Childs doesn’t miss a beat at the Vic

Billy Childs got back into a jazz groove Thursday at the Vic in Santa Monica, and the audience seemed delighted to greet his return. The always fascinating pianist had been out of circulation for a while, shifting into his classical mode to compose a commissioned work -- the touching, musical/poetic “Voices of Angels” -- for a performance by the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the L.A. Philharmonic.

The hiatus didn’t diminish Childs’ sterling improvisational skills. And his extraordinary inventiveness was charged with gripping combinations of textural complexity and hardcharging swing. Further enhancing the musical possibilities for the evening, Childs’ all-star quintet included saxophonist Bob Sheppard, bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Peter Erskine. The combination delivered on all counts.

Typically, Childs’ program embraced standards as well as his own atmospheric originals. He began with a brisk romp through “You and the Night and the Music,” blending a disjunct variation on the theme with Sheppard’s saxophone before charging into a solo that contrasted the song’s smooth flowing melody with angular interval leaps.

Other standards offered similarly compelling pleasures: Childs’ Monk-like introduction to “Alone Together,” his contrasting of rhapsodic coloration and spare open spaces in “You Don’t Know What Love Is.”

Childs’ originals employed a further expanded musical palette, especially “Hope in the Face of Despair,” a multi-layered work inspired by Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel “Maus.” “Quiet Girl,” an early piece, provided a showcase for Sheppard’s warm soprano saxophone.

Hurst’s thoughtful soloing, both pizzicato and arco, on several tunes was matched by his sturdy ensemble backings. And a final tour through McCoy Tyner’s hard bop “Four by Five” gave Erskine an opportunity to use his drums as musical instruments rather than pounding devices, to compellingly combine subtle textures, dynamic power and body-moving swing.