Artist Bio

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Kahlil Childs is a 16-year-old multi-reedist and composer from San Diego California. He is the leader of the Kahlil Childs Quartet and a member of the Rob Thorsen Quartet which features some of the finest professional musicians in San Diego. He specializes in alto sax and also plays soprano, tenor, and baritone saxophones, as well as bass clarinet and flute. He currently studies with Charles McPherson -- a Detroit legend, and one of the greatest living masters of the alto saxophone. He also studies with Grammy award winning musician & producer Kamau Kenyatta (another Detroit legend). Kahlil is a featured player in the Young Lions Jazz Conservatory under the directorship of renowned trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos. 

Kahlil was named as a Young Artist Grant winner by the Jazz Excellence organization (JEXA) in 2023, and received his award at a red-carpet gala in LA from the great Dionne Warwick. Kahlil also was chosen for the J.C. Heard All-Star High School Band in 2024 & 2025, and featured at the 45th and 46th Annual Detroit International Jazz Festivals. In the 2025 Detroit Festival, Kahlil also had the distinct honor of being chosen by legendary bassist, and Kresge Eminent Artist Award Winner, Marion Hayden, to join her Legacy Band -- along with Kamau Kenyatta -- for one of the festival's closing performances.

NEXT NOTES:

Kahlil has been selected for the 2025 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra -- one of the finest youth orchestras in the country -- a band that will be playing at the upcoming 68th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival under the directorship of the great pianist and bandleader, Gerald Clayton. He has also been chosen by the renowned pianist and composer Christian Sands to join his band at the Monterey Fest in playing Sands' newly commissioned piece: "Reflections from the Shore: A Monterey Suite." 

Kahlil will soon be taking his quartet across the Atlantic for its European debut at Szeged Jazz Days, in Szeged, Hungary (November 2025), where he will be introducing his new suite -- a set of original compositions conceived in the tradition of conceptual works such as John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and Immanuel Wilkins's "The 7th Hand."