In the often captivating mix of idiosyncrasy and elegance of this intriguing set, the American trombonist, composer and educator Ed Neumeister seems to be implying, at 69, that he still dreams of a life outside of the admiring trap of 'musicians' musician'. Neumeister has long been a flawless ensemble partner (no less than Joe Lovano and Dave Liebman are fans), a busy studio player, and a college teacher with a prestigious CV. This quartet, with the cutting-edge drums/bass partnership of Drew Gress and Tom Rainey, and with the diamond-bright eloquence of Gary Versace on piano, is Neumeister's very sparky late-career working band.

He has an engagingly voice-like sound on trombone, somewhere between Albert Mangelsdorff's dissonances and Louis Armstrong's singing, and the setup of this session shuffles his boppish mid-tempo tunes and ballads with six tiny seconds-long interludes of free-improv spread around the band. The trombonist's seamless swapping of talkatively muted long lines and sudden yelping exclamations that make you jump is declared from the opening soft groover, 'Riverside', and 'Gratitude', a stop-time bopper snapped at by Rainey's offbeats, evolves from a lurching almost-swinger into a fertile group conversation, notably featuring the excellent Versace's twisting linear improv.

Neumeister's blearily Armstrong-like vocalised tones open 'Ridgewood', the standout track, and his warmly quivering long notes and occasionally snarly asides decorate the title tune.

Jazz from a rather specialised side-alley perhaps, but it's strikingly personal, and unexpectedly edgy at times.