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Artist Profiles
Paul Dunmall
The initial run was less than 100 copies and sold well enough to allow Dunmall to "put out whatever I like without asking anybody's permission or whether they like it or not and not only that, because I only make small amounts, I can put one out every month, every six weeks which is really I wanted to do, rather than putting an album out with a big label, my one album every two years or once a year that I'm precious about and in the end I don't like it.
DUNS Limited Editions, as stated in the liner notes of one of the discs, functions very much as a newsletter, allowing interested listeners immediate access to what Dunmall and a small group of musicians are doing at a particular point in time. What it is not is a label modeled after famous European musician-run imprints like FMP or Ogun or Incus. "I've said to all my friends, just so they so understood, I'd love to put all your guys' music out but unless I'm on it, I can't, Dunmall bemoans. "I am always saying to the guys, it's easy, do it yourself. It's one of the best things I've ever done. People complain that it swamps the market with stuff but I disagree. I think it's taking the power away from all these big record labels that used to tell you whether you were any good or not. Everybody now has a chance to present their music. It's up to the public. They buy it or not, that's their decision.
Dunmall has now played professionally for over 35 years, a period still only slightly half of the lifespan of free improvisation. And much like that genre still struggles for recognition, Dunmall is too often not afforded his own identity and the respect that comes with it. "One thing that always got to me, he says, "was I was always sounding like every saxophonist you've ever heard. And I don't know whether that's a compliment or not. I can't figure out whether I'm doing something wrong or I'm doing something right. I know I've made it when people start saying that they sound like me.
Selected Discography
Mujician, There's No Going Back Now (Cuneiform, 2005) Paul Dunmall, Solo Soprano Saxophone (FMR, 2005)
Alex von Schlippenbach/Paul Dunmall/Paul Rogers/Tony Bianco, Vesuvius (SLAM, 2004)
Paul Dunmall/Paul Rogers, Awareness Response (Emanem, 2003)
Paul Dunmall/Paul Rogers/Kevin Norton, Rylickolum: For Your Pleasure (CIMP, 2003)
Mujician, Spacetime (Cuneiform, 2001)
Photo Credit:
Frank Rubolino
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