Dialogue

Clarinetist Goldberg has played in piano eminence Melford's big band, but this is an opportunity to observe the two in a less busy setting as they deliver a master class in texture. On “Your Life Here,” Melford begins by comping behind Goldberg’s melodic lead, and the two meet for some spiky unison lines in advance of a gripping Melford solo; the reprise is slower and more spellbinding. Some pieces are meditative miniatures, and others push the avant-garde needle, such as “City of Illusion,” where Melford puts boogie-woogie through the Modernist dicer.