"Paul Dunmall was born 1953, Welling, Kent; saxophones, clarinets, bagpipes, miscellaneous wind instruments.

As told to Watson (1989), Paul Dunmall was a working class lad from Welling who left school at 15 and spent two years repairing instruments at Bill Lewington's shop in Shaftesbury Avenue, London. He turned professional at 17 and, following two years touring Europe with a progressive rock band (Marsupilami), joined the Divine Light Mission, a spiritual movement led by Guru Maharaj Ji and moved from London to an ashram in America. He told Isham (1997), 'I moved to an ashram full of musicians - a music ashram - but it was still spiritual practice. That gave me a spiritual understanding through meditation, Coltrane's music, and all the rest of it, led me to that, and that's been a fundament in my life ever since - that I can actually sit down and meditate and forget my body. I realise how important meditation is in my life... but I don't do it so much these days.' During the three years he lived in America, Dunmall played with Alice Coltrane (in a big band with the Divine Light Mission) and toured for twelve months with Johnny 'Guitar' Watson.

Back in England, he played with Danny Thompson and John Stevens as well as folk musicians Kevin Dempsey, Martin Jenkins and Polly Bolton and then, in 1979 he became a founder member of Spirit Level (Tim Richards, piano; Paul Anstey, bass; Tony Orrell, drums), staying with the group until 1989. During his time with Spirit Level, Dunmall joined the two-tenor front line group Tenor Tonic with Alan Skidmore (1985), played and broadcast with Dave Alexander and Tony Moore in the DAM trio (1986) and formed the Paul Dunmall Quartet with Alex Maguire, Tony Moore and Steve Noble (1986).

In 1987 Paul Dunmall joined the London Jazz Composers Orchestra, being a constant member and appearing on all their recorded output from that date onward. The following year the improvising collective quartet Mujician was formed by Keith Tippett, Dunmall, Paul Rogers and Tony Levin and has continued to be a regular performing, touring and recording group, sometimes augmented by other musicians. Dunmall has also played in a trio with Keith and Julie Tippetts and in Keith Tippett's big band Tapestry. Two other duos have also sprung out of Mujician: Dunmall with Tony Levin (two CD releases) and Dunmall in folk-influenced outings with Paul Rogers. Another regular playing partner throughout this period and up until the present includes Elton Dean.

In 1995, two trios were formed, the first with Oren Marshall, tuba and Steve Noble, percussion, the second with John Adams, guitar and Mark Sanders, percussion, these sometimes coming together as a quintet. More recently, Dunmall has played in another reeds/guitar/drums trio with Philip Gibbs and Tony Marsh and there appears to be regular crossover between all these players. The Paul Dunmall Octet was founded in 1997."

Dunmall also has released a large number of albums and a box set on the UK FMR label, in various configurations and instrumentation.

"After studying music at Oxford University, and jazz at the Guildhall in London, Liam Noble started to build a reputation of note playing with Stan Sulzmann, Anita Wardell, John Stevens and Harry Beckett. His first CD, a solo entitled "Close Your Eyes" was released in 1994, and contained a mix of standards, originals and improvisations. This mixture of approaches has characterized his music ever since. In 1997 he joined the Bobby Wellins Quartet, the rhythm section of which continues today as the Liam Noble Trio, recently documented on the 2009 CD "BRUBECK", gaining an almost unprecedented 5 star review in The Guardian. In 2001, "In The Meantime", released on Basho Records, explored longer compositional forms and unorthodox improvisational structures, and April 2002 saw a commission from Birmingham Jazz resulting in a song cycle based on Japanese Death Poetry. Noble plays keyboards and samples throughout, marking a new foray into electronica inspired by artists such as Aphex Twin and Arto Lindsay. In 2004, following a Cheltenham Festival gig the previous year, Liam recorded the acclaimed "Romance Among The Fishes" on Basho Records with guitarist Phil Robson and the New York rhythm section of Drew Gress and Tom Rainey on bass and drums respectively.

Liam's working relationship has continued with Tom Rainey in the free improv trio, "Sleepthief" with Ingrid Laubrock, with an album released in September 2008, and a second, "The Madness Of Crowds" in 2011. Other frequent collaborators have included Christine Tobin, Paul Clarvis and Julian Siegel. His growing reputation as a free improviser has also resulted in recent performances with Mary Halverson, Marc Ducret, Mat Maneri, Evan Parker, Okkyung Lee and Peter Evans. In June 2011 he was featured on a recording by Zhenya Strigalev with Larry Grenadier, Tim LeFebvre and Eric Harland. His newest project is an expanded trio with Chris Batchelor and Shabaka Hutchings. As a kind of summation of the diverse areas in which he works combined with a compositional eye for structure, this new group was highly praised at its premiere performance at the Cheltenham Jazz festival in 2012. Liam holds posts as Lecturer in Jazz at Birmingham Conservatoire and Trinity College of Music. He has published 4 volumes of transcriptions of the Bill Evans Trio, and a book of original compositions "Jazz Piano; An In Depth Look at the Styles of the Masters", both published by Hal Leonard."

