The Black-billed Thrush is distributed in west and central Amazonia and along the foothills of the Andes and into the Cauca and Magdalena valleys of Colombia.

It has a dark bill and is otherwise lacking in obvious field marks. The Amazonian sub-species has a whitish patch on the upper chest and fades to white on the belly and crissum below a grey-brown breast. Other races have even duller underparts. There is an illustration in Hilty's Birds of Venezuela, Plate 54.