When the global COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, saxophonist Tony Malaby was presented with a professional dilemma. Long accustomed to hosting informal group sessions at home as part of his creative process, he was adrift. As a remedy, he began conducting sessions under a turnpike overpass in New Jersey. Several times a week, he played with bassist John Hébert and drummer Billy Mintz; other musicians showed up too, including William Parker, Tim Berne, Mark Helias, and Ches Smith. Malaby recorded five volumes of these sessions and posted them to Bandcamp.
When restrictions allowed Malaby to re-enter the studio, the underpass sessions influenced his direction. The Cave of Winds features three-quarters of the band that played on Sabino, the saxophonist's 2000 leader debut with drummer Tom Rainey and bassist Michael Formanek. Original guitarist Marc Ducret is replaced here by frequent collaborator Ben Monder. (He, Malaby, and Rainey cut the stellar Live at the 55 Bar in March 2020, just before the shutdown.)
Malaby explores his roots in hard bop, modalism, and modern free jazz in seven pieces. "Corinthian Leather" commences as a revisioning of Dizzy Gillespie's "Woody 'n You," but its theme and harmony are reshaped wholesale. Monder's spiky arpeggios and Malaby's extrapolation on the melody result in a new theme. The rhythm section swings, holding the center amid the knotty exchanges by the front line. The 11-and-a-half minute "Recrudescence" is completely improvised. The quartet engages in sparse and atmospheric play as they establish several lines of communication simultaneously while the music builds in tempo and density. Malaby explores the outer reaches of his tenor and Formanek's bass solo is a true thing of beauty. Monder introduces "Scratch the Horse" with waves of arpeggiated distortion while flirting with prog metal. Rainey and Formanek enter to establish a doomy vamp before Malaby begins soloing before being answered by an unfettered Monder. At nearly 20 minutes, the title track is a dazzling, suite-like exercise in harmonic and textural invention. Malaby's spacious, bluesy tenor solo morphs into a theme as Formanek walks ominously behind him. Monder colors the frame as Rainey taps, pops, and raps on his kit. Five minutes in, Formanek goes arco and Malaby switches to soprano in the reflective middle section amid plucked guitar strings. Formanek's bowed playing floats and hovers as Monder's shard-like solos introduce Malaby's returns to tenor. At ten minutes the band launches into intense, extremely musical improv before ratcheting down again amid the saxophonist's glorious use of vibrato. Closer "Just Me, Just Me" is a spirited mutation of the standard "Just You, Just Me." Malaby leads on soprano as Monder's muscular runs push him outside; the rhythm section bridges and extends its harmonics while creating a new dialogue. Group exploration is the M.O. on The Cave of Winds. By turns curious, mysterious, and energetic, this is ensemble music that reveals a deep, intimately communicative language, simultaneously in the process of discovery and utterance.