Laura Jurd & Paul Dunmall

Fanfares and Freedom makes sense when you think of it—as the notes suggest—as a jazz quartet paired with a brass band, the two in dialogue. The brass band tradition has a strong but oddly retro-subversive role in jazz history, and not just the early years. Many AACM masters, for example, honed their chops playing in military bands. Witness Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy, and Butch Morris’ conductions for explicit connections. The titles of the pieces on Fanfares and Freedompoint to the brass/New Orleans connections. We’ve got two fanfares, a stomp, and a “toodle-oo.” Laura Jurd’s compositions center the brass element as a frame. The first track, “Fanfare 1,” begins with a repetitive, rolling, sequence from which Dunmall’s sopranino emerges like a brilliant spasm, cascading like a flooded pachinko machine. It’s glorious. The second track begins in a “March of the Wooden Soldiers” place, a twisted, humorous, light travelog. The quartet comes in, led by Dunmall’s tenor, moving us from black and white to color. “Chorale” starts with beautiful brass chord/melodies, then has us walking scattered in the ruins, and brings us to rest somewhere safe. So far I’ve been distinguishing between the elements, but, inevitably, they merge and a unified set of compositions and improvisations are the result. Dunmall is kind of a monster, playing Paul Gonsalves to Jurd’s Ellington. The brass group sometimes takes on a chamber vibe, but can (and does) let rip. The trombone solos (I can’t tell which of the two trombonists, Alex Paxton or Raphael Clarkson is playing) are wonderful, raunchy—for example in the opening of the third track, “Onward Stomp,” a 13 minute masterpiece, where the ‘bone and the piano engage in mutual malfeasance. Later the brass all engage in a jump scare blatty-blat-blat right at a Dunmall exaltation. I’m always interested, as a listener and writer, in the relationship between improvisation and composition. This is one of the few cases where the composer, Jurd, is also explicitly interested in that tension! All of that, though, is secondary to the fact that the record sounds fantastic, fun, and intense. – Gary Chapin, THE FREE JAZZ COLLCTIVE https://www.freejazzblog.org/2024/10/laura-jurd-paul-dunmall-fanfares-and.html

Fanfares & Freedom opens with the brass section sneaking in just as I hoped it would. Laura Jurd has left Frome for New Orleans and Paul Dunmall & Liam Noble seem to be taking the sea cruise in their stride – what a fascinating thing! An explorative territory for all concerned makes for new world music. This recording comes straight off the mixing desk at the Vortex club in Stoke Newington. Sound tech superstar Alex Bonney has done wonders with the instrumental clarity across a wide nine piece orchestra. Laura’s brought together key Brit-brass here, Oren Marshall’s deeply grounded tuba and Chris Batchelor’s trumpet sit on the Jurd sound like comfortable cousins. That New Orleans opening flourish was a tip-the-hat acknowledgment, once we get into the body of this session we’re nearer to the detailed orchestrations of Mike Gibbs and Mike Westbrook topped with nuanced improv.I’ll leave behind the comparisons, Fanfares & Freedom offers us something creatively bold and inspirational. Despite having Jurd and Dunmall leading this session – two major soloists ‘from different wings of the party’ (there’s been a lot of politics recently) what strikes me on my first three or four hearings is just how much ensemble music is present. In the opening Fanfare Paul Dunmall’s saxophones leave their calling card; very Dunmallian they are too. However once we get to the Opening Out cut those big player horns, although assertive, have to find a way to deal with Laura Jurd’s delicious brass lines. And deal they do. This album is not the incongruity it could have been. I hear Fanfares & Freedom as a common cause – Laura Jurd has always excelled in blowing against power-play and finding silence. Despite being surrounded by heavy dudes she manages to place her trumpet into some quiet places that lend her horn genuine resonance. Respect is an acknowledged attribute. Classic give-and-take is the hallmark of this jazz performance. And let’s not be afraid of the J-word, this is music that comes from a tradition yet is travelling into another country. I declare! Fanfares & Freedom to be a joyous feast of music. Hell, we all need some happiness. Everyone deserves the human right of freedom. Fanfares & Freedom is to my ears a pleasure zone principle I’m pleased to endorse. Bring it on. – Steve Day August 2024

