Through _Humanities_ [Ake] delivers a penetrating program . . . These five men go all in here, delivering some of the smartest, hippest, and most urgent music Ake's recorded. . . . Each track speaks to and for its own truths, but all prove beautifully bracing in their unfolding. . . . . Everybody in this band plays for keeps. In bringing Ferber, Monder, trumpeter Ralph Alessi and bassist Drew Gress together, Ake found the perfect collection of individuals to breathe life into these compositions