Childs doesn't simply reimagine Nyro's songs as elevate them in a spiritual and heartfelt celebration of her life and music. ~ Matt Collar

Product Details

Release Date:	09/09/2014
Label:	SONY MASTERWORKS
UPC:	0888430665729

Tracks

1. New York Tendaberry
2. The Confession
3. Map to the Treasure
4. Upstairs by a Chinese Lamp
5. Been on a Train
6. Stoned Soul Picnic
7. Gibsom Street
8. Save the Country
9. To a Child
10. And When I Die

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Billy Childs   Primary Artist,Piano,Celeste,Wurlitzer
Rickie Lee Jones   Featured Artist,Vocals
Esperanza Spalding   Vocals,Featured Artist
Alyssa Park   Violin
Brian Blade   Drums
Carlitos Del Puerto   Bass
Vinnie Colaiuta   Drums
Alison Krauss   Vocals,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Jay Bellerose   Percussion
Lisa Fischer   Vocals,Featured Artist
Yo-Yo Ma   Cello,Featured Artist
Mark Robertson   Violin
Vanessa Freebairn-Smith   Cello
Luke Maurer   Viola
Becca Stevens   Vocals,Featured Artist
Jerry Douglas   Featured Artist,Dobro,Featured Artist
Jennifer Choi Fischer   Violin
Sara Andon   Flute
Dan Tyminski   Vocals (Background)
Shawn Colvin   Vocals,Featured Artist
Susan Tedeschi   Vocals,Featured Artist
Steve Wilson   Sax (Alto),Featured Artist
Carol Robbins   Harp
Chris Botti   Trumpet,Featured Artist
Chris Potter   Sax (Tenor),Featured Artist
Ledisi   Vocals,Featured Artist
Renee Fleming   Vocals,Featured Artist
Dianne Reeves   Vocals,Featured Artist
Dean Parks   Guitar
Wayne Shorter   Sax (Soprano),Featured Artist
Scott Colley   Bass

Technical Credits

Mike Bauer   Assistant Engineer
Billy Childs   Arranger,Liner Notes,Orchestration,Track Annotations
Gabe Veltri   Engineer
Myles Weinstein   Executive Producer
Neal Cappellino   Engineer
Tim Palmer   Mixing
John Weston   Engineer
Sandy Robertson   Production Coordination
David Katzenstein   Photography
Roxanne Slimak   Creative Director
Jennifer Liebeskind   Product Development
Josh Cheuse   Art Direction
Laura Kszan   Product Development
Eileen Silver Lillywhite   Liner Notes
Nicolas Essig   Assistant Engineer
Chris Owens   Assistant Engineer
Akihiro Nishimura   Assistant Engineer
Ryan Carr   Engineer
Cathleen Murphy   A&R
Heather Donavon   Personal Assistant
Dan Schwartz   Assistant Engineer
Jordon Heskett   Assistant Engineer
Lynne Earles   Engineer
Travis Karpak   Assistant Engineer
Bernie Grundman   Mastering
Larry Klein   Producer,Liner Notes
Laura Nyro   Composer
Joe Blaney   Engineer
Ed Tuton   Engineer
Rich Breen   Engineer