- 74Recommend It!
- 3,683views
Live Reviews
Paul Dunmall Quartet : London, England, January 9, 2012
John Sharpe
John first fell under the spell of free jazz in the 1970s when he wistfully regarded the loft jazz scene from across the AtlanticKane was very expressive, not only musically as every note appeared etched on his face. His finest moment came in the second piece which he opened with beautiful wavering bowed harmonics, evoking whale song. He displayed his wonderful arco technique further in a passage of cello-like voicing, evoking Bach, before switching into a sequence of gut rumbling resonance. However all niceties were forgotten when the pyrotechnics ignited as he pawed and swiped at the fingerboard in a manic strum.
Steve Davis
But as good as the parts were, it was as a unit that the foursome excelled, with egos checked at the door. The ecstatic finale to second set was out of this world. On soprano, Dunmall combined snake charmer and Pied Piper, leading the charge with penetrating flurries to a peak of shamanistic intensity, with Bourne adding thunderous tremolos in bursts of barely controlled energy. Despite the quartet only performing together on some half dozen occasions, the degree of interaction bordered on the telepathic. It felt a privilege to witness such spontaneous alchemy, where sound transmuted to gold before your very ears.
Photo Credit
John Sharpe
