On Center: Billy Childs’ Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro.

Billy Childs received a 2015 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album for his Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro. The pianist and composer, who’s earned three Grammys and a Guggenheim Fellowship, makes his Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State debut February 5 in a Schwab Auditorium concert featuring music from the album.

The recording, which picked up a Grammy for Best Arrangement (instrument and vocals), includes guest artists Yo-Yo Ma, Esperanza Spalding, Alison Krauss, Shawn Colvin, Chris Botti, Becca Stevens, and others. Vocalists Stevens and Alicia Olatuja — plus a Penn State School of Music quartet — join Childs and his band for the Penn State performance.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Nyro died in 1997 at age 49. But the Bronx-born singer, songwriter, and pianist — whose songs include “Eli’s Comin’,” “And When I Die,” “Wedding Bell Blues,” “Stoney End,” “New York Tendaberry,” and “Midnite Blue” — had a significant influence on an array of music makers who followed her.

“Familiarity with the late Nyro’s work isn’t a prerequisite to enjoying this exquisite album,” notes a USA Today writer in a review of Childs’s CD.

A Village Voice critic writes, “Albums packed with guest vocalists can either be messy and forgettable, or turn out like this gem from LA-based pianist and composer Billy Childs. Every pick … manages to capture and even deepen the mystery of Laura Nyro’s songwriting.”

One of the most talented music makers of her era, Nyro was among the first female singer-songwriters who didn’t get her start in folk music. The soulful soprano gathered inspiration from a host of genres, including R&B, jazz, soul, pop, Broadway, and gospel.

Nyro released nine albums between 1967 and 1993. Her mainstream popularity was limited because she couldn’t be easily pigeonholed, but she garnered a passionate cult following. Many of her songs became hits in covers by Barbara Streisand, The Fifth Dimension, Three Dog Night, and other artists.

Stevens, a “Björk-meets-Joni [Mitchell] singer-songwriter” (jazzwisemagazine.com), has reaped acclaim for releases with the Becca Stevens Band and for work as a collaborator with a variety of jazz, rock, pop, and contemporary classical musicians.

Perfect Animal, her most recent album, came out in 2015. Weightless, her 2011 breakthrough CD, positioned her as an original creative force.

The New York City-based North Carolina native, who plays guitar and ukulele, performed with jazz pianist Taylor Eigsti at Schwab in 2010.

Olatuja — who incorporates elements of jazz, classical, gospel, and pop into her vocals — dazzled millions with her solo during the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir’s rendition of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” at the 2013 presidential inauguration.

“Olatuja possesses a special instrument: a full-bodied tone, precise pitch, and personal engagement at the lowest whisper or highest wail,” writes a critic for DownBeat.

The Brooklyn singer, according to a New York Times writer, has “a strong, lustrous tone and an amiably regal presence onstage.”

Originally from Missouri, Olatuja has performed with luminaries such as Christian McBride, Bebe Winans, and Chaka Khan. She and her husband, bassist Michael Olatuja, perform and record as The Olatuja Project. Timeless, her solo album, was released in 2014.

For more information or tickets, visit cpa.psu.edu or phone( 814) 863-0255.