Paul Dunmall

Four stars / EDITORS CHOICE. Paul Dunmall’s recent association with the venerable Sheffield-based label, Discus, has coincided with a rich seam of creativity from the 72-year-old reedsman. This latest is his sixth album for the label in two years and continues his present preoccupation with writing carefully composed pieces that offer more structural cohesion then the free blowing for which he’s best known. The overall vibe here feels remarkably like The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady-era Mingus with an added injection of freeform group improvisation. Full-bodied themes are vividly brought to life by a sizable band featuring many younger Birmingham-based musicians and, once established, gently slide away as the urge for freedom takes hold. It’s a familiar tension in jazz – to balance the composed with the spontaneous – and it’s executed with aplomb. Dunmall’s arrangements are richly textured, folding in details from organ and vibraphone, while No Bad Karma Today oozes forth from a gorgeously rich and unhurried tambura drone sprinkled with droplets of electric piano. As ever, Dunmall’s big-hearted spiritual sincerity is in evidence. The title track has him playing penny whistle with enough poise and beauty to provoke a sigh of sad wonder for the infuriating and wondrous complexities of life. – Daniel Spicer, JAZZWISE

If you’re reading this you probably know Paul’s musical history. I’m picking out the fact that in the late 1980’s Paul Dunmall was in Danny Thompson’s Whatever. During this period Paul and multi-instrumentalist Tony Roberts, plus the incredible violinist, Peter Knight (Steeleye Span & Trevor Watts Moire Music), were co-opted into a Danny Thompson/Richard Thompson album project called Industry. It’s one of those lost masterpieces; a political diatribe against the end of the industrial heartland of our little island. Mr Dunmall played on seven of the eleven tracks; his contribution was important. Why mention it now? This album, Away With Troubles… bookends with a beautiful ‘folk’ ballad composed by Paul; the prelude, a penny whistle solo, the prologue, a band version. Either one of these tracks could have come from Industry. It makes me conjure possibilities – if Richard Thompson were to hire this current Dunmall Band for his own recordings I could envisage the sparks of industrial creativity soldering notes of silver. Sure, they’re fancy words, I’ll never hear such a happening; a pity. However, Away With Troubles is THE standout session among a number of recent late-flowering stand-outs from Paul Dunmall. Between the prelude and the prologue – Away With Troubles predicates on big band reeds and brass, James Birkett’s guitar and a rush of keyboards and for extra spice, Mwamba’s vibraphone on three tracks; there’s low drones, curator improvisation mixed into scoring, depth and design like a woodblock – only revealing the true shape of things once the print is made whole; once the sound has found a home in a rash of hard fired melodies penetrating music. For me, as I listen to Paul Dunmall now (and god knows I’ve been listening to him for over fifty years), that simple penny whistle has given him back a defined clarity. This whole hour’s worth of expression is immensely definitive. Make no mistake, Away With Troubles And Anxieties is prime ‘album of the year’ territory. Big thanks. – Steve Day Sept. 2025

UK saxophonist Paul Dunmall has been on a roll of late. His sixth release for Discus Music since 2022 features a medium-sized band (five horns in all, electric guitar, piano, electric piano and/or organ, vibes, bass, drums) performing loose but clearly notated and arranged compositions. This is not s free blare session; it’s an old-school jazz session, with some hard-swinging numbers, lush ballads, harmonically sophisticated horn charts, pleasing interplay between the piano and organ, and surprisingly high impact drumming from the aptly named Jim Bashford. Event at its most unfettered (and there are moments), this Mingus-esque music always keeps one foot on the ground. – Phil Freeman, THE WIRE

Saxophonist Paul Dunmall succeeds in surprising from the first note to the last, literally, with his latest recording. This is Dunmall’s sixth CD for Discus in two years! He clearly feels at home on the label where improvisation and experimentation set the tone. Along with thirteen like-minded colleagues, he explores the land of big band formations. Those who already bought or listened to ‘Red Hot Ice’ (2024) will recognize the names, as it’s more or less the same team. One track, incidentally, comes from that same session. It was all very free-flowing, so these are mainly “first takes.” No easy feat, given the complexity of Dunmall’s compositions. Opening with a bucolic tune on “penny whistle” is already a misleading first move. Anyone expecting to enjoy an hour of British folk music here will be disappointed, because after forty-three seconds, all hell breaks loose. From then on, a rollercoaster of extreme contrasts rages on, one that can be described as the classic, ordered chaos unfolding and folding like the revolving doors of a busy hotel lobby. The turbulent waves follow one another like a series of seemingly conflicting approaches. In between, they insert sudden melodic passages, such as the short guitar solo in “Certain Uncertainties,” worthy of its title. These titles, incidentally, refer directly to the material on offer. A few more examples: “It’s not always as it seems…”, “No bad karma today,” “Reawaken the coiled serpent,” or even “Have seen, haven’t seen.” And yes, they close in the same bucolic manner as the opener with “Away with troubles and anxieties!” An intriguing album, shaped by a “sturm-und-drang” of a generation-spanning collective with a group leader who has been constantly searching… and finding for decades. Tags: Frank Zappa, Flat Earth Society, Spike Jones, David Axelrod – Georges Tonla Briquet JAZZ HALO https://www.jazzhalo.be/reviews/cdlpk7-reviews/p/paul-dunmall-away-with-troubles

