From chamber-jazz ensembles to commissioned works for full orchestra, acclaimed pianist and composer Billy Childs has revealed many facets in his career. But there’s something gratifying about his series of quartet albums for Mack Avenue, beginning with Rebirth and Acceptance and continuing strongly with The Winds of Change. Pivoting from a sax-driven lineup with Steve Wilson, Hans Glawischnig, and Eric Harland, Childs opts for trumpet and, in particular, the celebrated fellow Californian Ambrose Akinmusire, whose melodic assurance is captivating on a set of mainly Childs originals. Bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade put The Winds of Change solidly in “dream band” territory. Chick Corea’s “Crystal Silence,” from the late piano master’s duo repertoire with Gary Burton, is the perfect contemplative Akinmusire ballad vehicle. “The Black Angel,” written by Kenny Barron, serves to honour the late trumpet king Freddie Hubbard, who played it on a 1970 album of that name. Childs earned his stripes as a Hubbard sideman, and this complex arrangement captures something of that time, that band vernacular. But the depth and invention of Childs’ pianism, most clearly on “Master of the Game” and the reflective closing trio piece, “I Thought I Knew,” is the mark of an artist who’s always pushing forward.