Elton Dean
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Elton Dean (28 October 1945 – 8 February 2006) was an English
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
musician who performed on alto
saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...
, saxello (a variant of the soprano saxophone) and occasionally keyboards. Part of the
Canterbury scene The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury sound) is a musical scene that originated in the city of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Associated with progressive rock, the term describes a loosely-defined, improvisation ...
, he featured in
Soft Machine Soft Machine are an English Rock music, rock band from Canterbury, Kent. The band were formed in 1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin. Soft Machine were central in the Canterbury scene; they became o ...
, among others.


Life and career

Dean was born in
Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
, England, moving to
Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre-Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times. The name is of Anglo-Saxon ori ...
, London, soon after his birth. From 1966 to 1967, Dean was a member of the band Bluesology, led by Long John Baldry. The band's pianist, Reginald Dwight, afterward combined Dean's and Baldry's first names for his own stage name,
Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...
. This fact is alluded to in the 2019 film '' Rocketman'', a biopic of the life and career of Elton John, where Dean is portrayed by Evan Walsh, however the film fictionally cites John Lennon as the inspiration for Elton John's taken surname. Dean established his reputation as a member of the
Keith Tippett Keith Graham Tippetts (25 August 1947 – 14 June 2020), known professionally as Keith Tippett, was a British jazz pianist and composer. According to AllMusic, Tippett's career "...spanned jazz-rock, progressive rock, improvised and contemporar ...
Sextet from 1968 to 1970, and in the band
Soft Machine Soft Machine are an English Rock music, rock band from Canterbury, Kent. The band were formed in 1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin. Soft Machine were central in the Canterbury scene; they became o ...
from 1969 to 1972. Shortly before leaving Soft Machine he started his own group, Just Us. From 1975 to 1978 he led a nine-piece band called Ninesense, performing at the Bracknell Jazz Festival and similar events. Following this, his own groups were usually quartets or quintets, and most often worked in the
free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...
mode, with little or no pre-composed material, such as Soft Heap with Mark Hewins. However, he also continued to work with other groups that were very composition-based, such as guitarist Phil Miller's In Cahoots, drummer Pip Pyle's Equipe Out, and various projects with former
Soft Machine Soft Machine are an English Rock music, rock band from Canterbury, Kent. The band were formed in 1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin. Soft Machine were central in the Canterbury scene; they became o ...
bassist
Hugh Hopper Hugh Colin Hopper (29 April 1945 – 7 June 2009) was a British progressive rock and jazz fusion bass guitarist. He was a prominent member of the Canterbury scene, as a member of Soft Machine and other bands. Biography Early career Starting i ...
. In 2002, Dean and three other former Soft Machine members (
Hugh Hopper Hugh Colin Hopper (29 April 1945 – 7 June 2009) was a British progressive rock and jazz fusion bass guitarist. He was a prominent member of the Canterbury scene, as a member of Soft Machine and other bands. Biography Early career Starting i ...
, drummer
John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American statesman, jurist, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth chief justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remai ...
, and guitarist
Allan Holdsworth Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz and rock music, rock guitarist, violinist and composer. He contributed to numerous bands, including Soft Machine, U.K. (band), U.K., The Tony Williams Lifetime, Pierre Moerl ...
) toured and recorded under the name Soft Works. With another former Soft Machine member, guitarist John Etheridge, replacing Holdsworth, they subsequently toured and recorded as Soft Machine Legacy, playing some pieces from the original Soft Machine repertoire as well as new works. Featuring Dean, three albums of the Legacy have been released: ''Live in Zaandam'' (CD, rec. 2005/05/10), ''New Morning – The Paris Concert'' (DVD, rec. 2005/12/12) and the studio album ''Soft Machine Legacy'' (CD, 2006, rec. 2005). Dean's last musical collaborations also included those with Soft Bounds, a quartet composed of Dean, Hugh Hopper, Sophia Domancich and Simon Goubert, and also with Alex Maguire's project Psychic Warrior. Dean died on 8 February 2006 after more than a year of heart and liver problems. He was replaced in Soft Machine Legacy by Theo Travis.


Discography


As leader

*1971: '' Elton Dean'' (reissued as ''Just Us'') *1975: ''Live at the BBC'' (with Ninesense, released 2003) *1976: ''Oh! For The Edge'' *1976: ''They All Be on This Old Road'' (live) *1977: ''Happy Daze'' (live) *1979: ''Three's Company Two's A Crowd'' *1979: ''The 100 Club Concert'' (released posthumously in 2012) *1980: ''Boundaries'' *1985: ''The Bologna Tape'' *1986: ''Welcomet'' *1988: ''Duos'' (cassette only) *1988: ''Trios'' (cassette only) *1989: ''EDQ Live'' (cassette only) *1989: ''Unlimited Saxophone Company'' *1990: ''Vortex Tapes'' (live) *1995: ''Silent Knowledge'' *1997: ''Headless Quartet'' *1997: ''Newsense'' *1998: ''Moorsong'' *2000: ''QED'' *2002: ''Sea of Infinity'' *2022: ''On Italian Roads (Live at Teatro Cristallo, Milan, 1979)'' *2023: ''Seven For Lee Variations: On Italian Roads, Vol. 2''


