Paul Dunmall Times Three

Paul Dunmall is the typical British musician: eclectic, capable on several instruments and full of wonder for the improvised form. In one crucial way he is different from Brits who preceded him: he refuses to be underrecorded and releases records at a frightening pace and on different labels with different projects.

All feature his long-time musical conspirator, bassist Paul Rogers. The Emanem record continues a relationship begun in 1980. The CIMP release adds American percusso-vibraphonist Kevin Norton with whom the two have begun a fruitful collaboration. The Clean Feed is based around the core of Mujician, featuring Dunmall, Rogers, pianist Keith Tippett and drummer Tony Levin augmented by a frontline of trombonists Malcolm Griffiths and Paul Rutherford, trumpeter Gethin Liddington and saxophonist Simon Picard.

Paul Dunmall/Paul Rogers
Awareness Response
Emanem
2004

Awareness Response is three extended improvisations with Rogers' bass set against Dunmall's bagpipes, tenor and soprano respectively. The music will test the mettle of listeners, varying from high-frequency atonality to updated trad to cool free and all points between.

Paul Dunmall/Paul Rogers/Kevin Norton
Go Forth Duck
CIMP
2004

Go Forth Duck adds Norton and a compelling voice with a different timbre and background. The improvisations take longer to expand and have a chamber-like feel to them. Dunmall and Co. can be as loud or as quiet together as they like, to great effect.

Paul Dunmall Octet
Bridging the Great Divide Live
Clean Feed
2004

The Octet recording Bridging is a live rendition of a suite Dunmall recorded a few years earlier. Tippett and Rutherford's inclusion joins together two spheres of '60s and '70s London jazz but has a more Continental sound than one would expect from a British big band. Note that this is not "Mujician with Horns" but a carefully conceived and articulated piece that still manages to bubble with intensity.

Dunmall, one of a long line of virtuosic British sax players either consciously keeps himself out of the recording periphery or has so many ideas that need documenting. Either way, we all benefit.


Awareness Response

Tracks: 1. Pressure Response (19:02); 2. Priceless Response (23:39); 3. Precious Response (16:43).
Personnel: Paul Dunmall: Bagpipes, Soprano and Tenor Saxophones; Paul Rogers: Bass.

Go Forth Duck

Tracks: Go Forth Duck; Come Back Weirdness Day; I Am Not a Fan (Ofocals).
Personnel: Paul Dunmall: Bagpipes, Soprano and Tenor Saxophones; Paul Rogers: Bass; Kevin Norton: Drums, Vibraphone.

Bridging

Tracks: The Great Divide; Wind.
Personnel: Paul Dunmall: Bagpipes, Tenor Saxophone; Malcolm Griffiths: Trombone; Tony Levin: Drums; Gethin Liddington: Trumpet; Simon Picard: Tenor Saxophone; Paul Rogers: Double Bass; Paul Rutherford: Trombone; Keith Tippett: Piano.