Paul Dunmall, John Adams & Mark Sanders - Totally Fried Up

Free jazz trio Paul Dunmall (tenor saxophone), John Adams (guitar), Mark Sanders (drums) recorded at Gateway Studios Kingston, Surrey 15 March 1998.

This album begins explosively with the ideally named Totally Fried Up. This open-ended snippet gives way to a more diverse programme. Samskaras moves from a relaxed conversation between Dunmall and Sanders to a more irascible three way diatribe. The Illuminated Man varies its intensities in a more obvious manner and moves between blustering authority and sotto voce innuendo. Rapture travels a busily romantic route to freedom, while Homunculus captures the proportional balance implicit in the title. Instrumental honours are shared three ways and all three musicians are listeners. Dunmall may be the leader but all three men contribute to the collective whole and deploy their tonal options astutely. We have before noted that Dunmall enjoys the latitude available when not using a bassist and this album is an ideal example of the way in which he exploits the situation. - Barry McRae, Jazz Journal