return to reviews

Reviews
Lee Gardner, Baltimore City Paper
June 28, 2000

The Onus isn’t a classic jazz quintet like a ’55 Chevy is a classic car—a vintage model preserved in its pristine original state. The Onus is classic jazz like a classic suit—full of classic lines and principles that always work, no matter when it was cut or what the fashion of the day. Led by Baltimorean Darryl Harper, the band sports a clarinet-guitar front line right out of the old Benny Goodman small groups, but its dynamic group improvisation and songbook (Stevie Wonder, anyone?) are right now….

August 2, 2000

When you see a Francis Wolff photo or one of those striking Reid Miles designs on the cover of an old Blue Note recording, it's a good indicator that something just as poised, passionate, striking, and stylish awaits your ears. Well, the Onus, a jazz quintet led by Baltimore-based clarinetist Darryl Harper, hasn't established such a distinctive graphic identity yet, but as its brand new second album, Reoccurring Dream (HiPNOTIC) proves, the group's name is fast becoming a reliable mark of quality.

In invoking Blue Note and its much-imitated visual and musical style, there's a danger of making the Onus sound like just another sharp-dressed, post-Wynton Marsalis revivalist unit. Nothing could be further from the truth. While there is plenty of crisp, tasteful post-bop interplay to the proceedings, the unusual front line of Harper's licorice stick and Jeff Ray's plummy guitar gives even riotous moments like the ride-out of Ray's "Letter to My Brother" an introspective tone that charms the ear as much as the exotic timbres do. The band is tradition-minded enough to include several blues (highlighted by the wonderful "I Wonder," penned by band manager Tony Haywood) and takes of standards such as "Night and Day" and "Falling Leaves." But Harper and company don't bother with standard takes, rewiring the former harmonically and structurally while recasting the latter as a ruminative solo for pianist Kyle Koehler. Then bassist Matthew Parrish's closing "Caliban's Nightmare" gives the band a prime vehicle for a journey outward. In short, Reoccurring Dream is classic, not classicist, and no local jazz fan should be without it.

return to reviews