Fanfares & Freedom (Discus Music 181CD; UK) Featuring Paul Dunmall on tenor & soprano saxes, Laura Jurd & Chris Batchelor on trumpets, Alex Paxton & Raphael Clarkson on trombones, Oren Marshall on tuba, Liam Noble on piano, Caius Williams on contrabass and Miles levin on drums. This disc was recorded at the Vortex in London, a modest sized jazz club not far from Cafe Oto where I’ve caught Evan Parker and Paul Dunmall playing live in the not too distant past. I hadn’t heard of trumpeter and arranger Laura Jurd before this disc arrived but it turns out that she got a commission to write a piece for a free/jazz and composition based ensemble featuring sax giant Paul Dunmall with is own musicians (Noble, Marshall & Miles Levin, son of Tony Levin from Mujician) plus four other British musicians. I know of pianist Liam Noble from his work with Ingrid Laubrock and Oren Marshall from his work with Graham Collier, Keith Tippett and Steve Noble. I’ve heard the work of trumpet man Chris Batchelor from his work with Harry Beckett and Simon Fell. “Fanfare 1” kicks things off with a blaze of tight swirling horns with Paul Dunmall playing his robust tenor sax on top. “Opening Out” has a quaint, older, chamber music sort of sound and keeps building more freely as it goes with Dunmall blasting on top of the power horn section and tight piano-led quartet underneath. “Onward Stomp” begins with a long, spirited tube solo, which was followed by some well-written brass parts and Mr. Dunmall’s titanic tenor wailing on top with the entire nine-piece unit providing a tight connection/flow underneath. Except for when certain parts are played doubled up with several instruments, it is hard to tell what is written and what is improvised. “Toddle-oddle” starts off with some mighty fine trumpet and contrabass playing a strong duo. “Chorale” features some lovely harmonies for the five brass players, lush, warm, sublime with Mr. Dunmall’s tender tenor billowing above the horns. Much of the music here is laid back and often enchanting on several levels. This is a gem and unlike anything we’ve heard from Paul Dunmall & his collaborators in the past. – Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery NYC

In a world filled with bands built around guitars or keyboards, it’s refreshing to come across a novel combination of instruments. On Fanfares & Freedom, noted saxophonist Paul Dunmall brings his quartet together with Laura Jurd’s brass quintet for an outing of adventurous music. The brass quintet is a common type of ensemble which is known in the Classical repertoire for playing fanfares, those flourishes that are used to introduce something grand; and the combination of saxophone, piano, bass, and drums is an absolutely standard jazz configuration. But I can’t think of another case where the two have been put together. This music was the result of a commission that Laura Jurd received to compose a piece for a scored ensemble plus an improvising quartet, though in the end the improvisation isn’t limited to Dunmall’s side. The music is conceived as a sort of dialog between the quartet and the brass, but in this energetic and free-flowing set all boundaries are flexible. Dunmall plays tenor and sopranino saxophones, and he’s backed by Liam Noble (piano), Caius Williams (double bass), and Miles Levin (drums). Jurd’s brass quintet includes the composer on trumpet, Chris Batchelor (trumpet), Alex Paxton (trombone), Raphael Clarkson (trombone), and Oren Marshall (tuba). Given this array of instruments, Jurd takes full advantage of the possibilities, at times evoking Classical brass music, New Orleans jazz, modern big-band, and more. It’s not always clear exactly what was composed and what was improvised, but the bottom line is that it’s all enjoyable. Fanfares & Freedom is an excellent jazz album, both challenging and entertaining, and ample proof that Jurd and Dunmall are deserving of their status as two of the leading figures in British jazz. – Jon Davis, EXPOSÉ http://expose.org/index.php/articles/display/laura-jurd-paul-dunmall-fanfares-freedom-2.html

