Paul Dunmall is without doubt one of the leading improvising saxophonists in the world, much in demand in the USA and across Europe. He was a member of the Divine Light Mission band which took him to California and to an Ashraf that worked with Alice Coltrane.

Following that he joined Johnny Guitar Watson's Blues Band with which he toured widely. He then returned to the UK and became a key member of the improvised music scene. He is now settled in rural Worcestershire, but plays regularly, notably in his Paul Dunmall Invites series in the Eastside Jazz Club in Birmingham Conservatoire. Paul has always encouraged and mentored young players and several of these will appear at this birthday celebration.

There will be three groups each of which will play a 30-minute set: Group 1: Paul Dunmall, saxophones, Tom Pountney-Barnes, guitar, Sarah Farmer, violin, Richard Foote, trombone, James Owston, bass and Jim Bashford, drums. Group 2: Bruce Coates, saxophones, Trevor Lines, bass and Ed Gauden, drums. Group 3: Paul Dunmall, saxophones, Phil Gibbs, guitar, Miles Levin, drums