Although best known as a saxophonist, in addition to assorted saxes (baritone, tenor, alto, soprano, C-melody, saxello) Paul Dunmall plays an impressive array of instruments including various clarinets, flute, fife, harmonica, ocarina and penny whistle; occasionally, he is simply credited with "reeds". In addition to that impressive list, since the mid-90s Dunmall has increasingly been featuring various species of pipe such as bagpipes, Border pipes and Northumberland pipes, even recording several albums of solo pipes, making him almost unique as an improvising piper. While it is not totally solo, Pipe & Drum follows in the footsteps as such releases as Solo Bagpipes II (DUNS, 2001) and Solo Bagpipes (FMR, 2003).
Recorded at Birmingham Conservatoire in March 2012, Pipe & Drum pairs Dunmall with drummer Mark Sanders with whom he has played regularly since the mid-90s (and would doubtless have played more but for his strong ties to the drummers Tony Levin and Tony Marsh, both now deceased and much missed by Dunmall). Of course, Sanders and Dunmall are both first-rate improvisers in a range of settings, and their experience shines through in this most unusual of contexts, as they effortlessly mesh together. Over time, across various cultures, pipes have acquired their own distinctive syntax and vocabulary, often coming out of folk music but (inevitably, given the nature of the instruments) also including elements of drone. The strength of Dunmall's improvised pipe playing is that he has not ignored that tradition and invented an alternative strand but has taken it as his starting point, built upon and transcended it, so that the resulting music still bears telltale traces of the instruments' history.
Across seven tracks, Dunmall and Sanders produce music that is full of melody and rhythm, underpinned by a rich and variable tapestry of droning tones. It has a warm, human sound that is deeply satisfying. As well as being an inventive musical innovator, Dunmall also designs instruments. The album cover carries a photograph of pipes that he designed which look very different to any bagpipes. He calls them triple pipes, and they are featured on the first track, the ten-minute "Dance of the Elders", producing that skirling tone which is characteristic of pipes and allows them to straddle melody and drone simultaneously. Incidentally, Dunmall says he has also designed a new set of pipes, called cacophony pipes, on which he will be able to play four notes at once; they will be made in 2013 and he plans to record with them in 2014. Meanwhile, as well as his triple pipes, Dunmall here demonstrates the international nature of pipes by using a set from Iran called Neyanban, as well as Bulgarian pipes, Low C Border pipes and a set from Tunisia... In time, Dunmall's assortment of pipes looks set to match that saxophone collection.
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