The John Goldsby Trio: Segment

Let's humor one another and just say that it's the hardest of the hard core who won't find themselves swept up in this snazzy little tart of a disc. It's music that gives you enough rope to range and get your chores done but holds you always in its easeful sway as the world is in freefall.

Segment, the newest respite from bassist John Goldsby's intimately tuned association with pianist Hans Dekker and drummer Billy Test, is a clear-eyed display of what it is, for lack of a better word or an actively forgetful frame of mind, a classic, late evening, early morning, piano trio performance by alumni of Germany's forward thinking, decades old, globally embracing jazz ambassadors the WDR Big Band, Segment is real good to listen to. It's real good to let the delicacy of every track naturally take you into its space then release you onto the next till you feel, not exhausted like your current state of being, but relaxed without effort: not needing to know the song titles or have them on the tip of your tongue while experiencing another of those forgetful periods.

Highlights? There are a lot of them. "Things That Go Bump In the Night," Test's "Spirit of Change," Goldsby's rhapsodic "Blue Dahlia," Charlie Parker's high steppin' namesake track, and a crystalline "Cinema Paradiso," (available via digital) are only some of what makes Segment good music. That, hopefully in the end, is the highest praise.

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