Joe Chambers, Kevin Diehl, Chad Taylor
Onilu
Eremite Records MTE-82 LP
Personnel:
Joe Chambers conga, drum kit, idiophones, marimba, shakere, vibraphone
Kevin Diehl batá drums, cajóns, drum kit, electro-acoustic drum kit, guagua, shakere
Chad Taylor alfaia, clave, clay drums, drum kit, mbira, marimba, piano, tongue drum, tympani, vibraphone
Track Listing:
1. Invocation
2. Same Shame
3. Grasta Maol
4. Mainz
5. Estuary Stew
6. Nyamaropa
7. A Meta Onilu
8. Sora
engineer Michael Richelle
producers Diehl & Michael Ehlers
skulls Watumbe Noble
liner notes Dana Hall
Estuary Stew
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onilu is an all-percussionist trio utilizing the extensive family of drummed & tuned percussion instruments to deliver beautifully composed, arranged & executed small ensemble music. nothing about this all-percussion band feels rarified, or missing anything musical. to the contrary, onilu create a soundworld where nothing is missing, & everything is musical —defying the stereotype of modern percussion ensembles as esoteric or academic pursuits, reaffirming the powerful social & sacred musics made in african diasporic communities & across cultures by drum & percussion groups since the beginning of human time. the members of onilu are: kevin diehl, leader of the enduring philadelphia-based afro-cuban yoruba free-jazz ensemble sonic liberation front; chad taylor, artistic director of jazz studies at the university of pittsburgh & esteemed drummer of long standing in many scenes. highlights of taylor's recent history include his work with james brandon lewis, jaimie branch, marc ribot, rob mazurek, & with joshua abrams in the duo -mind maintenance-. taylor was part of the community of young chicago-based musicians organized around fred anderson’s velvet lounge in the 1990s that included abrams, nicole mitchell, jeff parker, matana roberts, among others; living legend joe chambers began his illustrious career as the drummer on now-canonical blue note recordings by andrew hill, bobby hutcherson, sam rivers, wayne shorter & mccoy tyner. a 1970 founding member of max roach’s pathbreaking percussion ensemble m’boom, chambers continues to record percussion-centered music as a leader for blue note records.
after nearly 3 decades working with such historic drummers as denis charles, walter perkins, sunny murray, hamid drake, milford graves, susie ibarra, charles bobo shaw, & han bennink, it's eremite records' joy & honor to give the drummers not some, but ALL the spotlight.
from dana hall’s liner notes: These three artists are master musicians and the music they present here is masterfully conceived. The drum, and its entire global family of membranophones, shakers, and idiophones, are conduits for their collective creative voice. In addition to drummers, they are also composers, and their works here represent a synthesis of ideas, concepts, and their individual dialectics on the language and syntax found in much of African and African Diasporic musics. A music that uses call and response. One that honors the past while looking forward to the future. A music that is principally concerned with feeling, mood, and storytelling. One that eschews frivolity and the baroque. A music that swings and grooves. I found myself dancing to this recording. Trust me, you, too, will find yourself rightfully and unapologetically dancing to this recording.
release date 2025-02-07. 1st eremite edition of 999 copies pressed on premium audiophile-quality 140 gram vinyl at fidelity record pressing, from kevin gray/cohearent audio lacquers. recorded by michael richelle, philadelphia. mastered by joe lizzi, queens, NY. hand screen-printed insert by alan sherry, siwa studios, northern new mexico. 1st 175 direct order copies include eremite’s signature hand screen-printed retro-audiophile inner-sleeves. digital files available at eremite records bandcamp.
Back in 2021, one of my essential albums was Drag City’s Mind Maintenance, a duo instrumental album featuring Joshua Abrams’ guimbri and the mbira playing of Chad Taylor. Appropriately titled and timed for a fraught period (peak of COVID, etc.), the album was a tonic, coming when the world’s population needed soothing. Chad Taylor now lines up as one-third of Onilu (a Yoruba word meaning simply ‘drummer’), an all-percussion instrumental band, whose modus operandi, it seems, is to get a foot tapping. Armed with a host of percussive instruments, Chad, Kevin Diehl (Sonic Liberation Front) and Joe Chambers (M’Boom, etc.) are given not only centre stage but the entire stage to mesmerise us with their instrumental and composition skills.
For any of us wondering if percussion alone is enough to hold the attention, this set wastes no time in settling the listener (see Jim White and Chris Corsano, among others, for further reassurance). "Invocation" starts steadily, with a nifty rhythm and touches of hand drums, before a second beat settles in. It immediately screams confidence, with the players happy to allow the music to unfold at its own pace. But it is also subtly very technical and performed with such assurance that the whole concept quickly gets exciting.
On "Same Shame", something resembling a xylophone or marimba forms the core melody, with a darker percussive line behind it. This is a more mysterious piece, with plenty of space and sparse and pensive playing. Weirder is the excellent (and brilliantly titled) "Estuary Stew", which also uses some kind of idiophone, along with shakers (bringing a sense of natural unease, like a rattlesnake) and a bizarre squelchy sounding instrument unlike anything I have heard before. The overall mood is odd and furtive, with a hint of magical realism, but the music is just beautiful and so intelligently played it will have your eyes closed and entranced in no time.
Trickier to pin down is "A Meta Onilu", the longest song here at over seven minutes and one that incorporates many melodies into its main structure. Rather than the dream-like state some of the music here may induce, this one will have you listening closely and picking out each stand until the musical links become clear. It is a strong demonstration of the skill each of these players possesses, with very technical and challenging music seeming effortless. But this doesn’t feel like an academic album; it feels like three artists playing the music they love and relishing in the unusual position of being the main characters. Within the meticulous nature of the sound is a paradoxically careful abandon, and the love of the playing and bouncing off of one another shines through brightly. What a wonderfully uplifting, fresh and enjoyable recording this is. I’ve not come across anything quite like it.
Glenn Kimpton, Klofmag.com