Paul Dunmall

When I spoke to Paul Dunmall for Jazzwise last October, he told me “I don’t think I’ll do that written stuff any more. For the moment.” Sure enough, his latest release Afraid To Speak finds him ending his recent run of albums for the label mainly foregrounding large group composition. Instead, he’s assembled a crack squad of trusted colleagues for a freely improvised session that delves deep onto the mysteries of spontaneous improvisation. It’s a context in which Dunmall is entirely at home, of course, and here he calls forth huge statements that distil a lifetime as a master practitioner. He’s ably joined by a deftly responsive group. Steve Saunders is a marvel on electric guitar – one moment jagged, the next dreamy – and the ever-excellent Corey Mwamba employs the full range of the vibes, weaving from warm swells to a sharp, gleaming attack, lending the date something of the feel of a late 1960s session by the Art Ensemble Of Chicago. Xhosa Cole makes a guest appearance on the final piece, Narendra, his concert flute and piccolo weaving around Dunmall’s rich Bb clarinet like a blooming jungle creeper. – Daniel Spicer, JAZZWISE

In spite of its title, Paul Dunmall’s intensity, gnarly eloquence and awesome power of projection appear undiminished on his latest release. Drummer Miles Levin fulfils persuasively the animating role his father took 40 years earlier. Steven Saunders plays electric guitar, Dave Kane double bass and Corey Mwamba vibraphone. Different times, different personnel, yet Dunmall remains a weighty gravitational centre around which fresh musical shapes, textures and colours circulate.

Like Skidmore, and other notable jazz luminaries, Dunmall refuses, as an instrumentalist and a guiding light, to be bound by idiomatic constraints, formal imperatives or historical precedents. Rather, he continues to channel vibrant life through his music making, engaging others in communal action that validates its own provisional meaning, moment to moment. Improvisation that demonstrates such unswerving commitment, and which draws on such a reservoir of know-how, is exhilarating to hear, here and now [and] confirms the astonishing durability of that capacity to excite and uplift. – Julian Cowley, THE WIRE

Afraid to Speak (DISCUS 211) features Paul Dunmall as a quintet with Steven Saunders, Dunmall’s guitarist in Birmingham; Dave Kane on double bass; Corey Mwamba, Kane’s partner in yana, on vibraphone; and Miles Levin, who took up his father Tony’s mantle on drums. Dunmall remains an indefatigable guardian of the Ogun tradition, but with the same emphasis that John Coltrane already established with ‘India’. Here, Nag Mahasaya (1846-1899), the East Bengali Hindu ascetic, is featured on the cover by Dunmall. And with ‘Narendra’ (Indra among humans) as the finale, embellished with avian flutes by Xhosa Cole. His first name alone evokes the Blue Note legacy from the Cape. Meanwhile, Dunmall ‘sings’ on tenor sax of anxieties, doubts, and fear of loss. To crystalline caprices from Mwamba, robust pulses, and rough guitar sounds. The urge to speak out is clearly stronger. An urge to celebrate life, so fragile yet untamed, in inspired togetherness. With glassy tenderness, the finest touch, gripped by longing and worry. But also with defiant verve, raucous guitar, and trilling soprano, as in ‘Lest I Should Lose You,’ which, however, breaks down like a glass bead, becoming timid with the tenor before finally finding courage and footing again. And with ‘Narenda’ they celebrate the divine in everyone and everything they imagine. – Rigobert Dittmann, BAD ALCHEMY

