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The packed Douglas Beach House near Half Moon Bay was a testament to Billy Childs' Jazz Chamber Ensemble reputation and the Sunday afternoon performance confirmed that he and the band were well within the groove (even though the band had not played together for the preceding eight months).

Billy brought with him what proprietor Pete Douglas called a band with a scary depth of talent. That afternoon, Childs smiled with confidence as he sat before the Steinway Grand Piano, checked out Smitty Smith over on the drums, Larry Koonse on the acoustic guitar, Bob Shepard on flute, tenor and soprano saxophones, and Hamilton Price on the big stand-up bass.

After the first number, "Erin's Song," a spellbinding piece, Childs said, "I'm honored to be here with this group and to share this stage with so many legendary musicians who've played here." And the audience reacted with cheers and applauds as though it too was honored to have Childs and his sextet ready to entertain them on that late afternoon and into the evening.

And that's just what they did.

The ensemble's second number, "Hope In the Face of Despair," brought Shepard into the fore and allowed him to stretch out with Childs' abstract piano riding along with the tenor sax. Meanwhile, Smitty laid back on his drums until about midway through the tune, when he surged forth from the darkness and Larry Koonse rode in with his guitar and the piece ended with a feeling of "Well, this too can work itself out and there is hope."

As the ensemble moved from one tune to the next, it became clear that Childs could have performed a beautiful concert there at the Douglas Beach House with only himself, Price on bass and Smith on drums. However, with Shepard's saxes and flute, Koonse's acoustic guitar and Carol Robbins' harp, these excellent musicians gave Childs the ability to delightfully extend and refine the textures of his music. This was especially true when Robbins had the opportunity to bring her harp alive with long, rich and full strokes across her strings. Looking back on the performance, it's clear that there were too few such places throughout the concert.

All the way through both the first and second sets, it was difficult to characterize this powerful jazz chamber music: Childs' fingers rippling across the keyboard, sax, or maybe a breathy flute passage, harp rising to the demands, drums laid way, way back and then coming up as though from beneath the Earth, the guitar delicately shoving it forward and Price back there on the bass keeping it all moving straight ahead and leaving all of us in the audience agape and wondering where it will turn, down which path will it take. 

According to jazz reviewer and blogger Don Heckman, Childs' music is contemporary impressionism. And so it is. Billy said that he composes in such a way as to create images. When you look at the titles of his compositions, it pops right out at you: "Into the Light," "Autumn Song," and  "Path Among the Trees," just to name a few. Childs is a jazz poet.

With the concert racing toward its end, with the audience's sincere applause after each tune and with the last notes, the audience rose to its feet and gave the Billy Childs Jazz Chamber Ensemble an extended note of sincere appreciation. The encore consisting of the trio (Childs, Hamilton Price and Smitty Smith) rounded out the evening more as an afterthought than anything else. 

This is a must- see sextet. Pete was right when he said that this band has a scary depth of talent. Don't let this group pass you by. It was truly an honor to hear such outstanding jazz.