Billy Childs: The Winds of Change
Mack Avenue Records

With five Grammy awards to his name (and sixteen nominations), pianist Billy Childs is as comfortable operating in the classical realm as he is jazz. Yet while he's composed saxophone and violin concertos plus chamber, symphonic, and choral music, his latest release is a jazz outing, full stop. That it is is clearly evidenced by the personnel accompanying him, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Brian Blade. Childs distinguishes himself handily throughout the seven-track set, but as critical to the recording's impact is the exceptional playing of his partners.

With respect to thematic character, the pianist drew from his experiences growing up in Los Angeles in the ‘60s and ‘70s and his affection for film scores by Jerry Goldsmith (Chinatown) and Bernard Herrmann (Taxi Driver) that capture a melancholy longing for the romance of cities from decades past. The Winds of Change isn't a one-note film noir homage, however, as Childs also nods to Chick Corea and Kenny Barron in covers of “Crystal Silence” and “The Black Angel”; he also replicates the lineup Kenny Wheeler used for his 1976 album Gnu High, which features Keith Jarrett, Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette. The vitality of the musicians' interactions on that set was something Childs hoped to capture on his own. Compositional structures are clearly in place, but the leader also ensured that ample room was made available for each musician to impose his personality. Each piece plays like a journey of sorts when the four progress through multiple episodes and branch off for solo explorations before collectively resuming their course.

Stylistically, The Winds of Change might be called post-bop, but one is best advised to put labels aside and simply take the performances on their own high-energy terms. That's easy to do when the players involved are so dynamic. The sense of urgency exuded by the four is palpable, and with the always-terrific Blade and Colley driving the band the music never fails to engage. Akinmusire and Childs contribute terrific solos throughout, each player elevating the performances with imagination and invention (the trumpeter's playing in “Master of the Game” is particularly memorable for how boldly he moves beyond articulating notes into a realm of smears and abstraction).

Many a piece brings with it an interesting backstory. Childs titled “The Great Western Loop,” for example, after the 7,000-mile hiking trail running from Southern California to Vancouver and the Grand Canyon.“The End of Innocence” originally appeared on the pianist's Portrait of a Player, issued on Windham Hill in 1993, and inspiration for “Master of the Game” came from film scores by Henry Mancini (Charade) and Michel Legrand (The Thomas Crown Affair). All such details fade from view, however, once the music starts.

An extremely high bar's set by “The Great Western Loop,” which follows an insistent piano figure with a high-velocity ensemble excursion led by a solo from Childs that's both intricate and swinging and an explorative, blazing one from Akinmusire. Here we also witness how fabulously the four respond to one another, with Blade, for instance, seemingly able to telepathically anticipate the others' moves with stunning displays of invention. Originally composed as an orchestral setting for the late trumpeter Roy Hargrove, the title track evokes wide-open spaces as it wends its way through passages of intense drama and longing, nostalgia emanating from its pores as the pianist and trumpeter extemporize wistfully. On the gentler tip is “The End of Innocence,” which finds the quartet in a melancholy and lyrical frame of mind. Perfect for this hushed presentation is a spotlight for Colley, who shows he's as impactful soloing as he is driving the music with Blade.

June 2023