Over the years, the prolific British reed player Paul Dunmall has been a member of or accompanist for a wide range of bands and musicians, including the avant-garde rock band Marsupilami, Alice Coltrane, Johnny Guitar Watson, Spirit Level, Tenor Tonic, and Mujician. In addition, he records albums under his own name. In recent years, he has released one album after another on the British label Discus Music. With *Afraid To Speak*, he adds a sixth title to that list. Dunmall is particularly active in the world of free jazz and free improvisation. On his new album, he has surrounded himself with accompanists who know exactly what they are doing. Together, they improvise on five compositions by Dunmall, ranging in length from five to seventeen minutes. On *I Am Afraid To Speak*, the opening track, you are instantly captivated by Dunmall’s sonorous tenor saxophone. Gradually, instruments are added, such as Steven Saunders’ distorted guitar and Corey Mwamba’s vibraphone, after which the rhythm section also joins in. Quite quickly, the musicians reach a state of intensity that naturally makes you listen more attentively. At first hearing, they play parts that seem at odds with one another, but that is merely an illusion. In reality, the quintet—special guest Xhosa Cole plays along only on the final track—creates music with a raw edge that is very accessible to trained ears. The same applies to the other tracks, on which every musician gets the chance to solo. The tempo is not equally high on all tracks—on the third track, for example, the quintet takes a more introspective turn—but generally, the music is played with controlled ferocity and exudes a primal tribal force. It largely moves within the tension between accessibility and adventure, which lends it an attractive character. Free jazz does not necessarily have to be hermetic or unfathomable. With Afraid To Speak, Paul Dunmall proves once again that the genre could attract a larger audience – provided that the neophytes have an open mind and make the effort to discover music that is not immediately digestible. Who’s next? – Patrick Auwelaert, JAZZ & MO’ https://www.jazzandmo.be/afraid-to-speak 

PAUL DUNMALL with COREY MWAMBA / STEVEN SAUNDERS / DAVE KANE / MILES LEVIN plus XHOSA COLE – Afraid to Speak; UK) Featuring Paul Dunmall on tenor & soprano saxes, B-flat clarinet & compositions, Steven Saunders on electric guitar, Corey Mwamba on vibes, Xhosa Cole on concert flute & piccolo (1 track), Dave Kane on contrabass and Miles Levin on drums. After releasing a deluge of discs (200 ) of mostly improv sessions, British sax colossus Paul Dunmall has slowed down over the past few years, with just 2 or three discs per year on labels like FMR, Rogue Art, 577 & Discus. Mr. Dunmall has spent more time writing and/or directing different groups in recent times rather than mostly doing free/improv dates with smaller groups. For this disc, Mr. Dunmall organized a fine quintet with reeds wiz Xhosa Cole added on one piece. All members of the sextet version of this band have worked with Mr. Dunmall previously in other ensembles. Dunmall fans should recall the names here, especially Dave Kane from Spirit Farm, Miles Levin (son of longtime Mujician drummer Tony Levin) and Steven Saunders (from two Dunmall groups in 2021 & 2022).

“I am Afraid to Speak” opens with haunting tenor sax and vibes over a solemn throb of the bass and drums. After the opening section, the sax, guitar and vibes solo around one another in a tight, spiraling fashion. Guitarist Steven Saunders, who has worked with Dunmall a couple of times previously, matches Dunmall’s dynamic flow or stream of notes quite well, soloing by himself at times and showing himself to be an inspired, inventive jazz/rock guitarist. At times Saunders will add a bit of sustain to lengthen his notes or lones. Considering that there is no pianist here, vibesman Corey Mwamba continues to weave a busy web of support, soloing and spinning lines at a furious pace throughout. Things calm down for a quieter more reflective piece called, “And am equally afraid not to Speak”. The interplay between the guitar, vibes and tenor is often subtle yet quick, showing a mature sense of restraint, something we don’t often hear on many of Dunmall’s more explosive free/jazz dates. Mr. Dunmall’s Trane-like tenor erupts intensely throughout this long piece. “The Doubt in My Mind” smolders in a bluesy, prayer-like way, the vibes playing slow dream-like chords underneath the simmering sounds above. The last =piece, “Narenda” is also laid back and moody with some dynamic flute from Xhosa Cole, eerie electric guitar washes, cerebral vibes and simmering sax from Dunmall. There is an organic flow going on throughout as the sextet casts a hypnotic cloud over all who listen. A most sublime conclusion to a strong, spirit-world of shadows and other ghosts. – Bruce Lee Gallanter, DOWNTOWN MUSIC GALLERY NYC 

