Clarinetist Ben Goldberg is an inventive improviser, composer, and musical theorist who has consistently challenged not only the role his chosen instrument plays in jazz, but also in new music, klezmer, classical, and pop. Influenced heavily by the work of his mentor, saxophonist Steve Lacy, he has explored a variety of settings from solo, duo, and trio dates to larger ensemble projects rife with layered, polyphonic arrangements and group improvisation. A top-tier sideman, Goldberg has worked with Marty Ehrlich, John Zorn, Allison Miller, and others. Also a member of the Tin Hat ensemble and the New Klezmer Trio, as a leader, his own exploratory works span the 1992 duo album The Relative Value of Things with Kenny Wollesen, 2006's Lacy-inspired The Door, The Hat, The Chair, The Fact, and 2015's nonet recording Orphic Machine. He joined Nels Cline, Ron Miles, and Dean Young for 2019's Good Day for Cloud Fishing.