Collaborations

*1976: Dean, Hopper, Tippett, Gallivan: ''Cruel But Fair'' *1977: Dean, Skidmore: ''El Skid'' *1977: Dean, Wheeler, Gallivan: ''The Cheque Is in the Mail'' *1977: Dean, Hopper, Tippett, Gallivan: ''Mercy Dash'' *1985: Dean, Miller: ''Steve Miller Trio Meets Elton Dean'' *1990: Dean, Howard Riley Quartet: ''All The Tradition'' *1992: Dean, Hewins: ''Bar Torque'' *1993: Dean, Riley: ''One Two One'' *1995: Dean, Dunmall: ''If Dubois Only Knew'' *1995: Dean, Riley: ''Descending Circles'' *1996: Dean, Rudd: ''Rumours of an Incident'' *1996: Dean, Cuomo: ''The Origin of Man'' *1997: Dean, Hopper, Clarke, Knight: ''The Mind in the Trees'' *1998: Dean, Bellatalla, Sanders: ''Into The Nierika'' *2000: Dean, Trovesi: ''Freedom in Jazz'' *2004: Dean, Domancich: ''Avant'' *2004: Dean, Dunmall, Rogers, Blanco: ''Remembrance'' (released posthumously in 2013) *2005: Dean, Wilkinson, Bianco: ''Freebeat – Northern Lights'' *2007: Dean, The Wrong Object: ''The Unbelievable Truth'' (recorded live in Paris at Glaz'Art on 18 October 2005)


Bands

with Soft Machine (see
Soft Machine Soft Machine are an English Rock music, rock band from Canterbury, Kent. The band were formed in 1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin. Soft Machine were central in the Canterbury scene; they became o ...
discography Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry ...
for live albums) *1970: '' Third'' *1971: '' Fourth'' *1972: '' Fifth'' Other bands *1971:
Centipede Centipedes (from Neo-Latin , "hundred", and Latin , "foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', "lip", and Neo-Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, ...
: '' Septober Energy'' *1978: Soft Head: ''Rogue Element'' *1979: Soft Heap: ''Al Dente'' (live) *1979: Soft Heap: ''Soft Heap'' *1983: Soft Heap: ''A Veritable Centaur'' *1985: Pip Pyle's Equip' Out: ''L'Equipe Out'' *1989: In Cahoots: ''Live 86–89'' *1990: Anglo Italian Quartet: ''Put It Right Mr. Smoothie'' *1990: l'Equip' Out: ''Up!'' *1995: British Saxophone Quartet: ''Early October'' *1995: Anglo Italian Quartet: ''Twice Upon A Time'' *2002: Soft Works: ''Abracadabra'' *2003: Soft Mountain: ''Soft Mountain'' *2004: Soft Bounds: ''Live at Le Triton'' *2005: Soft Machine Legacy: ''Live in
Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad and received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Zaan ...
'' *2006: Soft Machine Legacy: ''Soft Machine Legacy'' *2024: Supersister (Dutch band): ''The Elton Dean Sessions''


Appearances

*1969: Julie Driscoll: '' 1969'' *1970: Keith Tippett: ''You Are Here... I Am There'' *1970:
Kevin Ayers Kevin Ayers (16 August 1944 – 18 February 2013) was an English singer-songwriter who was active in the English psychedelic music movement. Ayers was a founding member of the psychedelic band Soft Machine in the mid-1960s, and was closely asso ...
: ''BBC Sessions 1970-1976'' *1970: Robert Wyatt: '' The End of an Ear'' *1971: Keith Tippett: ''Dedicated To You, But You Weren't Listening'' *1971: Heads Hands & Feet: ''Heads Hands & Feet'' *1971: Reg King: ''Reg King'' *1972: Mike Hugg: ''Somewhere'' *1973: Alexis Korner: ''Alexis Korner'' *1973: Mike Hugg: ''Stress & Strain'' *1974: Hugh Hopper: ''Monster Band'' *1975: Brotherhood of Breath: '' Bremen to Bridgwater'' *1975: Dudu Pukwana: '' Diamond Express'' *1975: Julie Tippetts: ''Sunset Glow'' *1976: Hugh Hopper: ''Hoppertunity Box'' *1976: Intercontinental Express: ''London'' *1978: Keith Tippett: ''Frames'' *1978:
Carla Bley Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936 – October 17, 2023) was an American jazz composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she gained acclaim for her jazz opera ''Escalator ...
Band: '' European Tour 1977'' *1979: John Stevens Dance Orchestra: ''A Luta Continua'' *1981: National Health: ''DS Al Coda'' *1984: Keith Tippett: ''A Loose Kite in a Gentle Wind...'' *1984: The Big Team: ''Under The Influence'' *1985: Phil Miller: ''Cutting Both Ways'' *1985: Harry Beckett: ''Pictures of You'' *1987: Dennis Gonzalez Dallas-London Sextet: ''Catechism'' *1988: Phil Miller: ''Split Seconds'' *1991: Joe Gallivan's Soldiers of the Road: ''Innocence'' *1994: John Greaves: ''Songs'' *1996: MASHU: ''Elephants in your head?'' *1999: Roswell Rudd: '' Broad Strokes'' *2003: Psychic Warrior: ''Psychic Warrior'' *2003: Carol Grimes: ''Mother'' *2003: Hugh Hopper: ''Jazzloops'' *2003: In Cahoots: ''All That'' *2005: The Wrong Object featuring Elton Dean: ''The Unbelievable Truth''


Notes


References

*


External links


Discography



AllAboutJazz.com: "Former Soft Machine saxophone player Elton Dean dies"
* – interview fo
Facelift Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dean, Elton 1945 births 2006 deaths English rock saxophonists English jazz alto saxophonists English male saxophonists English jazz soprano saxophonists English record producers English male songwriters English rock musicians Jazz-rock musicians British rhythm and blues boom musicians People from Tooting Musicians from the London Borough of Wandsworth Musicians from Nottingham Canterbury scene Soft Machine members 20th-century English saxophonists 21st-century English saxophonists Soft Heap members In Cahoots members Centipede (band) members 20th-century English male musicians 21st-century English male musicians English male jazz musicians The Dedication Orchestra members Bluesology members NoBusiness Records artists Ogun Records Artists