JAZZ REVIEW : Mixed Results From Childs at Japan America

Billy Childs’ program at the Japan America Theatre on Saturday seemed to have everything a performer could want.

The auditorium has good acoustics, the audience was enthusiastic and the pianist/composer was working with longtime associates Bob Sheppard on saxophone, Tony Dumas on bass and Mike Baker on drums.

But the sum total was uneven, with the music frequently feeling a little off the mark.

The biggest problem was fast- finger overkill. Despite the enormous technical prowess of Childs and Sheppard, many of the choruses failed to support their virtuosic fluency with convincing emotional support.

Childs further blurred the impact of his improvising by using a slightly dissonant left-hand chordal cluster for his comping that kept repeating itself from solo to solo. Its constant reappearance tended to bring a disturbingly monotonal coloration to much of his playing.

There were, however, many splendid moments. Childs’ compositional skills are first rate, and pieces such as “Backwards Bop,” “Quiet Girl” and “His April Voice” confirmed his ability to write music that is both fluent and complex.

His performances of Thelonious Monk’s “Pannonica” and “ ‘Round Midnight” revealed a capacity to understand the intimate parameters of another composer’s musical thinking.

Perhaps the real problem lay in the fact that Childs has been the uncrowned prince of Los Angeles jazz pianists for several years, and the expectancy level is high--maybe too high--whenever he performs. Still, with talent of his caliber, it’s difficult not to expect the very best.