Yours truly hasn't (yet) listened to all of Paul Dunmall's seemingly endless body of work. But whenever my player introduces the reedist, the awareness of a musician whose modesty is commensurate with a natural propensity for momentous improvisation — in turn driven by an equal amount of massive heart and incontrovertible technical prowess — inevitably strikes. Meditations For Clarinets offers a remarkable sampling of these abilities, featuring four compelling recordings of Dunmall performing on as many different clarinet types (C, A, Bb, and Eb).

A skilled reedist can twirl in between harmonic and contrapuntal pathways solely deriving from an inner vision which obeys pure instinct, as opposed to a polyphonic instrumentalist — especially a pianist or guitarist — whose creative gesture may be physically influenced by the inherent resonance of a given tuning. By embedding fluid concepts in temporal suspension while stepping away to grant the audience their perceptual breath, Dunmall demonstrates authentic precognitive powers in this regard. He is systematically diverging from formulaic promenades, soaring through imaginary (a)tonalities or subconsciously superimposing several, each time with distinct rhythmic variations and timbral shades. In synthesis, the dynamic diversity of Dunmall's statements matches his brilliance in shifting perspectives and dimensions across the gamuts of extended phrasing.

During summer, in my neck of the woods, the cicadas' choral chirping gets so loud at times that the use of headphones to listen to music becomes mandatory, unless I'm intentionally merging sources for psychoacoustic experimentation. Over repeated spins, following Dunmall's innumerable trajectories in the midst of that potently reiterative backdrop, turned into a lesson in focusing, yielding one of the unique symbolisms that is gifted to us by sound. Someone who has something meaningful to say will always stand out among a vociferous crowd. It's up to us to acknowledge the position of that particular individuality and, above all, the worth of what is being expressed by it.