Crossover tends to be regarded as a recent phenomenon dreamt up by record company executives desperate to find a way of shifting more classical records. But if you have come across the likes of Jacques Loussier you will know that it's all been going on for some while and for much higher minded reasons. All of 40 years ago Loussier identified that dour old Lutheran J S Bach was at heart something of a jazzer and he's been making a living on the back of it ever since. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of JSB's death, Loussier's dazzling trio returns to its favoured territory with this take on the Goldberg Variations, a series of double keyboard harpsichord pieces written in 1742. Neatly for jazz aficionados, the theme on which Bach so neatly elaborated turns out to be based on the same kind of 32 bar bass pattern that underpins so many of Tin Pan Alley's greatest, but this shouldn't be mistaken for a jazz album. Jazz fans will certainly groove, but it should hit a wider audience. Loussier has perhaps been here before, but he is still a peerless pianist, and drummer Andre Arpino confirms his status as one of the best. --Stewart Collins