"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 graduating from the Birmingham Conservatoire's BMus(Hons) Jazz course with first class honours, I received a scholarship to study on the Jazz and Contemporary Music Program at the New School University, New York City. During my time living in New York I performed with ensembles including The Duke Ellington Orchestra at Birdland, The Coltrane ensemble and the Rene Marie Big Band at Town Hall, and with Matt Brewer and Tommy Crane at The Knitting Factory.

I am now working as a freelance Jazz musician/composer/arranger/recording artist (Trumpet/Double Bass) Since 2005 I have been lecturing in Jazz at the Birmingham Conservatoire senior and junior departments, I also have a roles as director of the National Youth Jazz Wales, tutor for National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland/National Youth Jazz Collective, music for youth mentor and improvisation clinician for Wales Music Teachers Federation.

I am also the artistic co-director of Harmonic Festival, producing and promoting two successful and adventurous jazz festivals in Birmingham in recent years.

I have featured in a number of performances aired on BBC Radio's Jazz on Three including live concerts with Alex Hawkins, Peter Evans, Paul Dunmall, Elliott Sharpe and a number of radio and televised concerts with the WDR Radio Big Band, Koln. I was a featured in Jazzwise magazine's 'Taking Off' interview. Recent musical highlights include performing Gil Evans Sketches of Spain with the Birmingham Conservatoire Jazz Orchestra and playing Trumpet for Evan Parker's 70th birthday celebration, Kings Place.

Some of the most prominent artists I have performed and recorded with include:

Claudia Quintet, Food with Thomas Stronen/Iain Ballamy, Bill Frissell, Paul Dunmall, Peter Evans, Jon Irabagon, Hans Koller, Dan Weiss, Matt Brewer, Michael Gibbs, Thomas Morgan, John Hollenbeck, Mark Dresser, Victor Bailey, Drew Gress, Ben Monder, Phil Woods, Claudio Roditi, Jeff Williams, Chris Speed, Matt Mitchell, Evan Parker, Jakob Bro, Elliott Sharpe, Vince Mendoza, Peter Erskine, Django Bates, Steve Swallow, Chris Potter, John O'gallagher, Gerald Clayton, John Clayton, Dave Liebman, Dave Holland and Norma Winstone.

For the past twelve months, I have also been a Jazzlines/Jerwood Foundation fellow, hosted at Town Hall-Symphony Hall Birmingham. This has allowed me to compose a new work written for octet and eight-voice choir - 'Far Reaching Dreams of Mortal Souls' - based on speeches and associated works of iconic figures through history. This will premiere in October, where I will perform alongside Julian Arguelles, Paul Clarvis, Hans Koller, Michael Janisch, James Allsop, Jim Rattigan plus choir.

I hold honorary membership (Hons BC) to the Birmingham Conservatoire in recognition of services to music."

Richard Foote is a Birmingham, UK tromobonist best known for his horns and drums band Young Pilgrims, approaching New Orleans jazz in modern ways.

"Baritone saxophonist/composer Alicia Gardener-Trejo has been active on the jazz scene since 2007. Whilst at Birmingham Conservatoire, she studied with Iain Dixon, Mike Williams, Hans Koller and John Taylor. She played alongside Gary Smulyan and Norma Winstone in the Conservatoire Jazz Orchestra and in 2013, took the baritone chair in Arnie Somogyi's Mingus Big Band project.

As a sideman, Alicia performs regularly with Samantha Wright's Double Clarinet Quintet, Bostin Brass Band and plays baritone for Birmingham Jazz Orchestra. Her own ensembles include an 11-piece band 'Bobtail' and a chordless quintet.

Alicia's inspiration as a composer comes from jazz artists including Duke Ellington, Gil Evans, George Russell, Gunther Schuller, Bill Frisell and Wayne Horvitz, but also draws on influences from Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartok and the music of Carl Stalling."

"Martin Archer was born in Sheffield, England, in 1957. He started playing saxophone at age 15 and first got active on the Sheffield improvisational scene in 1973. In the early '80s, he recorded an LP with Bass Tone Trap, his first group. In 1983 he formed the saxophone quartet Hornweb, which, in ten years of existence, released three albums. It is during that time that Archer released his first solo album, Wild Pathway Favourites (1988) and founded the Discus label on which he since releases all his music.

In 1993, he disbanded Hornweb and turned to synthesizers and sequencers while shifting his activities from stage to studio. He developed a compositional approach in which he records improvisers soloing, then manipulates this raw material, combining it with electronics and structuring it into a whole new piece. This technique is illustrated on Wild Pathway Favourites, Ghost Lily Cascade (1996), and Pure Water Construction (with bassist Simon H. Fell, released in 1999). Later works such as Winter Pilgrim Arriving (2000) moved toward more constructed and less abstract pieces, even making room for melodies and rhythm tracks at times.

