KARL LATHAM, Living Standards II

Though veteran drummer Karl Latham has an enviably eclectic jazz resume that includes The Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars/Afro Latin Experience, Paquito D’Rivera and the Bernie Worrell orchestra, it’s his time with the Winters (Edgar and Johnny) and growing up in the classic rock era that has allowed him to bless us with two of his greatest gifts as a solo artist.

In 2016, vibing with the trio of bassist Mark Egan and guitarist Vic Juris, Latham re-imagined 11 iconic rock tunes as spirited, improvisational funky and meditational jazz jams on Living Standards. With Juris having passed away just before the pandemic, Latham’s glorious revisiting and expansion of the concept on Living Standards II has a slight bittersweet edge. Keeping the foundation of his camaraderie with Egan, the drummer brings on board guitarist Mitch Stein (Tania Maria, Brecker Brothers, David Sanborn), keyboardist and B3 master Henry Hey (Bill Evans, David Bowie, Tedeschi/Trucks) and percussionist Roger Squiitero (Dave Valentin, Spyro Gyra), with vibraphonist Wolfgang Lackerschmid billed as a special guest.

With that kind of fresh firepower on board, Latham offers a blaze of freshness, invention, adventure and new, exciting ways of understanding the connections between alternative jazz and rock. The freewheeling spirit of the album is introduced on the opening track, as the ensemble – led by Stein’s plucky, distorted guitar comingling with Egan’s trippy bass and Lackerschmid’s shimmering vibes – opens with nearly ten minutes of dynamic mood swinging through The Doors’ “Break On Through (To The Other Side),” whose original version runs only two and a half minutes. It’s almost as if they took the “Riders on the Storm”/”The End” aesthetic and applied it to another of the band’s classics.

Another fascinating, ultra creative stretch-out is the downright mystical, mind-bending approach Latham and company take to CSNY’s “Carry On,” which comes in two parts totaling nearly 12 minutes. Stephen Stills’ compositional genius is also represented well by a funky romp through the obscure Buffalo Springfield tune “Rock and Roll Woman,” another potent showcase for Stein’s cracking guitarisma.

Beyond the defiant anything goes sonic spirit, Living Standards II is notable for putting super-familiar, still frequently played hits (Eric Clapton’s “Layla,” Steppenwolf’s Magic Carpet Ride” with lesser known gems by Led Zeppelin (“What Is And What Should Never Be”) and King Crimson (“Matte Kudasai”). As leader, Latham often lets his band mates take the reins as he funks and sensually glides the groove along, but his practically tribal 50 second solo at the start of the breakneck speeded “Layla” is an infectious, ear-popping delight.