Good hearing Corey Mwamba again. It’s been a while. He kind of stopped when he had a show on BBC Radio 3. Pity that it ceased when the network made cuts some years ago. But it’s better that the Derby musician – whose style is very much in the Orphy Robinson domain – is playing on a record again, rather than merely spinning them. The vibist is here with free jazz saxophone veteran Paul Dunmall in a set up exploring Dunmall tunes where there’s room for communicative comping from Steven Saunders on electric guitar and who breaks free for proper soloing on ‘I Am Afraid To Speak’. It’s interesting Northern Irish bassist Dave Kane – who was terrific in Bourne/Davis/Kane – is here. It’s always baffled me that he isn’t better known. He’s good on it but the bass sound isn’t terribly brightly picked up in the mix. Miles Levin on drums provides the necessary multi-directional style, again the mix doesn’t do the drums too much of a favour. But sonic quibbles aside – always the least significant aspect of a successful record and successful this is – I liked ‘The Doubt Rises in My Mind’ most I suppose because to my ears it enters the tender part of the Coltrane sound that bit more. This isn’t a freak out cacophonous sort of free jazz record – not that there’s anything wrong with that – but more a ruminative one. And all the better for it. And yet it is edgy in places. Dunmall and co do not soft soap anyone, just to be clear. It’s not “the mellow side of Paul Dunmall” at all. ‘Lest I Should Lose You’ is pretty thrilling and here Dunmall when he explores the altissimo precincts of the upper reaches of his instrument is most Evan Parker-like. The spot at the end on flute and piccolo from Xhosa Cole also works extremely well and there is an air of danger to this track which is stimulating. Veteran saxophonist Kent born Dunmall, 73, is one of the main avant gardists on the British scene. Not nearly as well known internationally as Evan Parker, nevertheless his own conceptual explorations of territories adjacent to the music of John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders down the years form a considerable block of achievement. – Stephen Graham, MARLBANK https://marlbank.net/2026/05/31/paul-dunmall-afraid-to-speak-discus-music-recommended/ 

Most of the recent Discus label releases by Paul Dunmall that we have reviewed here featured expansive groups of six or more players: Bright Light A Joyous Celebration was a sextet, Red Hot Ice was a nonet, and the most recent, Away with Troubles and Anxieties from 2025, was an eleven-piece; one would figure from that trajectory that the next one would be a fifteen piece band, but instead he’s dialed Afraid to Speak back to a quintet for all but the closing track, which features six. The result is a pared down, more aggressive group featuring many of the players on those earlier releases: Corey Mwanba (vibraphone), drummer Miles Levin, double bassist Dave Kane, electric guitarist Steven Saunders, with Dunmall handling tenor and soprano saxes plus Bb clarinet, and on the set closer “Narendra” they are joined by Xhosa Cole on concert flute and piccolo. The five long cuts are mostly album-side length endeavours that showcase the strong playing of Dunmall, Mwamba, and Saunders by the busy rhythm section, all pulling in the same direction, a majestic exercise in glorious, joyful freedom scored by Dunmall, brought to full fruition by the group. Most of these players have a lot of experience playing together previously, but it seems like there is some newfound energy here that is at once melodic and edgy, carefree and brilliant, with fresh surprises around every corner. The seventeen-minute title track which opens the set calls forth the best in all the players, slowly building in a secret intensity that opens a platform for each soloist to crank out some of their best soloing. Only the five-minute “The Doubt Rises in My Mind” eases up some for a more gentle approach, with Saunders’ flowing ambient chords mingling with Mwamba’s mallets, giving Dunmall a free space to solo within, and to some degree the aforementioned “Narendra” carries a gentle, almost relaxed and mystical world-music vibe, unlike any other piece here, with the saxes and flutes intertwining in a graceful communion for much of its fourteen-minute duration, though eventually it does embrace some of the predictable whim and craziness of the jazz idiom. All taken, Afraid to Speak is a powerful statement of intent and execution. – Peter Thelen, EXPOSÉ http://expose.org/index.php/articles/display/paul-dunmall-afraid-to-speak-3.html 

The unbelievably prolific UK saxophonist Paul Dunmall – who celebrated his 73rd birthday last month and who seems to be in an annual competition with Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii to see who can put out the largest number of albums in any given year – has been unusually busy of late, even by his standards.

