Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Darryl Harper: The Edenfred Files

4

Darryl Harper: The Edenfred Files

By

View read count
Darryl Harper: The Edenfred Files
Clarinetist Darryl Harper has five previous recordings to his credit (all released on HipNOTIC) and has had precious little coverage at All About Jazz. A longtime member of violinist Regina Carter's band, Harper has been chipping away at the edges of hard bop and post-bop since his 2001 recording, The Onus: Recurring Dream. At first blush, Harper might appear as a free jazz or avant-garde advocate in the mold of Jimmy Giuffre but, while those elements are present, Harper has a much more traditional approach to his music that lands him squarely in a fertile and searching mainstream. This is easily accessible music that still asks for attention to detail.

The Edenfred Files was conceived while Harper was in residence at Edenfred, and consisted of his writing and arranging for both piano-less trio and piano-based quartet formats. The blues waltz "Blues for Jerry" and Julius Hemphill's earthy "Kansas City Line" portray the trio format, one that is both spare and orchestral; Harper's playing is precise and inspired...and it swings, too. On bassist Matthew Parrish's "Sirens Calling," Harper accomplishes a Middle-eastern "St. Thomas" that is both angular and positively temperamental.

In the standard quartet, Harper is equally effective. "Spindleshanks" is a jaunty joust with pianist Kevin Harris, who confronts Harper note-for-note. Harris presents a solo rendering of John Coltrane's "After The Rain" as a classical piano recital, something that could have been composed by an opium-encouraged Debussy or Ravel. Impressionistic, and amorphous, "After The Rain" proves a logical palette cleanser at the end of a very satisfying clarinet outing.

Track Listing

Blues For Jerry; Sirens Calling; Spindleshanks; Walking With Old Souls; Kansas City Blues; Edenfred; After The Rain.

Personnel

Darryl Harper
clarinet

Darryl Harper: clarinet; Kevin Harris: piano; Matthew Parrish: bass; Harry "Butch” Reed: drums.

Album information

Title: The Edenfred Files | Year Released: 2013 | Record Label: HiPNOTIC Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.