The Onus
Web Site
January 2001
Reoccurring Dream
Hipnotic
2000
Reoccurring Dream
Reviewed By
Chris Hovan
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The Onus
Minutes into the opening set of a June '99 performance by
The Onus at New York City's Soul Cafe, pianist Orrin Evans --
who, along with drummer Nasheet Waits, had trekked from the City of
Brotherly Love to check out the ensemble -- was moved
to smile and exclaim, "Now they sound like a band!"
Not lost on Evans, first runner-up in the 1999 Thelonious Monk International Jazz
Competition, was that, in The Onus, bandleader and clarinetist Darryl
Harper had achieved something somewhat rare in the contemporary world
of modern jazz; namely, create a distinctive, sophisticated and engaging group sound.
In the context of a jazz marketplace in which individual virtuosity often overshadows cumulative aesthetic value, Evans' remark,
mundane on its face, conveyed a deep admiration for Harper's subtle,
but heady, achievement.
Subtlety and brashness are, in fact, characteristics native to the
soft-spoken, high-minded and mildly contrarian Harper, who began playing clarinet, as a six-year-old, at Philadelphia's Settlement Music
School. Prior to obtaining a master's degree in
jazz performance at Rutgers University, Harper had led bands both throughout
high school and while attending Amherst College where he earned a Phi Beta
Kappa key and summa cum laude honors in music. Animated by a love and admiration for the great working-bands (especially the ground-breaking Miles Davis quintet of the 60's) that achieved and sustained an exceptional level of musicality through empathetic communication,
Harper, in the summer of 1996, set out to form an ensemble in
the truest sense. The Onus -- Latin for "responsibility" -- is the irresistable result.
Fronted by Harper and fellow Rutgers jazz alumnus, guitarist Jeff Ray, The Onus achieves its singularly seductive sound
in part through its marriage of "throwback" instrumentation, recalling the legendary
Benny Goodman-Charlie Christian pairing, and a decidedly modern rhythmic and
harmonic concept. Adding to the eclectic mix, an extensive and
ever-expanding repertoire of original compositions, re-worked standards, and
arrangements of "imported standards" (eg., Stevie Wonder's "Too High") provides
fresh fodder for soulful improvisation, while exploiting the unusual tonal and textural possibilities
supplied by the band's five instrumental voices. Just as critical to the aesthetic result is the
degree of dynamic interaction within the ensemble. This "openness" is enabled both by Harper's imaginative writing and arranging and by
the genuine musical camaraderie that exists among Harper, Ray and a dynamic
rhythm section consisting, since 1997, of pianist Kyle Koehler, bassist Matthew
Parrish and the venerable Philadelphia jazz/funk drummer Harry "Butch" Reed.
Fortunately for those of us privileged to hear the results, Harper has created, in this band of gifted and genuinely artful musicians, a communal context that is conducive to expressing, in sincere artistic conversation, his own sophisticated and "captivating" voice. Much more than that, he has brought forth one of the most readily-identifiable and appealing group sounds on today's modern jazz scene.
For more about The Onus, visit the band's web site, at www.theonus.com.
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