He’s only 15 years of age and he’s on to his second album, this time with Ralph Peterson on drums and production duties; his first album, BTW, was nominated by DownBeat as one of the best albums of 2021.

His second opens with an answerphone message from Peterson, who sadly died last year, talking about the upcoming session. There are five well-constructed compositions by Goldberg, plus five reliable standards. Sondheim’s ‘Send in the Clowns’ is performed as a duo with trumpeter Antoine Drye, while Gershwin’s ‘Someone To Watch Over Me’ is performed solo by Goldberg, and boy – not only is he a sensitive, imaginative accompanist on the former, but the latter, unaccompanied, and taken at a very slow tempo, is impressive. His touch, use of pedals and his interpretive skill are of a high order. There is a tendency in younger players to play disconnected melodic phrases, and patterns acquired in the practise room, and it usually takes a while to become more consistent, yet Goldberg, still in his teenage years, has bypassed all that. His originals also seem strong and that normally comes later too, after a few more years playing experience. ‘Circles,’ in ¾, features Dillard on soprano in a quartet; the now mandatory salute to Monk, ‘Monk’s Dream,’ performed as a trio, reveals an understanding of Monk’s style; while ‘Nefertiti’, done as a quintet, albeit more freely thanthe famous Davis quintet version, collectively demonstrate a solid grounding in the jazz tradition. Goldberg really is the real deal.