Dunmall has been releasing a series of strong albums on Martin Archer’s Discus Music label for the best part of two years, but Afraid To Speak, his new release for the Sheffield-based label, finds him moving away from the large group composition that has characterised much of his recent activity and towards small ensemble spontaneous improv.

Here he’s assembled a crack squad of trusted artists and friends for a freely improvised session: squad members include Steven Saunders (electric guitar), Corey Mwamba (vibes), Dave Kane (bass) and Miles Levin (drums), with Xhosa Cole (concert flute, piccolo) on one track. Dunmall himself contributes tenor and C soprano saxes and B flat clarinet. The sextet assembled last August for a one-day session which yielded five tunes over 62 minutes.

If the words ‘free’ and ‘improv’ (especially in such close proximity) worry you, then fret not. From the first few minutes of the opening ‘I am afraid to speak’, featuring Dunmall at his most lyrical, it’s clear that Afraid to Speak is actually an approachable – even warm-hearted – session, sometimes oddly reminiscent of the Art Ensemble of Chicago at their most accessible.

Mwamba, also credited as co-producer, is the outstanding presence here, adding depth, mood and texture to the leader’s already wonderfully expressive blowing and mustering the full range of tones his vibes offer, from dreamy shimmers to percussive attack; but Saunders’ guitar playing (at once lyrical, then jaggedly angular) shines too, cementing his reputation as one of the UK’s best young jazz axemen; and the Levin/Kane rhythm section provide the perfect underpinnings: they’re unshowy and unobtrusive, unafraid to let the others roam free, but you’d miss ‘em if they weren’t there.

Added to this deft and receptive core is Xhosa Cole, who guests on flute and piccolo for the epic closing track ‘Narendra’, meshing quite beautifully with Dunmall’s clarinet, as they bloom together in technicolor. – Kevin Whitlock UK Jazz News https://ukjazznews.com/paul-dunmall-afraid-to-speak/ 

British saxophonist Paul Dunmall—primarily active in the free jazz and improvisation scene—boasts an impressive CV and discography featuring names such as Keith Tippett, Soft Machine Legacy, Evan Parker, and Hamid Drake. For this new recording, he opted for an unconventional lineup comprising vibraphone (Corey Mwamba), guitar (Steven Saunders), double bass (Dave Kane), drums (Miles Levin), and piccolo (Xhosa Cole). He himself plays clarinet, tenor saxophone, and soprano saxophone. Together, they engage in a dialogue and debate, with each musician putting forward their own themes.

Dunmall opens the negotiations with his saxophone, sounding like a muezzin calling for attention. A spiritual vibe fills the air immediately; the spirit of Coltrane seems close at hand. Add a few vibraphone accents, and the stage is set for a lively, seventeen-minute debate titled—provocatively—”I Am Afraid To Speak.” However, the group is far from compliant. Before long, they are voicing their first cries of rebellion and objection—led by the guitarist and drummer—thereby sparking a spirited conversation. A back-and-forth exchange of ideas ensues, with each point tenaciously countered by fresh proposals and arguments. Moments of calm are interspersed to settle things down, though passions inevitably flare up again. The subsequent titles offer an idea of ​​how the debate unfolds: “and am equally afraid not to speak”, “The doubt rises in my mind”, “lest I should lose you”, and “Narendra”. At times, they withdraw completely to confer among themselves in shifting groupings, only to subsequently introduce new arguments. Tenacity and mutual respect remain the touchstones.

A release from Discus, a trusted name in the genre. – Georges Tonla Briquet, JAZZ’HALO https://www.jazzhalo.be/reviews/cdlpk7-reviews/p/paul-dunmall-afraid-to-speak/