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. Aside from performing with the London Jazz Composers Orchestra and Keith Tippett’s Tapestry, Dunmall has two older large ensemble discs. For this release Dunmall has gathered 10 musicians plus three guests who play on just a few of these pieces. Aside from reedsman Martin Archer (founder of Discus Records) and vibist Corey Mwamba, I know most of the other musicians here mostly from playing on previous Dunmall sessions. This disc opens with a lovely solo pennywhistle feature before the rest of the ensemble enters. “It’s Not Always as It Seems” has a warm, laid back, lyrical melody played by all the horns which feels like a cosmic hug. Little known to most Dunmall fans, Paul once played in a funk band when he was living in Texas back in the early 1970’s. That soulful sound on sax is buried at times yet shines through on occasion. Bari saxist Alicia Gardener-Trejo is featured at the beginning of “Awaken the Coiled Serpent” and has a lovely, golden tone. When the rest of the horns come in, the sound of the ensemble is both enchanting and free, creating warm waves to wash over us weary souls. Although most of Dunmall’s previous discs are mostly free form fire music improv, this is not what we find here. “Certain Uncertainties” features some sublime yet engaging trumpet from longtime Dunmall cohort Percy Pursglove as well as some exquisite tasty guitar from James Birkett. Although “…but sometimes it is” is only three minutes long, the ensemble repeats a riff which is free and swirling at first, calming down at times to near silence as it fades out. By keeping most of the pieces relatively short, Dunmall keeps the band focused so that this disc sounds like a ritualistic series of related episodes. Dunmall does get a chance to stretch out and plays a long, thoughtful tenor solo on “Have Seen, Haven’t Seen”. The first time I listened to this disc a few days ago at the store, I wasn’t sure how the 13 pieces were connected. After several listens, I do hear a certain sound/style/glue: the balance between the freer and the more directed sections isn’t so obvious at times yet I do hear the inner connection, the human creative spirit which connects all members of our collective family. This is the in-between or shadow world, it exists but most folks don’t notice it. This realization seems to come from maturity (a/k/a old age) of listening to music seriously for most of my life. When musicians tap into this netherworld, this is where we travel together as spirits and enter a new land which is free of the usual detours of everyday life. Thanks to Paul Dunmall and his cast of Creative Spirits for inventing and exploring some new terrain. After reading a bit of (daily) bad news earlier today, I feel much more hopeful for things to come. – Bruce Lee Gallanter, DOWNTOWN MUSIC GALLERY NYC

We last caught up with Paul Dunmall for his 2024 album Red Hot Ice, as well as his collaboration with Laura Jurd in the same year, Fanfares & Freedom. There were about four more releases since, on labels other than Discus Music, but to my knowledge Away with Troubles and Anxieties is his latest, and seems to have more in common with Red Hot Ice — in fact one of the pieces here is an outtake from those sessions — and the ten players that accompany Dunmall on Away… are the same crew as the earlier album with the exception of double bassist John Pope. That would be drummer Jim Bashford, guitarist James Birkett, Andrew Woodhed (organ, electric piano), Glenn Leach (piano), trombonist Richard Foote, trumpeter Percy Pursglove, vibraphonist Corey Mwamba (also credited with mixing and production), Alicia Gardener-Trejo (bari sax), Martin Archer (E-flat saxophone), along with Dunmall on tenor sax, soprano saxes and penny whistle. Did I miss anyone? Again, it’s a lively joyful session, twelve new tracks in all plus “Blues for Truth” which was pulled forward from the Red Hot Ice sessions. The album opens with a brief introductory version of the title track, a beautiful solo by Dunmall on his custom made pennywhistle. The closing track is the same tune, almost four times longer and joined by piano, bass, horns, and other instruments, bookending the remaining eleven tunes between them, which encompass more traditional jazz elements, free jazz, and much more. Some of the standout tracks include “No Bad Karma Today,” a gentle piece highlighting a vibraphone and sax duet intro before the whole group enters and carries it all into more free jazz territory for the remainder of the piece’s eight minutes. Trumpet and saxes have a healthy duel on the way into “Certain Uncertainties,” after which Birkett gives us a beautiful guitar solo, followed by a recap on piano before the horns come in and bring it all home. “I Can Help with That” comes out of the gate with guns blazing, but settles into some interesting and dreamy piano and guitar magic before the horn section comes back in to carry it to its conclusion. Saxes and vibraphone prepare a powerful workout for the entire group on “Awaken the Coiled Serpent” that in turn leads into some magical free wailing, parts of which are recapped several tracks later on “Reawaken the Coiled Serpent.” Almost an hour of splendid jazz workouts await the listener on the appropriately titled Away with Troubles and Anxieties. – Peter Thelen, EXPOSÉ http://expose.org/index.php/articles/display/paul-dunmall-away-with-troubles-and-anxieties-3.html

