Jazz pianist and composer Billy Childs follows up 2017's Rebirth, his Grammy-winning Mack Avenue outing, with the same core quartet: saxophonist Steve Wilson, bassist Hans Glawischnig, and drummer Eric Harland. Childs grew up in a music-loving household; in addition to his parents' prodigious record collection of jazz, blues, classical, and Brazilian volumes, his older sister, playwright Kirsten J. Childs, brought home the latest pop and soul sides. These familial influences register deep in his composing.
Acceptance doesn't follow the path of its predecessor. It is more exotic in exploring chamber jazz, post-bop, fusion, and samba, with dramatic ballads, passionate vocals, and sophisticated pop woven in. Guests include vocalists Alicia Olatuja, Sara Gazarek, and Aubrey Johnson, percussionists Rogerio Boccato and Munyungo Jackson, and flutist Elena Pinderhughes. Opener "Dori" is titled for longtime friend and celebrated Brazilian composer Dori Caymmi. After opening with a knotty, contrapuntal Scarlatti-esque piano intro, Childs makes use of bai?o and partido alto polyrhythms under his complex melody. A wordless male and female chorale appends the lyric lines and punchy chords, while the percussionists and Harland weave startling invention from rhythmic interplay. Pinderhughes' flute solo alternately soars and pops, framed by piano and rhythm section. The title cut commences as a poignant ballad erected from folk melodies. After resonant solos from Glawischnig and Childs, Wilson enters, seamlessly shifting the band toward a soulful blues. The biggest surprise is "Leimert Park." Co-composed by Childs, bassist Paul Jackson, and drummer Mike Clark (the rhythm section of Herbie Hancock & Headhunters), it's a fusion jam that weaves trancelike synth and Rhodes vamps and rhythmic cadences as they crisscross musical terrain that touches on mid-period Weather Report, dancefloor funk, and hip-hop. Olatuja delivers Childs' "Do You Know My Name?" with restrained intensity. The lyric is a poem he wrote in response to a commission from Rodney Whittaker and Mark Sullivan to address the scourge of human trafficking. Childs' words and music refuse to pander or preach. Olatuja's resonant alto climbs inside the lyric and inhabits it; she gives it back with an indelible, powerful emotional resonance. "Twilight Is Upon Us" dates from 1989. It was inspired by a Pat Metheny Group performance and, in particular, Lyle Mays' keyboard playing and subsequent friendship. This euphoric, expansive jam features the late musician's niece Aubrey Johnson on vocals; she doubles on the intricate melody asserted by Wilson, then soars with the band as they unfold the nine-minute suite. Closer "Oceana" is a canny group improvisation. Wilson's horn alternately evokes the sounds of whale songs and the late Leon Thomas' yodeling solos as the band coalesce and coax him into a swinging hard-bop blues. As a next chapter, Acceptance is as much a band showcase as it is one for Childs' tunes. Their intimate, almost instinctive communication is at once a calling card and an invitation to adventure.