THE PROFOUND SOUND
TRIO, FIRST HEARD IN THE VISION FESTIVAL OF 2OO8, IS MADE UP OF CO-LEADERS ANDREW CYRILLE (DRUMS) / PAUL
DUNMALL (TENOR SAXOPHONE, BAGPIPES) / AND HENRY GRIMES (ACOUSTIC BASS, VIOLIN). PIONEERING
IMPROVISERS HENRY GRIMES AND ANDREW CYRILLE HAVE PERFORMED TOGETHER WORLDWIDE AND ARE INSPIRATIONS TO MUSICIANS EVERYWHERE,
AS THEY CONTINUE TO CARRY THE TORCH FOR INNOVATION AND FREE EXPRESSION. IN 2OO6 HENRY GRIMES FIRST COLLABORATED WITH
BRITISH MULTI-REEDIST PAUL DUNMALL, A KINDRED SPIRIT. THUS THE IDEA FOR THE PROFOUND SOUND TRIO CAME ABOUT: THREE
EQUAL PARTNERS IN TOTAL IMPROVISATION, INFORMED BY HISTORY AND MYSTERY, TRULY A MEETING OF HEARTS, MINDS, AND SOULS.
ANDREW CYRILLE
HAS PLAYED WITH MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS, DAVE BURRELL, JOHN CARTER, KENNY DORHAM, COLEMAN HAWKINS, ILLINOIS JACQUET, OLIVER LAKE,
DAVID MURRAY, WILLIAM PARKER, HORACE TAPSCOTT, ARCHIE SHEPP, CECIL TAYLOR, MAL WALDRON, MARY LOU WILLIAMS, REGGIE WORKMAN,
AND OTHERS, AND CAN BE HEARD ON 75 RECORDINGS. MR. CYRILLE TEACHES AT THE NEW SCHOOL IN NEW YORK CITY.
AS A YOUNG MUSICIAN,
PAUL DUNMALL WORKED WITH ALICE COLTRANE AND TOURED EXTENSIVELY WITH JOHNNY “GUITAR” WATSON IN THE U.S.
IN 1987, PAUL DUNMALL JOINED THE LONDON JAZZ COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA LED BY BARRY GUY, AND THE FOLLOWING YEAR, THE COLLECTIVE
QUARTET MUJICIAN WAS FORMED WITH KEITH TIPPETT, TONY LEVIN, PAUL DUNMALL, AND PAUL ROGERS. MR. DUNMALL CAN BE HEARD
ON MORE THAN 13O RECORDINGS.
HENRY GRIMES HAS WORKED WITH RASHIED ALI, MARSHALL ALLEN, FRED ANDERSON, ALBERT AYLER,
DON CHERRY, MARILYN CRISPELL, BILL DIXON, BENNY GOODMAN, COLEMAN HAWKINS, ROY HAYNES, EDWARD “KIDD” JORDAN, STEVE
LACY, CHARLES MINGUS, GERRY MULLIGAN, DAVID MURRAY, SUNNY MURRAY, WILLIAM PARKER, MARC RIBOT, SONNY ROLLINS, PHAROAH SANDERS,
ARCHIE SHEPP, CECIL TAYLOR, MCCOY TYNER, AND MORE. MR. GRIMES CAN BE HEARD ON 85 RECORDINGS.
REVIEW:
"Signal to Noise"
Magazine, issue #55, Fall, 2OO9
PROFOUND SOUND TRIO "Opus de Life"
This is the kind of set free improvisers
and their fans always hope for and rarely get. One expects music full of energy, subtlety, and exploration from saxophonist
Paul Dunmall, bassist Henry Grimes, and drummer Andrew Cyrille, the players who make up the Profound Sound Trio; it's the
kind of music they routinely make. But something happened on this stifling hot night at last year's Vision Festival
that lifted all three of these men at the same time to the peak of their capabilities. This hour's worth of music simply
overflows with life and passion, bursts explosively open into one sonically amazing area after another, but never loses its
focus along its twisting pathways. In its effortless grace, musicality, wit, boundless ideas, and swing, Cyrille's performance
is extraordinary in every way. His snare and bass drum manage to sound like both a talking drum and Kenny Clarke; his
conversational approach to rhythms (swinging but not necessarily anchored to a stated beat) and nuanced cymbal work are always
perfectly attuned to what's going on in the music. Grimes sounds totally alert and engaged on both bass and violin.
He plucks out his lowest notes to form a troubled bed for the music, with an urgency that keeps the music moving without pushing
it aggressively. His bowed work is celestial, yearning, beautiful, and also fueled by a forward momentum that keeps
Cyrille and Dunmall at a boil. This is one of his best post-comeback recordings. And Dunmall is a tenor gladiator,
strong, cathartic, and detailed in his improvising. His phrases build up ridiculous momentum and tension, and then disintegrate
into wails and rasps. He spirals upward into his altissimo register in response to Grimes' violin and lodges himself
deep in Cyrille's rhythmic abstractions. It's a performance in which they just keep challenging one another, and the
challenge is met every time. -- Ed Hazell (edhazell@earthlink.net).