Apart from his solo work, Archer is also involved in Ask, a duo with guitarist John Jasnoch, and Transient v Resident, an ambient electronics project with Chris Bywater."-All Music, François Couture

"Martin Archer is a composer / improviser who is equally at home on stage or in the studio. His own distinctive saxophone playing is rooted in AACM jazz. Through his use of keyboards and electronics, and as a studio producer, he extends this interest into extended song form and leftfield rock music. He is also co-director of the uncategorisably avant choir Juxtavoices.

His principle music work is the Discus Music label, the imprint for his various releases, notably by the groups described below.

His current jazz based projects include Engine Room Favourites (current a 4 drummer, 14 piece big band), Story Tellers (6 piece group including shaman instruments alongside the conventional instruments), plus various ad hoc smaller groups. All of these are strongly aligned with AACM tradition and teaching.

Archer has a long running duo with veteran vocalist Julie Tippetts. Each of their highly acclaimed CD releases deliberately explores song from a different perspective - the duo aims to be truly progressive, and takes in elements from jazz, rock, soul and pure abstraction.

Archer's main live performance vehicle is the trio Inclusion Principle with Herve Perez and Peter Fairclough. The group operates in a space between electronics, nu-jazz, contemporary electroacoustic music and free improvisation. In performance you will hear pure jazz skill, electronic beats and areas of texture and abstraction all seamlessly woven into a fascinating and constantly shifting tapestry of sound.

The sprawling Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere was formed by Archer as an improvising rock group with shades of Terry Riley, Magma, Alice Coltrane and Sun Ra, very much in the progressive / krautrock tradition, and noted for its large scale string, horn and vocal arrangements.

Also in rock music, Archer is a member of the USA based heavier than plutonium prog / sludge / zeuhl group Combat Astronomy under the direction of Jamie Huggett.

Surprising, delighting and occasionally alarming audiences for a number of years now, Juxtavoices is a 30 piece choir for mainly untrained voices co directed by Archer with Alan Halsey which has racked up dozens of performances and issued three CDs.

This eclectic combination of sources and highly individual applications makes Archer a unique inhabitant of the school of English maverick composer / improvisers. "-Discus

"James Birkett has worked as a professional guitarist since the 1970s, undertaking the full range of freelance work, including TV/Radio, backing artists, concerts, theatre orchestras and musicals, etc. As a jazz guitarist he continues to direct a variety of jazz ensembles for concerts, recordings, broadcasts and festivals. Over the years he has had the pleasure of working with major jazz soloists from the UK (Digby Fairweather, John Barnes, Dick Morrissey, Don Weller, Roy Williams, Harry Becket, Don Rendell, Guy Barker, Alan Barnes, Bruce Adams, Jamie Talbot, Ronnie Ross, Peter King, Alan Skidmore, Brian Lemon, Al Gay, Chris 'Snake' Davis) and the USA (Scott Hamilton, Bud Freeman, Peanuts Hucko, Spike Robinson, Kenny Davern, Harry Allen).

As a jazz educator James has had a profound impact on the North East's jazz scene since the 1980s, having developed and led the pioneering Graduate Diploma and BMus (Hons) degree programmes in Jazz, Popular and Commercial Music. He is currently Director of Jazz for the Youth Music Programme and Artistic Advisor: Jazz, Popular and Contemporary Music for The Centre for Advanced Training at The Sage, Gateshead."

"Andrew Woodhead is a musician, composer, producer and artist working across a variety of contexts taking in jazz, free improvisation, electronica, folk and new music, as well as creating installation and digital work. He has established himself as a key figure on the UK's creative music scene, winning the 2014 Dankworth Prize for Jazz Composition and being named 'One To Watch' in Jazzwise magazine.

Projects he is involved with include electro-acoustic duo ELDA with Aaron Diaz, collaborative arts practice Ideas of Noise with Sarah Farmer, and Mark Sanders' CollapseUncollapse.

As well as performing solo on both acoustic piano and live electronics, Andrew has also collaborated in improvised settings with Olie Brice, Hannah Marshall, Paul Dunmall, Kim Macari, Annie Mahtani, Chris Mapp, Ole Mofjell, Natalie Sandtorv, Percy Pursglove, Jacob Garchik and many more.

