Name: Paul Dunmall
Nationality: British
Occupation: Saxophonist, composer, improviser
Current release: Paul Dunmall's That’s My Life, a collaboration with Paul Rogers and Tony Orrell, is out January 6th 2023 via 577.

If you enjoyed this interview with Paul Dunmall and would like to know more about his music, visit him on Facebook.

Over the course of his career, Paul Dunmall has worked with a wide range of artists, including Markus Stockhausen, Philip Gibbs, and Gerald Cleaver.

[Read our Markus Stockhausen interview]
[Read our Phil Gibbs interview]
[Read our Gerald Cleaver interview]



When did you first start getting interested in musical improvisation?  

I started to improvise as soon as I started playing clarinet aged 12, although at the time I didn’t know it as improvising.

I just started to explore my instrument and made musical phrases up.

Which artists, approaches, albums or performances involving prominent use of improvisation captured your imagination in the beginning?

Probably it was when I heard Hendrix, Charlie Parker, King Curtis. Then of course the jazz greats Coltrane, Miles etc …

Focusing on improvisation can be an incisive transition. Aside from musical considerations, there can also be personal motivations for looking for alternatives. Was this the case for you, and if so, in which way?

No - purely musical considerations.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to improvisation? Do you see yourself as part of a tradition or historic lineage?

Well it’s been a lifetime’s work trying to develop and grow in music. I found listening to every kind of music I could find broadened my understanding in how to express myself through improvisation.

It was / is a very slow process for me just slowly refining the way I played, hopefully trying to get to the core of the music. This is a deep search within yourself and concentrated listening - basically walking a tightrope.

Tell me about your instrument and/or tools, please. How would you describe the relationship with it? What are its most important qualities and how do they influence the musical results and your own performance?  

My main instruments have been saxophones from C soprano to baritone. Also clarinets and flutes and various sets of bagpipes.

Of course improvising with the saxophone certainly takes me into the jazz world even at my most abstract. On saxophone you can hear those jazz routes. Not so much with clarinets and flutes and certainly not with bagpipes. They bring to me a whole new world to discover, basically devoid of any jazz tradition and that for me is very exciting.

So I have been lucky to explore so many sound worlds. But at heart I always fall back to jazz based musics.

Can you talk about a work, event or performance in your career that's particularly dear to you? Why does it feel special to you? When, why and how did you start working on it, what were some of the motivations and ideas behind it?

There are so many moments in my career that stand out for one reason of another, special musical relationships that I hold dear with so many musicians.

Here are just a few: Tony Levin (drummer), Paul Rogers, Keith Tippett, Phil Gibbs, Mark Sanders, Tony Bianco, Hamid Drake, Percy Pursglove, Henry Grimes, Andrew Cyrille, Evan Parker, Elton Dean, Alan Skidmore, Brian Irvine plus many more.

How do you feel your sense of identity influences your collaborations? Do you feel as though you are able to express yourself more fully in solo mode or, conversely, through the interaction with other musicians? Are you “gaining” or “sacrificing” something in a collaboration?

I don’t really enjoy solo work anymore. I love playing with other people and creating music that puts something positive in the world.

I want us all to be uplifted with the music we make. There is so much liars and falsehoods it seems to me these days even in some musics. So I want to be bringing honesty and truthfulness in the music we create and hopefully the listener will feel this as we musicians do.

It’s not always perfect but you can hear the effort to dig deep to find the spiritual treasures.

Derek Bailey defined improvising as the search for material which is endlessly transformable. Regardless of whether or not you agree with his perspective, what kind of materials have turned to be particularly transformable and stimulating for you?

All music is of interest to me except probably very commercial music. I have enjoyed and learned so much by regular listening.

I listen to around 3 CDs a night at home when I’m not working.

When you're improvising, does it actually feel like you're inventing something on the spot – or are you inventively re-arranging patterns from preparations, practise or previous performances?

I think it is very much inventing on the spot. In fact, if you’re playing from the heart it will always be new. It’s only if you start thinking about what you’re doing it won’t sound right.

Of course every musician has his style and history so you can’t reinvent yourself every night. But if you truly trust in the music you will be free.

I remember something Johnny Guitar Watson said to me when I was in his band as a young: “Until music sets you free, you're not free”. I totally understand that now and can say I am free … what a joy.

To you, are there rules in improvisation? If so, what kind of rules are these?

There are no rules in improvisation except listening to your fellow performers and making sure your contribution is positive and ads to what everyone else is doing.

In a live situation, decisions between creatives often work without words. How does this process work – and how does it change your performance compared to a solo performance?

You must try to clear your mind of any interference. Easier said than done. But again it’s that you must trust in the music and that music will take care of you. You must surrender yourself.

Of course a lot depends on who you’re working with. I think very carefully about whom I book for my sessions.

How do you see the relationship between sound, space and performance and what are some of your strategies and approaches of working with them?

The space you play can certainly affect things. A nice sounding room is a joy to play in. A dead room is very hard work.

In a way, improvisations remind us of the transitory nature of life. What, do you feel, can music and improvisation express and reveal about life and death?

Ah the big questions! The meaning of life and everything … Well the saints tell us we have souls and we are not the body. So it’s a question of faith. Do you believe in what they have told us? Because I’m sure most of us are still wondering is that the truth.

I think for myself playing music has made me feel my soul, especially at certain intense times when I really do lose myself in the music. The mysteries of life will remain for most of us. Perhaps we are here to learn perhaps not. All I know is in this lifetime music and art has been my journey.

Who knows what awaits. Everyone is unique and has their own journey. Through life may you find peace, happiness and love they are the real treasures.