When trumpet player Laura Jurd was asked by Cheltenham Jazz Festival to write an extended piece for scored brass quintet plus improvising quartet, saxophonist Paul Dunmall was her go-to choice to lead the latter. Jurd set herself the considerable challenge of creating a coherent dialogue between untethered free playing and written parts, each propelling and disrupting the other. It was meat and drink to Dunmall who at 71 is still possessed of protean powers on tenor and sopranino sax: the 45 minute long Fanfares & Freedom suite (recorded live at London’s Vortex club) is beautiful, bracing and bewildering in equal measure. Four stars. – Garry Booth, BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

Bei Fanfares & Freedom (DISCUS 181) lässt die Trompeterin LAURA JURD ein Brass Quintet (2 Trompeten, 2 Posaunen, Oren Marshall an Tuba), dem sie das Pusten notierte, interagieren mit dem Tenor- & Sopranosax-Champion PAUL DUNMALL und seinem freien Quartet (Liam Noble am Piano, Caius Williams am Kontrabass, Miles Levin an Drums). Nach Blasmusik-Calls, denen Dunmall antwortet, setzen sie sich, gespickt mit Solos, Dia- & Trialogen, clownig in Marsch und stompen, tuten, röhren, toddle-oddlen hin zu ‘Chorale’. Denkt an Mike Westbrook, John Surman, das England abseits der steifen Unterlippe. Jurd spielt mit dicker Luft und Luftmaschen, Noble macht das Weberschiffchen und den Jum­ping Jack. Zuletzt bummelt und tutet nochmal die Brass-Section, in internem Hell-Dunkel-Call-Response-Kontrast und mit unkigem Tuba-UUU, bis Dunmall & Jurd die rechtschaffen müde Herde ins Bett schicken. – Rigobert Dittmann, BAD ALCHEMY

The British trumpeter Laura Jurd was commissioned to compose a nonet composed of an improvisational quartet of saxophone, piano, double bass and drums paired with a wind ensemble of two trumpets, two trombones and a tuba. After the premiere at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, this concert recording followed in The Vortex. From the start, everything seems to go in different directions, but the connection between score and improvisation is maintained. A complex cycle of free discharges and compactly coherent clusters performed by “game changers” that are active both solo and in duo or other combinations. – Georges Tonla Briquet, JAZZ HALO

The transmission of intergenerational knowledge remains one of the founding elements of jazz, long before the dissemination of written scores. Orality has allowed this music to easily spread and conquer new territories. Veteran Paul Dunmall, with an experience that took him through the second half of the twentieth century alongside Alice Coltrane, Keith Tippett and Barry Guy, shares this Fanfares & Freedom project with the young Laura Jurd. A virtuoso of the trumpet, this musician does not limit herself to a single musical genre, jazz and improvisation are certainly important to her, but her talents as a composer have led her to perform with the London Sinfonietta, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the Ligeti Quartet. The atmosphere generated by “Fanfare 1” is both joyful and inhabited by a hint of humour that our neighbours across the Channel handle wonderfully. The energetic improvisation developed by Paul Dunmall, first on the soprano saxophone and then on the tenor, reminds us how contagious his lyricism is. The orchestral support harmoniously underlines the unfolding of this composition. “Opening Out” led by the valiant breath of Oren Marshall on the tuba is part of a British orchestral tradition that is reminiscent of the marching bands of Mike and Kate Westbrook, the successive improvisations of Ralph Clarkson and Laura Jurd follow one another with vigour. “Onward Stomp” goes through various atmospheres and gives pianist Liam Noble the opportunity to demonstrate how structuring his role is in this orchestra. The contemplation that invades “Chorale” reminds us that brass bands and other English brass bands do not only work with cheerful themes. The finesse of interpretation that emerges from the orchestral process shows elegance here. Laura Jurd applies a romantic aim to this melody with its apparent simplicity, just like in her last very successful album The Big Friendly Album released in September 2022. Excellently performed by a big band-like nonet, Fanfares & Freedom exudes a warm atmosphere, the festive energy is ideally combined with the avant-garde improvisations led by Laura Jurd and Paul Dunmall. – Mario Borroni. CITIZEN JAZZ https://www.citizenjazz.com/Laura-Jurd-Paul-Dunmall.html