I find Dunmall’s use of composition for this particular ensemble very interesting; it is one example of the various approaches to integrating composition and improvisation in contemporary jazz and the movement away from the standard head + solos of more straight ahead jazz. In a sense, the music is quite structured and the movement between the written themes and the group or individual improvisation is clear; it does not feature the spontaneous ‘in and out of tunes’ approach that is increasingly common in contemporary jazz. It certainly creates a very enjoyable and stimulating set of music on this CD. – Tony Dudley-Evans https://tdepromotions.wordpress.com/

With Away With Troubles and Anxieties! (DISCUS 199), PAUL DUNMALL in Birmingham picks up where he left off with “Red Hot Ice.” With a lighter instrumentation, featuring Penny Whistle as pied piper, triple reeds, trumpet, trombone, electric guitar, electric piano, organ & piano, double bass, and drums, with new nuances here and there from vibraphone and tanpura. Behind the momentum lies the unfolding power of the serpent (‘Awaken the coiled serpent’). Where worries and fears reigned, freedom (‘Freedom to follow’), helpfulness (‘I can help with that’), and truth (‘Blues for truth’) are to reign. The main thing: ‘No bad karma today.’ Martin Archer & Corey Mwamba, as sequencer and mixmaster of this diverse suite, provide the musical optimum. We are personally called upon to improve our ethics. This music lends a hand with edgy buzz, firebird-like fluttering, glassy vibes, shimmering organs, gentle mellow, melodic swing, over-the-top drive, soulful piano, and the return of the penny whistle for the blissful finale. [BA 130 rbd] – Rigobert Dittmann, BAD ALCHEMY

A brilliant 43-second recorder introduction, a solo composed and performed by Paul Dunmall on “Away With Troubles and Anxieties!” A pastoral fresco with Celtic inflections unfolds through interwoven melodic cells, ensuring a skillful continuity across the twelve other tracks of the album *Away With Troubles and Anxieties!*, all imbued with a fresh, authentic feel.

“It’s Not Always As It Seems…” (4:24), a perilous, swirling piece that can range from the tender “Chicago” to Keith Tippett’s “Centipede.” Beautiful music with a jazzy piano, rich in brass, a delicate interpretation, and precise, clear articulation of the instruments. Awaken The Coiled Serpent 6:21, sounds deeply imbued with hissing brass unfolding a multi-colored score, accompanied by vibraphone and a very nuanced orchestral ensemble, here at its best in this dazzling upheaval.

Certain Uncertainties 5:34, an original piece demonstrating the reciprocal influence that poetry has had on this music, underscoring the progression of inspiration. A sincerity in the emotion of the brass conversing with each other, piano, small percussion, electric guitar solo, vibraphone—all vigorous, fragile, precise, spectacular.

But Sometimes It Is 3:15, here, it is the case with this sensitivity in the saxophones whose boldness is tempered by solid skill. Extraordinary music leaning towards Keith Tippett’s Centipede.

Freedom To Follow 3:02, central movement of grandiose saxophones in frenzy and wandering, drum rolls and solos with their reciprocal bite responding to the melancholy of the babbling brass, superbly toned vibraphone, an orchestral ensemble allowing one to savor the sonic picturesqueness of this surprising composition. Reawaken The Coiled Serpent 0:38, brass and piano of character, naturally conveying the grandeur of their sounds and their own way of shaping, articulating, and projecting sound.

