DUNMALL/EDWARDS/NOBLE/SANDERS - Go Straight Round The Square
FMR Records FMRCD435-0217
Paul Dunmall (tenor & soprano saxophones); Liam Noble (piano); John Edwards (bass); Mark Sanders (drums)
Recorded 1st November, 2016
This is the second outing on silver disc for this particular quartet, and retains the unity and conceptual identity of the earlier recording whilst also showing both the differences in the performances and how far the music has progressed in the intervening months.
The quartet's debut album Chords Of Connections (also on FMR) was recorded a mere eleven months earlier, and is an altogether more settled and less rugged set. The new album however shows a group that have more miles under their collective belts, and pushes the music further forward in a much more energised performance.
This is familiar territory for Dunmall who has spent more than a quarter of a century working within a freely improvised frameworks of various sizes , and the bass and drums axis of John Edwards and Mark Sanders have been stalwarts on the improvised music scene for many years. Within the context of this quartet, the saxophonist finds plenty to say starting proceedings on soprano saxophone (as he did on the earlier album) spinning intricate yet roughly hewn lines on the straight horn before switching to tenor. Immediately, the terrain become more rugged and the note come tumbling out of the saxophone as the rhythm section kicks things up a notch. It is this tumultuous nature that marks Dunmall as one of the leading players in this genre, playing absolutely in the moment yet never losing sight of the overall shape of the music being made and collective will of the group.
The curve ball in this aggregation is piano maestro, Liam Noble, and I must confess that I was unaware that this was an area that he had been working in until I received this album for review, and it is the pianist's contribution that brings a freshness and sense of adventure to proceedings.
It would be all too easy, given the experience of the other three musicians that Noble would have been dragged along in their wake, or worst still left floundering at the ever changing musical momentum set up by his colleagues. It is however much t his credit that he does not just hang on but contributes fully and is even insistent in having his say, and can be heard subtly hinting at areas of interest, nudging and cajoling his partners in their often headlong flights. In a couple of solo sections, he will explore more conventional harmony and melodic ideas before giving them up to freer and further ranging excursions, and by the same token is not afraid to bring the music down in intensity and volume with a reversion to a more formal and chordal based accompaniment.
This is along performance recorded at the Vortex in London, two tracks over a seventy minute playing time, that at no time meanders or loses it's sense of momentum. The music is played out in a series of episodes, that all coalesce and come to together to leave the listener tired yet totally satisfied and part of the journey undertaken by these four remarkable storytellers.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
FMR Records FMRCD435-0217
Paul Dunmall (tenor & soprano saxophones); Liam Noble (piano); John Edwards (bass); Mark Sanders (drums)
Recorded 1st November, 2016
This is the second outing on silver disc for this particular quartet, and retains the unity and conceptual identity of the earlier recording whilst also showing both the differences in the performances and how far the music has progressed in the intervening months.
The quartet's debut album Chords Of Connections (also on FMR) was recorded a mere eleven months earlier, and is an altogether more settled and less rugged set. The new album however shows a group that have more miles under their collective belts, and pushes the music further forward in a much more energised performance.
This is familiar territory for Dunmall who has spent more than a quarter of a century working within a freely improvised frameworks of various sizes , and the bass and drums axis of John Edwards and Mark Sanders have been stalwarts on the improvised music scene for many years. Within the context of this quartet, the saxophonist finds plenty to say starting proceedings on soprano saxophone (as he did on the earlier album) spinning intricate yet roughly hewn lines on the straight horn before switching to tenor. Immediately, the terrain become more rugged and the note come tumbling out of the saxophone as the rhythm section kicks things up a notch. It is this tumultuous nature that marks Dunmall as one of the leading players in this genre, playing absolutely in the moment yet never losing sight of the overall shape of the music being made and collective will of the group.
The curve ball in this aggregation is piano maestro, Liam Noble, and I must confess that I was unaware that this was an area that he had been working in until I received this album for review, and it is the pianist's contribution that brings a freshness and sense of adventure to proceedings.
It would be all too easy, given the experience of the other three musicians that Noble would have been dragged along in their wake, or worst still left floundering at the ever changing musical momentum set up by his colleagues. It is however much t his credit that he does not just hang on but contributes fully and is even insistent in having his say, and can be heard subtly hinting at areas of interest, nudging and cajoling his partners in their often headlong flights. In a couple of solo sections, he will explore more conventional harmony and melodic ideas before giving them up to freer and further ranging excursions, and by the same token is not afraid to bring the music down in intensity and volume with a reversion to a more formal and chordal based accompaniment.
This is along performance recorded at the Vortex in London, two tracks over a seventy minute playing time, that at no time meanders or loses it's sense of momentum. The music is played out in a series of episodes, that all coalesce and come to together to leave the listener tired yet totally satisfied and part of the journey undertaken by these four remarkable storytellers.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
