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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

musician who performed on alto

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

saxello The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

(a variant of the soprano saxophone) and occasionally keyboards. Part of the

Canterbury scene The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury sound) was a musical scene centred on the town of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Associated with progressive rock, the term describes a loosely-defined, improvisational styl ...

, he featured in, among others,

Soft Machine Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966– ...

Life and career

Dean was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

, England, moving to

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth and partly in the London Borough of Merton. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre-Saxon times. Th ...

, London, soon after his birth. From 1966 to 1967, Dean was a member of the band

Bluesology Bluesology was a 1960s British blues group, best remembered as being the first professional band of Elton John (then known by his birth name Reginald Dwight). History From about 1960, organist Reginald Dwight – then aged 13 – and his nei ...

, led by

Long John Baldry John William "Long John" Baldry (12 January 1941 – 21 July 2005) was an English musician and actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including ...

. 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, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

. 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 contemporary ...

Sextet from 1968 to 1970, and in the band

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 The Bracknell Jazz Festival was a major showcase for British modern jazz in the 1980s. The festival was known for attracting a largish audience for free improvisation, modern jazz composition and all kinds of British modern jazz in general. H ...

and similar events. Following this, his own groups were usually quartets or quintets, and most often worked in the

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians duri ...

mode, with little or no pre-composed material, such as

Soft Heap In computer science, a soft heap is a variant on the simple heap data structure that has constant amortized time complexity for 5 types of operations. This is achieved by carefully "corrupting" (increasing) the keys of at most a constant number ...

with Mark Hewins. However, he also continued to work with other groups that were very composition-based, such as guitarist

Phil Miller Philip Paul Miller (22 January 1949 – 18 October 2017) was an English progressive rock/jazz guitarist and a central part of the Canterbury scene. He was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire. Self-taught on guitar, Miller formed his first band, De ...

's In Cahoots, drummer

Pip Pyle Phillip "Pip" Pyle (4 April 1950 – 28 August 2006) was an English-born drummer from Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, who later resided in France. He is best known for his work in the progressive rock Canterbury scene bands Gong, Hatfield a ...

's Equipe Out, and various projects with former

bassist Hugh Hopper. In 2002, Dean and three other former Soft Machine members ( Hugh Hopper, drummer

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice and fourth-longes ...

, and guitarist

Allan Holdsworth Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist and composer. Holdsworth was known for his esoteric and idiosyncratic usage of advanced music theory concepts, especially with resp ...

) toured and recorded under the name Soft Works. With another former Soft Machine member, guitarist

John Etheridge John Michael Glyn Etheridge (born 12 January 1948) is an English jazz fusion guitarist, composer, bandleader and educator known for his eclecticism and broad range of associations in jazz, classical, and contemporary music. He is best known fo ...

, 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 Theo Travis (born 7 July 1964 in Birmingham, England) is a British saxophonist, flautist and composer. He is best known for being a member of Soft Machine which he joined in 2006 while the group was still using the "Legacy" suffix and for being ...

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''

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

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 Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hi ...

'' *1971: '' Fourth'' *1972: '' Fifth'' Other bands *1971: Centipede: ''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 Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966–1967 ...

: ''Abracadabra'' *2003: Soft Mountain: ''Soft Mountain'' *2004: Soft Bounds: ''Live at Le Triton'' *2005:

Soft Machine Legacy Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966–1967 ...

: ''Live in

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Zaan, just north of Amsterdam. The statistical district Zaand ...

'' *2006: Soft Machine Legacy: ''Soft Machine Legacy''

Appearances

*1969:

Julie Driscoll Julie Driscoll Tippetts (born 8 June 1947) is an English singer and actress. Career Driscoll is known for her 1960s versions of Bob Dylan and Rick Danko's "This Wheel's on Fire", and Donovan's " Season of the Witch", both with Brian Auger and ...

: ''69'' *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 assoc ...

: ''BBC Sessions 1970-1976'' *1970:

Robert Wyatt Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is a retired English musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming pa ...

: '' 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) is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera '' Escalator over the Hill'' ...

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 20th-century English musicians 21st-century English musicians English rock saxophonists English jazz alto saxophonists British male saxophonists English jazz soprano saxophonists English record producers English songwriters English rock musicians Jazz-rock musicians British rhythm and blues boom musicians People from Tooting Musicians from London People from Nottingham Canterbury scene Soft Machine members 20th-century saxophonists 21st-century saxophonists Soft Heap members In Cahoots members Centipede (band) members 20th-century British male musicians 21st-century British male musicians British male jazz musicians The Dedication Orchestra members Bluesology members British male songwriters NoBusiness Records artists