NY Standard - Ari Hoenig

NY Standard is drummer Ari Hoenig's album for Justin Time Records, released in 2018. True to its title, the album reimagines well-known jazz standards through Hoenig's rhythmically adventurous lens, featuring compositions by Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, and others. The rotating personnel includes guitarist Gilad Hekselman, tenor saxophonist Tivon Pennicott, bassist Orlando Le Fleming, and three different pianists — Shai Maestro, Tigran Hamasyan, and Eden Ladin — each appearing on different tracks and bringing their own sensibility to the material. The program includes Monk's "In Walked Bud," Rollins's "Pent-Up House," Shorter's "Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum," Coltrane's "Bessie's Blues," and "Someday My Prince Will Come." Hoenig, known for his metrical modulation techniques and ability to reshape familiar tunes through rhythmic displacement, approaches each standard as a vehicle for structural reinvention rather than conventional blowing. The different pianists give each track a distinct character — Hamasyan's Armenian-influenced harmonic language, Maestro's lyrical touch, and Ladin's more traditional approach create variety across the album. Hekselman's guitar and Pennicott's tenor provide melodic continuity. The album reflects Hoenig's reputation as one of the most inventive drummers in contemporary jazz, someone who treats rhythm as a compositional element rather than accompaniment.