"Caius Williams is an improviser, bassist, and composer from London with a varied practice including improvised music, electronic music, and projects exploring experimental approaches to composition.

Alongside his involvement in various groups and partnerships in and around London, Caius works frequently as a bandleader, and has recently completed and recorded his first large-ensemble project ('Thread'), and a solo project for double bass. Some current collaborative/supportive roles include a duo project with guitarist Tara Cunningham, playing for songwriter and producer 'feeo', and recently working in 'Lifetones': a project led by Charles Bullen of 'This Heat', alongside working with many of London's notable improvisers. He has also been running and curating the 'grain' residency for improvised and experimental music at Avalon Cafe in Bermondsey for the last few years."

"Just like his father, internationally respected free jazz drummer Tony Levin, Miles Levin is a jazz drummer."

"Composer-performer Laura Jurd's distinct voice as an improvising trumpet player is at the heart of everything she creates. Her music celebrates and innovates the rich traditions of jazz and folk music, whilst often reflecting her love of The Beatles and Stravinsky to name two notable influences. Her compositions dig into something primal, earthy and human, whilst taking twists and turns that both invite surprise and evoke the inevitable.

As a composer she has collaborated with the London Sinfonietta, the Festival of New Trumpet Music, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the Ligeti Quartet to name a few. She regularly performs throughout the UK, Europe and beyond with her Mercury-nominated band Dinosaur, having played the likes of North Sea, Montréal and Molde International Jazz festivals to name a few. She can also be heard playing alongside London jazz band Kansas Smitty's and leading a number of exciting projects in UK jazz and improvised music. Recent collaborators include drummer Seb Rochford, pianist Huw Warren and accordionist / sound-artist Martin Green."

"Chris gained his first professional experience aged 17 with Dudu Pukwana, at the suggestion of Harry Beckett. He subsequently became a founder member,composer and soloist with Loose Tubes, contributing many pieces to the repertoire of the band from 1984-1990. He was also very active at this time as a member of legendary world music trailblazers 3 Mustaphas 3, as well as enjoying a varied diet of gigs with Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, Congolese soukous band Taxi Pata Pata and Ashley Slater's Microgroove.

As a sideman, Chris has appeared alongside many international stars, such as Michael Brecker, Sam Rivers, Hermeto Pascoal, Uri Caine, John Taylor and the Jazz Passengers with Deborah Harry. He has enjoyed a long term playing partnership with altoist Steve Buckley in their bands Orchestra Rafiki, Buckley /Batchelor Quartet and with their award winning international collaboration Big Air, featuring pianist Myra Melford and drummer Jim Black.

The music that Buckley and Batchelor wrote for the Jazz on 3 commission that brought Big Air together subsequently won them a BBC Jazz Award for Best New Work in 2001. Their 2009 release entitled Big Air was described by Brian Morton in Jazz Journal as "the best British jazz record for 20 years". In November 2009 Chris was selected to receive the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Composers.

He currently leads two groups, Pigfoot which is dedicated to reinterpretations of iconic repertoire from Mozart to Elvis, and the chamber jazz group Zoetic, featuring fellow Loose Tubes guitarist John Parricelli, which he formed to play his own wide ranging compositions.

He also co-leads Total Vibration (with Laura Jurd) dedicated to playing the music of Ornette Coleman, and Zone-B, in which he continues his long and fruitful association with altoist Steve Buckley."

"Alex Paxton (1990) is an award-winning composer and improvising-trombonist based in the UK. His music is stylistically pluralist. Informed by his life as a jazz musician & improviser, Alex's work draws upon an enormous range of classical and folk music traditions and heats them into his own uniquely explosive musical voice. Much of his work is interested in incorporating soloistic improvisation and is a celebration of expressive individual existence. He is artistic director, composer and trombonist of the ensemble DREAM MUSICS who have recorded his music with some of the Uk's most exciting creative musicians; for example: PURPLE-TREE TAPESTRY, MUSIC for BOSCH PEOPLE, BYE, PRAYER; with STRINGS and JOAN RIVERS.

Alex was elected to the 9th International Composition Seminar 2019/20 and awarded a commission ILOLLI-POP by Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt, Germany) . In 2019 he played and recorded his concerto OD ODY PINk'd for Jazz Musician and Royal National Scottish Orchestra (RSNO). He was a Leverhume Art Scholar with the London Philharmonic Orchestra 2016-2017: NOW WE ARE DUH-DUR. In 2018 Alex was awarded the Harriet Cohen Memorial Music Award for his compositions and in 2017 his piece SPAKE represented the UK in the Orchestral section of the International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM).