His debut solo album 'Pocket Piano Improvisations' was released in May 2016, followed by 'Shiny/Things' with ELDA ft. Kari Eskild Havenstrom. ELDA released three EPs in 2020; 'Live at BEAST' featuring vocalist/modular synth player Georgia Denham, 'Hippocampinae' featuring saxophonist/clarinettist Faye MacCalman, and 'a different name for the same river' featuring Chris Mapp and Sam Wooster.

His latest album 'Pendulums: Music for Bellringers, Improvisers and Electronics' was released in June 2021, followed by a UK tour with live bellringers in September 2022.

ELDA released further EPs 'Metal Built' with guitarist Anton Hunter, 'Hello Spirit' with synth/electronicist Meesha Fones and 'Primary/Secondary/Tertiary' with producer/ambient musician John Derek Bishop in 2022. These are collected together in the box set 'Collaborations 2020-2022' released in December 2022."

Born in 1998, pianist Glen Leach is an improviser and composer based in Leeds, UK. A graduate of the Leeds Conservatoire, where he studied jazz piano under Matthew Bourne, Leach has developed a highly personal approach to improvisation that balances nuance, spontaneity, and responsiveness to both environment and fellow musicians.

Leach is active as a performer and educator, freelancing across the UK while also teaching piano. His playing emphasizes a keen awareness of texture and space, often moving fluidly between abstraction, harmonic richness, and lyrical reflection. He has appeared with some of the UK's leading improvisers, including a celebrated performance alongside Matthew Bourne, Julie Tippetts, and Maggie Nicols in a pianistic tribute to Keith Tippett at Bristol Beacon.

In recordings, Leach has contributed to projects such as Away With Troubles And Anxieties! with saxophonist Paul Dunmall, and his work has also been featured on Bandcamp, reflecting a growing catalogue of improvised and experimental music. His style, informed by the lineage of nonidiomatic improvisation in the UK, resonates with both historical continuity and a fresh, contemporary sensibility.

"Born and based in Derby, Corey Mwamba's commitment to jazz and improvised music in Britain and Ireland drives all aspects of his work, whether through composition, playing, or promoting new music. Corey predominantly plays vibraphone; he also plays dulcimer and uses audio processing software. He is recognised as a highly creative improviser and composer working across a wide range of jazz and contemporary music. Mwamba's distinctive approach and tone is instantly recognisable in any context: a potent blend of pure sound, highly melodic phrases and ethereal textures; barely whispered chords and ear-piercing robotic screams. Corey won a PRSF/Jerwood Foundation Take Five artist development award in 2007; was short-listed for the Innovation category in the BBC Jazz Awards in 2008; and was nominated for "Rising Star on Vibraphone" in the 62nd, 63rd, and 64th DownBeat Annual Critics' Polls.

Mwamba's main group is the critically acclaimed Yana with Dave Kane (bass) and Joshua Blackmore (drums). This group exemplifies a core ideal of creating an "open, living music"; listening and responding spontaneously as a unit to make music that has love, language and a groove. Their first studio release don't overthink it was hailed as "engaging and evocative" (All About Jazz) and described as "the sound of three minds working together in a utopian zone, way beyond the individual ego - and producing something quite beautiful in the process" (Jazzwise). Dave and Corey are also in an improvising sextet called The Spirit Farm, formed out of research by pianist Adam Fairhall. Mwamba and Fairhall also form a trio with drummer Johnny Hunter called Backyard Chassis.

He is a member of the Anglo-French quartet Sonsale with bassist Andy Champion, drummer Sylvain Darrifourcq and cellist Valentin Ceccaldi. Corey also works with Andy in an improvising trio with saxophonist Ntshuks Bonga. He plays in duos with saxophonist Rachel Musson; pianist Robert Mitchell; percussionists Martin Pyne and Walt Shaw; and the multi-instrumentalist Orphy Robinson. [...]

Mwamba was granted an AHRC studentship for a Master of Research degree in Music at Keele University, for which he was awarded a distinction in 2014. Through this research, he developed new dark art, which is a notational and theoretical music system that takes early European medieval music practice as a starting point to create modern music. He is currently undertaking doctoral research in Jazz Studies at Birmingham City University on a Midlands3Cities/AHRC studentship."

John Pope: "Who am I, indeed? Well, for starters:

I am a bass player. I play both electric bass and double bass, with a pretty even split in focus.

I am an improviser. Most of the music I make is based in contemporary forms of improvisation, mostly along the lines of ÔjazzÕ or Ôfree improvisationÕ. Of course, my rock or funk sides also like to make their presence known.

I live in Newcastle upon Tyne, in the North East of England. I have done since about 2005.

