Terrible Animals (Gate)

Terrible Animals is perhaps the most compositionally ambitious and daringly performed of Lage Lund's five albums on Criss Cross. Joined by a never-before-convened, top-of-the-pyramid rhythm section (Sullivan Fortner, piano; Larry Grenadier, bass; Tyshawn Sorey, drums) the 39-year-old presents ten far-flung originals that elicit the full measure of their creativity over the 68-minute program, spurring Lund, who makes ingenious use of effects within his flow, to some of his most dynamic and varied playing on record.