Compared to the kind of all-brass groups pumping out rasping brass onslaughts and crowd-pleasing old-time grooves, Onyx Brass is a breath of fresh air. In contrast, their featherweight chamber-music grace and creative spirit wields a potency that doesn't rely on megadecibels or big-boss grooves. Led by the trombonist Amos Miller, who has a wealth of experience in classical and film orchestras, the quintet celebrates their 25th anniversary with this new release, Onyx Noir. Subtitled Jazz Works for Brass Quintet, the impressive recording is a compilation of commissioned pieces by leading British composers. It opens with Gwilym Simcock's eloquently crafted ‘Stomper’ that's especially impressive in the lower register horns. Miller was thrilled to have the opportunity to ask the fairly recently departed Kenny Wheeler to write for the quintet and his offering is characteristically graceful and sepulchral. What's interesting is hearing the efforts of contemporary jazz instrumentalists you wouldn't normally associate with writing for brass but still being able to recognise something of their signature, one of them being Liam Noble with his Stravinsky-ish ‘Imaginary Dance’; Guy Barker's piece echoes the noir of the title theme with its reminders of the soundtracks of Elmer Bernstein and Andre Previn, while Manc guitar great Mike Walker's yearning ‘Let Her Go’ is lovingly executed by the fab five.