His music has been played/recorded by leading orchestras and ensembles including Ensemble Modern, Klammer Klang, London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO, Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO), Ensemble x.y, x.y Song, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO), National Youth Jazz Orchestra (UK) NYJO,Listen-Pony, Aldeburgh Festival Ensemble, Psappha Ensemble, Orion Symphony Orchestra OSO, Helios Collective, Chaos Collective Orchestra, Mirrors of Hall Big Band, Dr. K Sextet, 5KBrass Quintet, RAM Philharmonic and RCM Philharmonic and soloists Tabea Debus, Patrick Terry, David Zucchi & Jacob Collier.

He has written six operas including NOGGIN and the WHALE (Massed forces including 500 young instrumentalists and singes) FOR the LOVE of THORNSTIEN SHIVER hosted by English National Opera and Helios Collective, BEL and the DRAGON as part of the Tête à Tête opera festival, the EQUIVOCAL HARRIET BOWDLER at Second Movement Opera and WOOLF MUSIC at the Forge in Camden and RAVEN's CHILD for Jacob Colier and Orchestra.

As an improvising and jazz trombonist Alex has played as a soloist with Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) & Ensemble x.y. He has made over 100 recordings as a soloist and performs regularly in duos with pionieering improvisers, as well playing in groups such as HYPERION ENSEMBLE (UK), Apocalypse Jazz Unit, Laura Jurd, Speckles Brass.

Extensively, Alex writes art-music for musicians in community settings including, innovative ways of writing for young instrumentalists & singers in a post-Roald Dahl world of new-music. eg: NOGGIN and the WHALE (Massed forces including 500 young instrumentalists and singes), Fly Like a Kitchen, Muffin, Pudding Tummy and The Sound of Magic. He is composer in residence at Pelican Music Service.

Alex studied as a scholar at Royal Academy of Music (BMushons -1st class) and the Royal College of Music (MComp distinction.) under the supervision of Sir Peter Maxwell Davis, Jonathan Cole and Mark Anthony-Turnage, Gary Carpenter, Phillip Cashian, Christopher Austin and Pete Churchill."

"Raph Clarkson is a trombonist, improviser, composer and educator. He has developed an eclectic musical career, which spans contemporary jazz, avant-garde improvised music, theatre and performance art, contemporary classical music, ska/reggae, South African township jazz, and salsa. He has toured Europe, China, India, South Africa and the USA with ensembles including WorldService Project, The Dualers, Shed Seven, The Octandre Ensemble, and his own projects The Dissolute Society, RESOLUTE, Equal Spirits and Speckles Brass.

Raph is a co-founder of the Be Creative Music organisation, and in 2014 held a place on the prestigious Spitalfields Music Leader Traineeship scheme.

As a creative music leader, trombonist, and composer, he has been involved in educational projects curated by English Touring Opera, English National Opera, BBCSSO, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and has recently led projects for Creative Futures, Mindful Music, London Music Masters, Kazzum (where he is an associate artist), Spitalfields Music, Sinfonia Viva, Glyndebourne Opera, Mid Wales Music Trust, and Share Music Southwest.

He has been commissioned to write music for young voices and orchestra, soprano and orchestra and brass quartet and quintet by Sinfonia Viva, as well as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Camden New Voices, Mid Wales Music Trust, Kazzum and London Music Masters, for whom he has been commissioned to write and arrange music for and with young people. [...]"

"Oren Marshall is a pioneering player of acoustic tuba and electric tuba who, crossing between classical, jazz, improvised and world music, has collaborated with the likes of Derek Bailey, Charlie Haden, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Moondog, Radiohead, Hermeto Pascoal, The Pan-African Orchestra and the London Philharmonic.

He has played with every major orchestra in London as well as with the Bolshoi Theatre Soloists, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Canadian Ballet. As a member of London Brass (whom he joined in 1987) he has made numerous recordings, toured worldwide several times, played 6 Proms concerts and performed for The Queen, Prince Charles, the German Chancellor, the President of China and The Pope.

Amongst the many Duos Oren has played are performances with Jazz pianist John Taylor, New York Beatboxer Adam Matta, UK Beatboxers Shlomo and Hobbit, Prepared-Piano player Hauschka, Percussionist Evelyn Glennie and multi award-winning vocalist, Bobby Mcferrin.

As a solo artist, Oren has played all over the world and his ground-breaking solo work lead to multiple nominations for the BBC Innovation in Jazz Award.He has also shared the stage with artists such as Gil Scott Heron, Roy Ayers, Moby, Vinicio Caposella, Murcoff, Tomasz Stanko and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.

He leads and writes for the Charming Transport Band, bringing together master musicians from Ghana and Nigeria and innovators from London's jazz and improvised music scenes.

Oren is currently Head of Brass Studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire, London and teaches on the Leadership course at the Guildhall School of Music and on the Jazz course at the Royal Academy of Music."