One of jazz music's most heralded traditions is breathing new life into older material. Reimagining standards and well-known songs provides impetus and backbone for ensemble connection and creative improvisation. Saxophonist Michael Zilber and drummer Mike Clark utilize their understanding and mastery of the jazz canon and popular songs on their new recording, Standard Deviation, a recording seemingly familiar yet new.

Clark has provided pulse to innumerable influential rhythm sections over his long and varied career. The drummer's association with Zilber has blossomed over the last decade, focusing mainly on their love for New York City's hard swinging jazz tradition. Though both originally hail from the West Coast, Clark from the Bay Area and Zilber from Vancouver, Canada, the musicians found their musical home with the driving sounds of New York hard bop via groups like those of Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

The musicians are separated by a continent, as Zilber lives in Los Angeles and Clark in New York City. But when they get together, they make their reunions count. The two recorded their first album, Mike Drop (Sunnyside, 2021), after their quartet's first West Coast tour in 2018.

In the Fall of 2022, Clark and Zilber performed a very successful concert of new material at the Monterey Jazz Festival, where they were joined by up-and-coming New York bassist Alexander Claffy. Shortly thereafter, Zilber headed to New York City, where he and Clark rehearsed and recorded Zilber's fresh, new arrangements.

Recording Standard Deviation with a New York band was important to Zilber and Clark, as they wanted musicians who understood that distinctive approach, namely, to remain loose, swing hard, and be in the moment. For the recording, the duo brought in the aforementioned Claffy along with stalwart pianist Jon Davis, a seasoned veteran of the New York scene who had already played some of the material with Zilber and Clark.

A fair portion of the material Zilber and Clark have performed together have been standards. For their Monterey appearance and new recording, Zilber and Clark wanted to feature Zilber's arrangements that present a fresh spin on familiar material, reimagining the original songs. For that, Zilber used melodies from well-known tunes while completely overhauling the song structures, from changes in harmonies, meters, form, and feel. These changes make the songs exciting and challenging vehicles for the quartet and listeners alike.

For jazz musicians, sometimes the best way to express something new is by reimagining something old. Mike Clark and Michael Zilber take pieces with recognizable themes and uniquely reimagine them on Standard Deviations. The results provide their quartet with fantastic pieces to highlight the group's commitment to listening, interplay, and, most important, swing.