World Without was recorded in late 2021 by a group put together by veteran Euro-free jazz saxophonist Paul Dunmall. He teamed with Steven Saunders (guitar), Dave Kane (bass), and Miles Levin (drums). I am about 99% certain that Miles is the son of long-time Dunmall collaborator Tony Levin (the drummer who passed away in 2011, not the still-active bassist and Chapman Stick player).
The Beauty in You opens with Dunmall engaging in non-repetitive extemporaneous melodic structures. Saunders works around the edges of these, mainly in the form of mildly-distorted chording. Kane and Levin flirt with walking rhythms as well as repeating patterns without relying on these techniques in earnest. The quieter passages include soft blowing from Dunmall, carefully-placed notes and harmonics from Saunders, and surprisingly active percussion.
The title track continues in the same general direction but with Saunders taking the lead with undistorted picking and chording to Kane’s bowing. Dunmall soon joins in as the group ramps up in intensity. The dialogs between these performers are tight as they seem to push one another to play faster and with more fire. Skillfully, they stop just short of getting out over their skis and instead settle on a disjointed ferocity. They often sound on the edge of falling apart, but never go that far.
Dunmall’s stated goal was to explore a space between open-ended abstractions and the energy of more conventional jazz. The two long tracks come across as high-energy free improv, so…mission accomplished.
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