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Paul Dunmall — Away with Troubles and Anxieties
(Discus Music 199CD, 2025, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-10-22

Away with Troubles and Anxieties Cover art

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.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Martin Archer, Paul Dunmall

More info
http://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/away-with-troubles-and-anxieties-199cd-2025

 

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