I believe in magic, and that it exists when performers are given space to make art. Music is my primary way of doing this.

As well as making music IÕm also a devoted fan of comic books, tapletop RPGs and assorted culty, fringe geekery. My life pretty much revolves around those two points, and IÕm equally geeky about both. ItÕs a good way to be!"

"Jim Bashford, who hails from Sutton Coldfield UK started playing drums age 10 and was influenced by the rock/progressive rock and jazz scene worldwide, he was mainly self taught for the first 6 years then he studied drums under Steve Palmer.

The CONSTRUCTION quartet formed by Jim performed a tour in 2010 of original compositions with Icelandic guitarist Hilmar Jensson, Johnny Brierley bass and Robin Fincker sax and clarinet. The quartet was then joined by Tim Harries on bass with a recording to follow called CENTRELINE THEORY which has recently been released on LEO Records 2017.

After 14 years of playing as a sideman in bands covering all genres and also working in construction full time whilst studying on a popular music course, Jim then moved on to study at the Birmingham Conservatoire for the BMus (Hons.) jazz course where he continued under drum tutors such as the great Tony Levin, Gene Calderazzo, Jeff Williams and Malcolm Garrett. He runs Auditions at the Birmingham Conservatoire and organises workshops with highly acclaimed artists on the jazz scene in Europe and the U.S. and also collaborates with Cheltenham Jazz Festival to run a session with the conservatoire students and Trondheim students as well as organising auditions for the course in the U.K. and Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

Jim is a member of no less than 20 different ensembles and tours extensively throughout the UK and Europe, including appearances at London jazz venues such as the Barbican Centre, The Vortex and Kings Place; and prominent venues in Birmingham. He has also performed in prestigious international jazz festivals including the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Juan le pins Jazz Festival and future engagements at the London Jazz Festival. Also a short tour with Dave Sinclair from the band Caravan with a recording in Japan to follow and also recently a European tour with Katie Melua."

"James Owston is a Birmingham based double and electric bassist playing regularly in the UK Jazz Scene.

James was born in Sutton, London in 1996 and moved to Gloucestershire in 2000. After taking up the electric bass at age 14, he played predominantly rock and groove music, until he was eventually introduced to Jazz. This led to him take up the double bass at age 18 to pursue his new-found passion for the music. Prior to attending University, James played with the Gloucestershire Youth Jazz Orchestra and other small ensembles, performing in the local area.

In 2015, James accepted an offer to study Jazz at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire where he has been receiving tuition from Arnie Somogyi and Mark Hodgson, Percy Pursglove and Mike Williams, as well as many other tutors at the institution. As part of his studies, James has received masterclasses from notable Jazz musicians Mark Turner, Jeff Ballard, Gilad Hekselman, Dave Liebman and Mike Gibbs, as well as getting the opportunity to perform with musicians such as Jeff Williams, Steve Cardenas and Julian Arguelles.

Whilst studying in Birmingham, James met the renowned British Jazz drummer, Clark Tracey, and in 2017 he joined the Clark Tracey Quintet. This led to performances at major UK Jazz venues such as the Vortex, 606 Club, Herts Jazz and South Coast Jazz Festival amongst others. As well as this, James has also performed in the Birmingham Symphony Hall foyer, Birmingham Town Hall, Eastside Jazz Club and Cheltenham, Manchester, Cleethorpes and Trondheim Jazz festivals. In April 2018, this band recorded their first album, also being James's first professional appearance on record, which is due to be released in September 2018.

As well as being an active sideman, James is leading his own groups, notably the James Owston Mingus Quintet, that focuses on the compositions and style of the great Charles Mingus, a strong influence for James as a bass player and composer."

John Ball is a UK-based performer and educator specializing in the Hindustani classical tradition, with a focus on tabla and santoor. Active as both soloist and collaborator, he has performed widely across the UK and internationally, bringing Indian classical music into dialogue with jazz, folk, world, and contemporary traditions. A disciple of Pandit Pratap Pawar and other leading teachers, Ball combines deep respect for classical lineage with an openness to cross-cultural collaboration.

He is a member of ensembles such as Rafiki Jazz and Mishra, has collaborated with artists including Sarathy Korwar, Juldeh Camara, Jarvis Cocker, and Richard Hawley, and frequently works with the Balbir Singh Dance Company. Alongside his performance career, Ball serves as World Music Performer in Residence at the University of Sheffield and teaches through South Asian Arts UK's Hindustani Academy, where he shares his knowledge of rhythm, improvisation, and the aesthetics of Indian music. His playing emphasizes clarity, sensitivity, and a strong improvisatory voice on both tabla and santoor.