Whether under a freeway or in the studio, Tony Malaby can make good art out of his surroundings and does so again with ‘The Cave of Winds.’

Extraordinary music usually results when extraordinary musicians like Nels Cline and Ben Monder step out of their comfort zones and put themselves in challenging situations that gives them no other out but to lean on their innate sense of creativity.

Ben Monder, Tony Malaby and Tom Rainey are superb jazz musicians but for the live improv set ‘Live At The 55 Bar,’ they were clearly reaching for something beyond the bounds of jazz or any other genre.

‘Natural Selection’ is an advancement of bold, rock-oriented ideas drummer Dan Weiss first put forward a couple of years ago and justifies his decision to keep going down this path.

Maria Schneider wanted to send a strong message about the threat of a mass manipulation with ‘Data Lords.’ She gets the message across in perhaps the grandest way possible.

Ben Monder has this rare ability to effortlessly abstract harmony without robbing it of any of its emotional impact.

David Ake puts decades of experience behind ‘Humanities,’ creating what will certainly be one of the best mainstream jazz releases of the year.