This album can nestle beside Red Hot Ice, also on Discus, although the two are very different in style. Both discs involve large ensembles that bathe themselves in compositional detail, with individual solos subsumed into collective simultaneous expression. Fanfares & Freedom is lavished with brass sounds, composed by Jurd as a commission from Tony Dudley-Evans at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Although premiered there in 2023, this is a recording of their Vortex performance from the same year, wonderfully captured with the balance of a studio session, but harnessing that gig’s live presence. Fanfare 1 opens with the horns, drums joining, passing from pert parts to free writing, with ascending unisons and regularly punctuating blasts. Much is compressed into this three minute statement, showing the way ahead. There’s a brassy boldness from tuba to top, as Opening Out grasps the stylistic advantages of Brecht, Weill and Danny Kaye. The horns are often poised alone, with piano and drums biding their time. Dunmall is deliberately the odd one, the only saxophonist in this delicate and pristine brass construction, playing soprano and tenor. Dunmall also provides his finely detailed improvised engravings for the cover art. Marshall waddles around the blaring bones, off his low-end leash, as the high-vaulting horns are soiled by solo burrowing. We can term this fresh style “free colliery”, as Onward Stomp comes on like something off Oh Yeah by Charles Mingus, tuba and piano conversing, crowned by higher horns. For such a large group, there is a lot of space in the music, as smaller relationships are tested, with sustained detail and enquiry, with less emphasis on traditional tension, release and climaxing. – Martin Longley, JAZZWISE

Well this is an entertaining premise. Free jazz maven Paul Dunmall as featured soloist in a suite composed by up- and-coming trumpeter Laura Jurd. Actually, the reality is more complex. It might be more accurate to say that the unfettered spirits of Dunmall’s quartet, with bassist Caius Williams, drummer Miles Levin and pianist Liam Noble, offer the contrast with Jurd’s score for a brass quintet. The unlikely combination came about as a commission from the Cheltenham Jazz Festival by promoter Tony Dudley-Evans, which in his words unites “two strong features of the UK scene: free jazz/improvised music and composition for mid-sized ensembles.” The work premiered at the festival in Spring 2023, while the version on this album was recorded live at the Vortex in London that Fall. It comprises six sections, played as discrete pieces, in which the spotlight toggles between the two units, which increasingly intersect as the date progresses. The opening “Fanfare 1” gives a taste of what to expect, as a soprano saxophone squeal interrupts the annunciatory brass, with the two taking turns thereafter, until the entire quartet enters, fending off brass interjections. It also provides the first inkling of how the borders will be breached. Noble’s piano in particular often acts as an intermediary, participating in both the charts and the interplay. And by including seasoned improvisers such as tubaist Oren Marshall, trumpeter Chris Batchelor and trombonist Raphael Clarkson within its numbers, the brass are well able to take liberties. So, after a jaunty oompah interlude on the subsequent “Opening Out,” it is no surprise to hear Clarkson continue in rambunctious dialogue with Dunmall’s tenor. Much of the project’s success stems from similar avoidance of a clear-cut dichotomy between the constituent elements. Jurd’s writing, which calls on English brass band and folk traditions as well as jazz, bursts with crisscrossing lines and interweaving melodies. But she also scripts space for Dunmall to cut through, which he and his colleagues do, either in alternating passages or in juxtaposition to some of the notated material. However, such episodes are necessarily more constrained than on one of the reedman’s own sessions, where the journey is as much part of the trip as the payoff. Nonetheless, taken on its own terms the piece works well, and might perhaps be best viewed as a concerto for saxophone. – John Sharpe, ALL ABOUT JAZZ https://www.allaboutjazz.com/fanfares-and-freedom-laura-jurd-and-paul-dunmall-discus-music