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In the liner notes to Requiem for Jack Kirby, the new album by Gregg Bendian's Interzone, comic book illustrator Mark Evanier explains, "Jack Kirby was bold and innovative, & he did the impossible by creating work that was both brilliantly planned & literally spontaneous. Like a fine jazz musician, he always knew what he was doing, but when he sat down at his [drawing table], he never knew precisely how it would come out." This process of yielding to the moment led to Kirby's realization of the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Spider-Man, the X-Men, and other groundbreaking comic book characters, all of which instilled in a youthful Bendian "a sense of wonder at [Kirby's] limitless imagination and creation of possible worlds."

At its best, jazz improvisation captures a similarly otherworldly essence, which vibraphonist Bendian manages to evoke on Requiem by giving his Interzone bandmates -- Nels Cline (guitar), Joel Hamilton (bass), and Alex Cline (drums) -- plenty of space to flex their skills and spontaneity. Think of the album's suite of extended compositions (most more than 10 minutes long) as a super-powerful beast on a mission to, say, eradicate jazz poseurs from the face of the Earth. The improvised parts are the sinewy meat on the strangely shaped, rock-solid bones of the score, while the interlocking melodies and pizzicato rhythms of vibes, electric six-string, upright bass, cymbals, and snare are the spectral luminescence radiating from the heart of the beast. Soaring through the cosmos in a blaze of color, Bendian's creature torches the wannabes in its fiery wake. Jack Kirby (and, indeed, many of his costumed pals) would be proud.