Childs’ Group Displays a Classic Touch

Jazz clubs are not the venues in which one ordinarily expects to hear a classically oriented chamber jazz ensemble. But that’s what happened at the Jazz Spot in Los Feliz Friday night, when pianist-composer Billy Childs led a six-piece group in an engaging program of well-crafted original compositions and arrangements.

The unusually instrumented ensemble included--in addition to Childs on piano--Larry Koonse, guitar; Bob Sheppard, saxophones and flute; Carol Robbins, harp; Jimmy Johnson, bass; and Steve Houghton, drums. With three of the instruments--piano, harp and guitar--capable of playing individual lines, harmony and rhythm, Childs had a tonal palette filled with rich creative potential.

His capacity to shape that potential into compelling music was apparent in originals such as “Aaron’s Song,” “Hope in the Face of Despair” (inspired, Childs noted, by cartoonist-author Art Spiegelman’s “Maus”) and “The Cloudless Sierra.” The latter piece, based upon on an evocative three-note leitmotif, was an example of the use of classical composition techniques within a jazz environment.

Childs’ orchestration of “Scarborough Fair” was equally compelling, with its deconstruction, then reassembling of the piece via the colorful juxtaposition of its various elements. Like the originals, it was the work of an artist who has quietly managed to accomplish many of the often-promised, rarely achieved jazz and classical goals of the Third Stream composers of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

The impact of the music was aided by a variety of fine soloing, especially from Childs, Koonse and Sheppard, with Robbins adding one or two rare examples of improvising on the harp. Johnson and Houghton, responsible for complex written passages as well as loose-jointed rhythmic swing, delivered effectively in both areas.