Aaron Goldberg - Unfolding (2001)

It's a fortunate state of affairs that there seems to be no shortage of promising young piano players in today's jazz world, with figures such as Jason Moran, Bill Charlap, and others releasing albums that point to years of creativity to come. But it would be a shame if that means Aaron Goldberg's fine new piano trio album, Unfolding, gets lost in the shuffle. Goldberg has already proved his chops as the pianist for the Joshua Redman Quartet and the Darren Barrett Quintet, and his 2000 debut, Turning Point, showed a thoughtful compositional side to his ability as well. On Unfolding, he sounds like he's not out to prove anything, and the result is a piano trio album rich with nuance and subtlety, highlighted by smart original compositions that sometimes seem to teeter on the brink between bluesy swing and free-form group improvisation. There are moments--as on an inventive reworking of Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" and his own intriguing "If and Only If"--that Goldberg recalls a young Herbie Hancock, and the engaging and constant interplay between Goldberg and his excellent band mates, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland, also sometimes recalls the expansiveness of early 1960s Blue Note recordings by figures such as Andrew Hill and Jackie McLean. Mostly though, Unfolding is notable for the highly original nature of Goldberg's tunes and style. -- Ezra Gale