GRAMMY® Award-winning bassist and composer Christian Dillingham will release As It Relates To Now on May 15, 2026 via Shifting Paradigm Records, available on CD, vinyl, and digital formats. The new trio recording features Dillingham alongside alto saxophonist Greg Ward and drummer Jeremy Cunningham, delivering eight original compositions that traverse groove-driven modern jazz, blues-inflected textures, and open, exploratory interplay. Fans of the Brian Blade Fellowship Band, Julian Lage, Orrin Evans, and Joe Lovano will find much to embrace in the trio’s dynamic and emotionally resonant sound.
A central force in Chicago’s creative music community, Dillingham has cultivated a multifaceted career bridging jazz and classical traditions. A regular presence across the city’s vibrant scene, he has performed and recorded with distinguished artists including Sean Jones, Jeff "Tain" Watts, John Legend, Peter Bernstein, Kevin Mahogany, Dee Alexander, Bobby Broom, and Mike Reed. He frequently appears at iconic venues such as Green Mill, Jazz Showcase, Hungry Brain, Constellation Chicago, Andy's Jazz Club, and the Chicago Jazz Festival. Dillingham appears on more than twenty jazz recordings and is a tenured member of the Chicago Sinfonietta, while also performing with ensembles including Present Music, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, and Chicago Philharmonic. His previous releases for Greenleaf Music — Cascades (2023) and Halcyon (2024) — firmly established him as a distinctive composer and bandleader, with critics praising the depth and vision of his work.
With As It Relates To Now, Dillingham turns his focus toward the emotional and social atmosphere of the present moment. Reflecting themes of uncertainty, division, and resilience, the album draws strength from the intimacy and elasticity of the trio format, shaped by more than a decade of shared musical history among the three artists. “This music grew out of a period of tension and reflection,” Dillingham explains. “Writing these pieces became a way to process what I was seeing and feeling, transforming that weight into something honest and human.”
The title track opens with a subtle Motown-inspired pulse, setting a grounded yet searching tone. “Obsoletion” confronts generational tension and shifting cultural realities, while “Special Relativity” references Einstein’s theory as a metaphor for fragmented modern perspectives, unfolding through evolving rhythmic and harmonic frameworks. “Behind The Horizon” captures uncertainty through spacious textures and gradual intensification. “Wooden Lawns” pays tribute to Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood, blending lyricism and grit in a meditation on place and community. “If They Knew” reflects on the human consequences of political decisions, building from introspective calm to a powerful collective surge. “Delusional Grandeur” examines power and perception through angular motifs and restless propulsion. The album concludes with “The Divine Current,” a reflective and hopeful meditation suggesting connection, possibility, and shared humanity beneath division.
Across As It Relates To Now, Dillingham, Ward, and Cunningham craft a body of work rooted in lived experience and collective dialogue — music shaped by its time yet grounded in enduring questions of responsibility, resilience, and human connection.
Track Listing
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As It Relates To Now — 5:12
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Obsoletion — 5:18
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Special Relativity — 6:57
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Behind The Horizon — 3:30
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Wooden Lawns — 8:01
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If They Knew — 5:30
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Delusional Grandeur — 6:12
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The Divine Current — 4:38
Total Time — 45:24
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