This is a CD of two halves. The first 35 minutes or so are filled by six compositions by Brooklyn-born, longtime UK resident, trumpeter Jim Dvorak while the final track is nearly 20 minutes of group improvisation.

E.D.’s Muse has Dvorak and Dunmall on tenor exchanging phrases over the increasingly bubbling double bass of Mapp and the pushing drums of Sanders. The whole thing gains more and more intensity through a Dunmall solo and a brief duologue with Dvorak before the trumpeter carries the baton onwards, the two horns increasingly paying off each other, rising through the notes ever upward. The whole thing has a timeless quality – it could be from anytime in the last 50 years.

If I’m Gonna Have To Choose is like a double declaration by trumpet and tenor over a free rhythm that has a tinge of Mingus about it, a tinge further highlighted by a well-articulated Mapp solo.

Love’s Own Prayer is a thoughtful and almost serene piece with Dumall and Dvorak thoughtful over bowed bass and percussive comments. Miller’s Tail gives the rhythm team full rein and they fit together like hand and glove in a boiling sea for the horns to sail over.

For Zapped, Dvorak declaims some quotes form Frank Zappa while with Lord Buckley’s Getty’s Mother Burg he gets all hippish (as opposed to hipsterish) with Dunmall adding the asides on saxello. Great fun.

While the composed pieces have some structure, there is still a marvellous freedom about them and this prepares the listener perfectly for that final four-way improv: As Above, So Below. In many ways it’s the highlight of the album, the musicians working together in an uncanny four-way telepathy. The tension and yet restraint of the opening, later on hearing the trumpet go real, real low and some jaw-dropping fast runs from Dunmall are just three of many joys along the way.

Peter Bacon 8 January 2015.  http://thejazzbreakfast.com/2015/01/08/jim-dvorak-paul-dunmall-mark-sanders-chris-mapp-cherry-pickin/

Given the players on this CD, and the label it is on, I was expecting some free blowing, which does come in the last track, which is almost half the length of the CD. But the first six tracks feature compositions by Dvorak with structured improvisation. Once I adjusted to what I was hearing, I really liked the music. We have four seasoned players, working extremely well together. The interplay between Dvorak and Dunmall is great and Sanders and Mapp provide excellent support. It is clear that these musicians know how to listen to each other. I recently reviewed Dunmall’s Coltrane tribute CD and his tone here is much mellower, which is appropriate to this session.

"Love’s Own Prayer" is a lovely bluesy ballad. Zapped uses words from Frank Zappa, and could be some kind of tribute to him, or perhaps something just inspired by him. And "Getty’s" is a kind of parody, using the parody of the Gettysburg address by Lord Buckley. The parody uses jazz references, so is an appropriate vehicle to improvise behind. Whenever I hear improvisation behind spoken voice I always think Mingus’s "Scenes in the City," though the sound here is not that of Mingus.

But, to my ears "As Above" is the highlight of the CD. It begins quietly with some growling, and some great ensemble playing, and each player has an extended solo. The long interplay between Mapp and Sanders is great. I only wish Sanders’ solo was a bit longer. And everyone gets a second, shorter solo to end the piece.

A very enjoyable CD which features great playing and interesting compositions.

Bernie Koenig

CD review from Volume 40, No. 1: January issue

www.cadencemagazine.com

American-born trumpeter Jim Dvorak has been a notable contributor to the UK scene since the 1970s, but hasn’t exactly been prolifically recorded. He’s best known as a free player, and this welcome quartet CD presents a kind of free jazz supergroup, with the majestic Paul Dunmall on reeds, effortlessly fluid Mark Sanders on drums and the bustling energy of Chris Mapp on bass.

The set concludes with a 20-minute collective improvisation, with all four players responding to one another with the lightning reflexes and lightness of touch you might expect. Leading up to it, though, is a set of more prepared pieces, all composed by Dvorak. The first four are fine instrumental numbers, full of attractive, spun-out lines from both horn players. E.D.’s Muse is bright and boppish, with distant echoes of Mingus as well as Coleman; Love’s Own Prayer offers a slowly unfolding sermon from Dunmall; the other two are equally engaging. It isn’t path-breaking work, but music that makes great use of the possibilities opened up by freer styles over these players’ careers to cast tradition in a new light.

There follow a couple of tracks with vocals from Dvorak in the mix, a recitation of a political caution from Frank Zappa, and one of Lord Buckley’s "Gettysburg Address", with Dunmall adding punchy commentary on saxello. These are worth hearing, but perhaps not repeatedly. Then the long improvisation at the close takes us back to instrumented sounds, and the complete communion the recording opened with.

That, like the first half hour’s worth, is a consistently rewarding listen, with new felicities to notice on each hearing – Sanders and Mapp’s contributions here are often so subtle they can pass you by when your ear is caught by the horns, but are essential to the superbly open, interactive feel of the ensemble. It’s a CD I’ll be revisiting quite a bit, although maybe skipping those two voice-led efforts most times.   Jon Turney     http://nblo.gs/12tTjN

Founded almost by accident by baritone saxophonist George Haslam, SLAM has now been going a quarter of a century – and, since Dvorak and Dunmall were among the first artists to release on the label, this makes for an appropriate anniversary release. They are joined by fellow SLAM veteran Sanders, and Mapp in his label debut. Together they present seven magnificent, Mingusesque tracks – Dvorak’s distinct compositional voice blended with intense, impassioned improvisation. Mapp and Sanders make for a powerful, highly dynamic section, and there’s tremendous interplay between trumpet and sax, twirling around one another in a horn double helix, for instance, on the Chaucer-channelling ‘Millers Tail’. Occasionally Dvorak even breaks into song and spoken word. Inspired by Zappa on ‘Zapped’ and Lord Buckley on ‘Gettys Mother Burg’. These two moments may not be for everyone but he just about pulls it off – and the disc as a  whole is superb.

