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Paul Dunmall — Bright Light A Joyous Celebration
(Discus Music 162, 2023, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2023-12-28

Bright Light A Joyous Celebration Cover art

Most Exposé readers will know British saxophonist Paul Dunmall from his tenure with the jazz quartet Mujician, along with bassist Paul Rogers, pianist Keith Tippett, and drummer Tony Levin, a collaboration that yielded eight excellent albums between 1992 and Tippett’s passing in 2020. But Dunmall’s activities all throughout that period and well before include recordings with his various namesake groups (duos, trios, various quartets, quintets, octets, collaborations with each of the Mujician members, with Elton Dean, Phillip Gibbs, and countless others going all the way back to the mid-70s), plus hundreds of credits throughout the years. The album at hand, Bright Lights A Joyous Celebration, contains sessions from November 2022, featuring five extended jazz compositions by Dunmall, with drummer Hamid Drake, double bassist Dave Kane, vibraphonist Corey Mwamba, Soweto Kinchon (alto and tenor sax), and Xhosa Cole on tenor sax, with Dunmall covering tenor and C soprano saxes. These players are no strangers to one another, having collacorated many times previously. To help the listener sort things out with the headphones, each of the sax players is in their own space: Dunmall is center, Soweto Kinch is on the right side, and  Xhosa Cole is on the left channel, and of course these guys aren’t blowing all the time, often instead taking their turns. Though there is never a dull moment, with Kane and Drake holding down a groove or taking solos, and Mwamba splashing brilliant colors at every turn, the saxes are are the raison d'être. While these pieces are composed, each player gets plenty of room to express themselves, sometime in wild and free improvs, other times in tasty disciplined soloing, but it’s always in the spirit of the title — joyous and truly celebratory.

Filed under: New releases, 2023 releases

Related artist(s): Paul Dunmall, Hamid Drake

More info
http://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/bright-light-a-joyous-celebration-162cd-2023.

 

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