Paul Dunmall

Paul Dunmall Quartet
Here Today Gone Tomorrow
RogueArt ROG-0139

Whether you want your Paul Dunmall music regular or king-sized, it’s the situation that separates these two notable sessions. Here Today Gone Tomorrow aptly describes the free-form Free Jazz disc it reflects with the veteran UK tenor and soprano saxophonist involved in three go-for-broke improvisations with other experienced British sound innovators, percussionist Mark Sanders and bassist John Edwards, the rhythm section on numerous European creative music sessions and pianist Liam Noble, who has worked with everyone from Ingrid Laubrock to Julian Siegel. Away with Troubles and Anxieties is probably a fine description of the other CD, since it’s another example of the saxophonist’s writing and playing with 10, 11 and 12-piece ensembles.

Using a classics ensemble on the quartet disc, in spite of his command of extended techniques such as multiphonics, doits and tone shattering, Dunmall manages to make the three extended tracks reflect connection as well as conflict. His tones on both saxophones encompass intermittent honks and rugged smears in some registers and mewling and yelping nips in others. Breathy languid interludes also figure into the program, as on “Lights” where horizontal reed puffs meet a romantic piano countermelody. After the lines are thinned and speed up with fourfold dynamic pressure, completion lies in a gradually slow down and ending it

Given the McCoy Tyner-Matthew Shipp etc. role, Noble does more than comp or use glissandi to create sympathetic backing or chordal asides. While gentling piano lines can introduce some themes, as on “Speaking Silence” for instance, that swiftly turns to jerky jumps which emphasize each modulation. He also exhibits immersive keyboard exposition that cunningly adds to the percussive and vibrating undertow from Edwards and Sanders and contrapuntal broken-chord ambulation that position the saxophonist’s curved and stretched reed flutters and slurs within a considered narrative. With thick bass string thumps when needed, sways or buzzes when breaking up the time or emphasizing a turnaround with arco stretches Edwards undulates measured linear pressure. Hooking into the bassist’s sul ponticello sawing or thick string stops, Sanders reflects or presages Edwards’ inclinations and Noble’s thick chording with drum smack, cymbal slaps. These also complement Dunmall’s sometime clenched expositions or unexpected switches to ascending multiphonics without curtailing reed exploration.

With about three times the instrumental input, Dunmall creates concise arrangements for the 13 selection on the other disc. Space is reserved for his statements on all his reeds – including a gaunt penny whistle expression on the introduction and conclusion of the suite –  others are designed to express section or thematic development. Although tracks evolve from mellow to Mingusian to multiphonic, the expositions are animated by different soloists. Trumpeter Percy Pursglove cuts through the collective wavering with tropes such as brass brays and splattering triplets as organ and piano riffs push contrapuntal emphasis on “…:…..But Sometimes It Is”, while his gentling grace notes balance on stretched theme variation from the three reed players on “Certain Uncertainties”. Pianist Glenn Leach and electric pianist/organist Andrew Woodhead trade off vamps and slides that range from Bluesy to boisterous and tinkling to thematic; while guitarist James Birkett’s twangs solidify the rhythm along with John Pope’s double bass thumps and drummer Jim Bashford’s rumbles on “Reawaken The Coiled Serpent” so that reed split tones and bites heard earlier on the track can be knit into sectional advancement. On the other hand the drummer’s measured frails along with keyboard plinks and vibe resonations connect the exposition to the skyscraper-like brass squeezes on “Have Seen, Haven’t Seen”

Included on only three tracks,  Corey Mwamba’s cunning vibraphone clips, plinks and wavers add to continuous horizontal movement, while his quieter pops provide a contrapuntal respite from hard, fast saxophone tongue fluttering smear and snarls on “Blues For Truth” involving Dunmall, baritone saxophonist Alicia Gardener-Trejo and Martin Archer on Eb saxophones. Gardener-Trejo’s chief contribution is projecting basement-level continuum throughout, while Archer on the four tracks on which he’s featured, generally provides additional tonguing and note bending to the section work. However following a trumpet burp, ascending screech triplets and lowing plunger notes from Pursglove and trombonist Richard Foote, it’s Archer’s sax and Dunmall’s tenor sax which squawk and honk reed interjections into “I Can Help With That” adding pointed dissonance into an all-out swing piece.

Maintaining balance among the sections alongside repeated vamps, Dunmall doesn’t have as many solo opportunities as on Here Today Gone Tomorrow. Yet in retrospect each of these discs show off an alternative facet of his skills, making both equally imposing.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Here: 1. Here Today Gone Tomorrow 2. Speaking Silence 3. Lights

Personnel: Here: Paul Dunmall (tenor and soprano saxophones); Liam Noble (piano); John Edwards (bass) and Mark Sanders (drums and  percussion)

Track Listing: Away: 1. Away With Troubles And Anxieties! 2. It’s Not Always As It Seems….. 3. Awaken The Coiled Serpent*# 4. Certain Uncertainties 5. …:…..But Sometimes It Is 6. Freedom To Follow*# 7. Reawaken The Coiled Serpent 8. Have Seen, Haven’t Seen 9. I Can Help With That* 10. Blues For Truth*#+ 11. No Bad Karma Today^ 12. Buzz Me* 13. Away With Troubles And Anxieties!

Personnel: Away: Percy Pursglove (trumpet); Richard Foote (trombone); Paul Dunmall (tenor, C, Bb soprano saxophones, penny whistle); Martin Archer (Eb saxophones)*; Alicia Gardener-Trejo (baritone saxophone): Glenn Leach (piano); Andrew Woodhead (electric piano, organ); Corey Mwamba (vibraphone)#; James Birkett (electric guitar); James Owston+, John Pope ([not 10] bass); Jim Bashford (drums); John Ball (tanpura)^