Tony Malaby's "The Cave of Winds" and Monder/Malaby/Rainey's "Live at the 55 Bar"

As the '50s -- decade of Sonny Rollins' meteoric rise through the ranks of jazz saxophonists -- gave way to the '60s, Rollins sought to assuage his resultant existential/spiritual crisis by practicing for hours daily on the walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge. When he returned to performing, he celebrated this period by recording an album with a guitar quartet: The Bridge. 

Sometimes, history repeats itself in funny ways. While the first pandemic year drove other musos to livestream living room concerts or undertake remote collaborations, the sociable saxman Tony Malaby took a page from Rollins' book, with a difference. Rather than practicing alone, Malaby hosted small group jams with a revolving cast of players beneath a turnpike overpass near his New Jersey home. For the studio sessions that produced The Cave of Winds, which drops January 7 on Pyroclastic, Malaby composed material inspired by that physical and metaphorical space. 

He then reconvened the rhythm section from 2000's Sabino, his debut outing as leader -- bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tom Rainey -- with another frequent collaborator, guitarist Ben Monder, in place of Sabino's Marc Ducret. Prior to the first Covid lockdown, Malaby and Rainey had joined Monder on his recurring gig at NYC's storied Bar 55 for an expansive set of droning, groaning, free-floating architectonics, which Sunnyside just released as Live at the 55 Bar. Malaby's at his most exploratory here, and Rainey shows his sensitivity as a responsive accompanist. The dark mystery of the sounds Monder coaxes from his semi-hollow Ibanez and arsenal of effects -- now atmospheric, now aggressive -- recalls John Abercrombie in his '70s ECM heyday, but with a harder edge.

The Cave of Winds, however, is Something Entahrly Other. Malaby's pandemic year got him back into playing standard jazz repertoire, which is reflected in the album's opening and closing selections: "Corinthian Leather" extrapolates on "Woody 'n' You," while "Just Me, Just Me" borrows its chord changes from "Just You, Just Me." The musicians apply forward-thinking interpretations to the traditional material, which perhaps makes it fitting that following the recording, Malaby decamped from New York to accept an engagement on the faculty at Berklee in Boston.

In between those two nods to '50s progenitors, "Recrudescence," "Insect Ward," and the title track are more amorphous improvisations that weave their way through multifarious dynamic shifts. "Scratch the Horse" features Monder at his most prog-metallic (reminiscent of his role in Dan Weiss' Starebaby), while "Life Coach" is a duet for Malaby and Rainey, dedicated to their ex-bandleader, bassist Mark Helias. A reminder that this music thrives on the give and take between musicians, regardless of the physical setting where it goes down.