Paul Dunmall
Biography Paul Dunmall
Paul Dunmall
(born 1953) has played the saxophone as his primary instrument since the age of 14 and began his professional career touring the UK and Europe at 17. Throughout his career, he has dedicated himself to playing and performing a wide range of music, often working in collaboration with musicians from around the world.
A central pillar of his career has been his work developing and refining the practice of improvisation, which he has found to be a powerful tool in reaching common ground across cultures and experiences, and expressing how deeply rooted music is in human experience.
His compositions often begin as fixed structures for improvisation, which act as a framework for experimentation while he is performing a piece. Although he sees himself primarily as a jazz musician, his recent work has cut across genres.
Widely recognized as one of the most uncompromising and pioneering reed players on the international jazz scene, Dunmall has worked with different ensembles in the US and UK, including a stint with the pianist Alice Coltrane in the 1970s and over twenty years in the quartet Mujician, formed with Keith Tippet, Paul Rogers and Tony Levin.
With imagination and dedication, Dunmall has carved out a highly individual and powerful sound that makes him one of the most distinctive improvisers playing today.
