"The now venerable Eremite does not release music at random. Known for the services it started rendering to the free jazz scene in the mid ’90s, the label has in recent years escaped easy labeling, even if its roots are still in evidence. This is also true of the thematic Onilu, an eight-track, three-drummer project initiated by Philadelphian Kevin Diehl. Diehl is among the few musicians still claiming (non-bankable) drum great Sunny Murray as a mentor, but the album doesn’t sound anything like the great avant garde waves that washed upon 1960s shores. The senior member of the Onilu trio is Joe Chambers, whose drumming (and vibraphone playing) started appearing on classic Blue Note albums in the mid ’60s; he is also a surviving member of Max Roach’s all-percussion group M’Boom, a forebear that fortifies the groundwork of Onilu. As a young musician, Diehl witnessed the NYC loft scene of the following decade, and the ensemble’s youngest member, Chad Taylor, is a founder of the quarter-century-old Chicago Underground collective..."

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