Marcus O’Dair  Jazzwise  August 2014.

Dunmall Sanders Mapp Dvorak – CHERRY PICKIN':Our (longtime) friends at SLAM PRODUCTIONS surely know how to "pick ‘em"…. lol! The combination of Jim Dvorak on trumpet & voice, Paul Dunmall on tenor sax & saxello, Chris Mapp on bass and Mark Sanders doing Drums is a clear winner, no matter what color of jazz your ears are. The opener, "Ed's Muse", is certainly a stand-out that will hold your attention, even if you have a severe case of J.D.D. (jazz deficit disorder)… the recording is so crisp you'll feel like you're right there in the room with these cats. The music is all original (except for track 7), so that's an immediate draw for this listener. The spoken-word on "Gettys Mother Burg" made it my personal favorite… takes me way back to when I first started listening to poets & jazz… in point of fact, this is among my favorite pieces for the entire year of 2014. I give this stellar crew a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, with an "EQ" (energy quotient) rating of 4.99. Get more information at the SLAM PRODUCTIONS page for this release. Rotcod Zzaj  otcodzzaj.com/?page_id=5773

As good a quartet record as you'll hear all year. Dvorak's significantly underrated, perhaps because he moves so easily - too easily? - between jazz and free, perhaps because he has a Trickster's ability to hide his most profound thoughts behind japes. Here's a record that pays tribute to Frank Zappa and Elton Dean, though Dunmall only uses his saxello on a track that's inspired by Lord Buckley's Gettysburg Address.
The trumpeter has a tight but nicely fat tone that's like no other around at the moment. He reminds somewhat of the Navarro/Howard McGhee generation rather than more obvious British-based contemporaries (Carr, Wheeler, Charig) and he has an ability, may be best expressed in the title of the closing improvised number, to suggest that every surface detail opens up into something larger and more expansive. "As above, so below" is the guiding principle of the Puritan tradition in American culture, which also has its place in the evolution of jazz, and Dvorak is endlessly aware that jazz is many and not just one.
Dunmall's playing great these days, positively magisterial but with the puckish, almost narrative delivery still intact, Sanders is world class and Mapp is more than merely reliable; he's the real article and a man to watch, his role here more than simply holding the centre.
Brian Morton Jazz Journal, Sept 2014

If you're a fan of Charles Mingus' musical vision, this album by Paul Dunmall/ts, Mark Sanders/dr, Chris Mapp/b and Jim Dvorak/tp is going to put a big smile on your face. They mix deeply swinging and bluesy originals with a healthy dose of freedom reigning. Pieces such as "E.D.'s Muse" and "If I'm Gonna Have to Chose" have a throbbing groove that aren't afraid to be stretched and bent here and there by penetratingly searching solos by a Booker Ervin-inspired Dunmall and a Johnny Coles-imbibed Dvorak. A nineteen minute "As Above, So Below" mixes experimentation with rich bop tradition, but the real treat on this disc is a must-hear take of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in the form of "Getty's Mother Burg" in which Dvorak delivers a hilarious hipster interpretation of the classic speech in a jive talk that has got to be heard to be believed. What a hoot! This band has moxie!
George W. Harris September 11, 2014 http://www.jazzweekly.com/2014/09/mingus-dynasty-dvorakdunmallsandersmapp-cherry-pickin/

Another impressive release from the SLAM imprint, featuring label regular Paul Dunmall and trumpeter Jim Dvorak, who I know best for his work with the band District Six,Cherry Pickin'is an interesting mixture of structured themes and free improvisation.

The thematic pieces, all credited to Dvorak, provide a solid platform yet are loose enough for some spirited playing from Dunmall andthe nominal leader's trumpet, ably supported by Chris Mapp and Mark Sanders. Throughout the freewheeling tenor and trumpet solos, bass and drums compellingly converse with, and cajole, the two horns with a rhythmic foundation that in general swings with a vengeance. As if to calm things down, the fine Love's Own Prayer' finds Dunmall's saxophone taking the lead, or role of the preacher, with a quiet and sympathetic supporting role from his colleagues.

Perhaps the finest cut on the album is the closing As Above, So Below', a glorious twenty minute free improvisation that never meanders and is continuously evolving. From the outset the piece s superbly crafted from quiet beginnings the four participants, all skilled practitioners of this demanding art, avoiding the pitfalls that can all too often occur when four or more voices improvise collectively, with the individual voices contributing fully without over powering the music. Drummer Mark Sanders deserves special mention, often confining himself to a quietly supporting role, only becoming more animated when one of his colleagues sits out for a while, and leaving the appropriate space for him to fill.

Sandwiched between the quartet themes, and the long improvisation are two unusual pieces that feature the voice of Jim Dvorak, quoting from Frank Zappa on Zappped', and onGetty's Mother Burg' reciting text from Lord Buckley's Gettysburg Address'. Both tracks contain some iron clad instrumental ideas that become somewhat overshadowed by Dvorak's vocalising that is strangely alluring on the first couple of hearings, but pall after a while. I for one would rather have had the opportunity to have heard more of Dunmall's saxello that he plays on Getty's Mother'. Pitching the tipped bell' soprano with Dvorak's trumpet would have made for an interesting combination, and exciting new timbre to be explored by this fine improvising quartet.

Reviewed by Nick Lea http://jazzviewscdreviews2.weebly.com/jim-dvorakpaul-dunmallmark-sanderschris-mapp-ndash-cherry-pickinrsquo.html