Dunmall, Paul/Tony Bianco - Thank You To John Coltrane
SKU
SLAM 290
Paul Dunmall tenor, soprano saxophones; Tony Bianco drums.
If I had to pick one modern sax player who isn't in any way a Coltrane clone to pick to do this sort of a homage to JC, it would have been Paul!
"In time, even the most important innovators of our music – Armstrong, Ellington, Parker etc. – are accepted as normal as the sun and the stars; we must therefore be reminded, from time to time, of their essentiality. So it is with Coltrane, whose work Dunmall here re-visits. As long as I have known Paul, and that's over 30 years, he has been a believer in Coltrane, even taking the opportunity to play with Alice Coltrane on an early USA tour. I have waited a long time to hear his dedication to J.C. – here it is now and well worth the wait. He takes a few of Coltrane's themes, pared to a minimal sax and drums, which I think emphasizes the strength of the compositions. Tony Bianco's ever-inventive work is there in company with the sax, rather than accompanying.
The recording was made in Delbury Hall in the Shropshire hamlet of Diddlebury – a far cry from the North Carolina Hamlet where, 85 years earlier, the spirit of Coltrane arrived in this world…and so his music and the spirit of that music, will continue to move on through time and space."