Have Seen, Haven’t Seen 6:58, ease and care in detail, tightly structured with piano, saxophones, trombone, trumpet, leaning towards a touch of the spicy. A caressing musical sense, very acute, rendered by this interpretation, all suppleness and delicate vibration.

I Can Help With That (3:56): lovely piano, gallant and courteous double bass, pure, stripped-down electric guitar, sparkling cymbals—a measured symbiosis of virtuosity. Quite exceptional mastery, a truly remarkable, harmonious technical knowledge.

Blues For Truth (4:50): a very lively and clear score and ensemble. Jazzy piano, vibrant vibraphone, luminous, stylistic saxophones, an irresistibly seductive double bass, a perfect and dynamically accurate solo guitar. The trumpet, a model of perfection, of tailor-made expression and naturalness! A complete success, a refined and balanced artistry from the performers. No Bad Karma Today 7:50, sonic depth of the captivating saxophone coloring the page, restoring its incisive relief against the other brass instruments in an enchanting finesse. They meticulously craft the music with accomplished artistry imbued with a certain turbulence alongside the famous tanpura that one can only dream of. The refined drums leave their rightful mark. An orchestral ensemble bathed in well-being with melodic contours, an exquisite taste that makes you want to come back for more and stay there, for the ear and the palate. An epic of contrasts, nuances, and imperious accents that are uniquely its own, an absolute sense that leaves no one indifferent; one never tires of it.

Buzz Me 6:10, the E-flat saxophone re-emerges and we thrill with delight at this highly virtuosic interpretation where melodies and rhythms are exalted, idealized; there is a rare pleasure in music here. A lively tempo, perfect orchestral color, epic sweep.

Away With Troubles And Anxieties! 3:48, the soft, light piano is reborn under the breath of the flute from the beginning, imbued with Celtic essences of impeccable taste. All the
instruments come alive around it with warmth, lyricism, brilliance, and symphonic vigor with the same joy and in Paul Dunmall’s best vein. Everything is colorful, everything is positive, intense jubilation, precise expression, sumptuous orchestral timbres.

A majestic, agile album, where the orchestral poise is remarkable, the virtuosity breathtaking, the music flows, springs from its source, it is alive, prioritizing emotion over the pedagogical brilliance of the musicians. Intertwining, sometimes velvety, sometimes aggressive, bruised, from all the brass instruments to this atypical orchestra, developing dazzling contrasts. The most subtle arrangements breathe naturally. We are captivated by the panache of the soloists who, with fierce determination, tame the formidable virtuoso passages, vying with each other in fervor. A vibrant balance, movements that are by turns sinuous, hissing, slow, lively, long, short, and expansive, developing a dazzling fusion of jazz, experimental music, world music, and more.

Celtic, spicy progressive rock-jazz music, RIO. – (****½) Marie MESMER, HIGHLANDS

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. JAZZ WORD https://www.jazzword.com/reviews/paul-dunmall-6/

Paul Dunmall (tenor, C and Bb soprano saxophones, penny whistle) first came to prominence when he joined Marsupilami in time for their second album, 1971’s ‘Arena’, since when he has been both a sideman (for the likes of Elton Dean, Keith Tippett, Barry Guy, Johnny “Guitar” Watson and countless others) as well as leading his own outfits for 40 years. Here he is delivering his sixth album in two years for Discus Music, with all tracks recorded on 12th March this year apart from “Blues For Truth” which was recorded last year with the same line-up as part of ‘Red Hot Ice’ session. There are nine musicians in the core band, plus another four who played on some of the tracks as well, so there is a lot going on in the studio, and there is a requirement for some serious sight reading as this is complex music which is taking jazz into different areas with a large amount of improvisation as well as a great deal of harmonies.

I listen to a great deal of free jazz these days, so I find this fascinating as while there are times when this music fits into that genre, there are others where it is quite structured with harmonies as the music builds and develops, providing a result which is always intriguing as one never knows where the listener is going to be taken. It is a path less travelled to be sure, and there are times when it is rocky and steep, but there are also times when the vistas open up and the trekker understands that it is the combination and juxtaposition of the two which provides the real beauty. This is not for those who want their path to be concrete and easy, but for those how understand the rugged beauty of not following the crowd and becoming enriched by the experience. He may be well into his seventies now, but Dunmall shows no sign at all of slowing down. Rating: 8/10 – Kev Rowland, HOUSE OF PROG https://houseofprog.com/paul-dunmall-away-with-troubles-and-anxieties-2025/