Child's Play

La-La Land Records has announced the world premiere soundtrack release for the 1990 horror sequel Child’s Play 2 directed by John Lafia and starring Alex Vincent, Jenny Agutter and Christine Elise. The album features the film’s original music composed by Graeme Revell (The Crow, Tomb Raider, Dead Calm, Daredevil, The Siege, Pitch Black). Shirley Walker (Final Destination, Memoirs of an Invisible Man) conducted and orchestrated the score. The CD, which is limited to 3,000 copies, marks the sixth title in the Universal Pictures Film Music Heritage Collection.

When serial killer Charles Lee Ray is mortally wounded in a police shoot-out, he uses a voodoo spell to transfer his soul into Chucky, a "Good Guys" doll. Andy receives the doll as a birthday gift, and Chucky soon resumes his killing spree. However, Charles doesn't want to be trapped in the body of a doll forever. His only escape would be to transfer into the first human he revealed his true identity to… which places Andy in mortal danger.

It's been a while since we've heard pianist Billy Childs really dig in. While he certainly hasn't been dormant, reaching tremendous artistic heights in semi-recent times with a pair of highly refined chamber jazz explorations and a much-lauded tribute to Laura Nyro, the Childs of yore—the man that would throw down the gauntlet night after night while in the employ of legends like trumpet titan Freddie Hubbard or trombonist J.J. Johnson—hasn't been heard from in a while.

It's been a while since we've heard pianist Billy Childs really dig in. While he certainly hasn't been dormant, reaching tremendous artistic heights in semi-recent times with a pair of highly refined chamber jazz explorations and a much-lauded tribute to Laura Nyro, the Childs of yore the man that would throw down the gauntlet night after night while in the employ of legends like trumpet titan Freddie Hubbard or trombonist J.J. Johnson hasn't been heard from in a while. Rebirth brings that part of Childs' past back into view, but it also continues to shine a light on his clarity of expression and his incredible skills in the arranging department. It's punctilious and unpredictably powerful all at once. Believe it or not, you can have both ways. At least, that is, if you're Billy Childs.

The Grammy-winning American pianist and composer Billy Childs is a contemporary-classical composer as much as a jazz artist, but "Rebirth" means exactly what it says. Much of this scintillating set is a return to the snaking quickfire hard-bop Childs played in the 70s, albeit infused with all the musics he has visited so intelligently since, and his partners here include alto saxist Steve Wilson, Charles Lloyd drummer Eric Harland, and Chilean singer Claudia Acuña.