In years to come, our tales of how we coped with the great early-2020s pandemic will be as many and varied as a previous generation’s answers to the question “What did you do in the war, Daddy?” In saxophonist Tony Malaby’s case, he forced himself outdoors and led acoustic jam sessions in a drafty space under a busy turnpike bridge in his native New Jersey – nicknamed the Cave of Winds. Inspired by the experience, he set about trying to capture some of same spirit in the studio, reconvening his former quartet for the occasion, with Ben Monder replacing Marc Ducret on electric guitar.

Good call, as it turns out. Monder’s intelligent contributions lend the session a dangerous energy throughout. On pieces like the rangy, swinging ‘Corinthian Leather’ he slots in with Malaby’s brusque tenor, brandishing a tone somehow muffled yet barbed. On the more abstract group improvisation, ‘Recrudescence,’ he projects a distant roar while a muscular free-form work out slowly coalesces around delicate signals. And on ‘Scratch The Horse,’ his overdriven, snarling solo intro gleefully degenerates into detuned Black Sabbath riffage. Better make sure they’ve got a power supply under that bridge when the next big disease hits.