Elton Dean (28 October 1945 – 8 February 2006) was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello (a variant of the soprano saxophone) and occasionally keyboards. Part of the Canterbury scene, he featured in Soft Machine, among others.

Life and career Dean was born in Nottingham, England, moving to Tooting, London, soon after his birth.Bennett 2005, pp. 176-177. 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. 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 Sextet from 1968 to 1970, and in the band Soft Machine 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 mode, with little or no pre-composed material, such as Soft Heap with Mark Hewins.Stephen Yarwood, Elton Dean interview, Facelift ("issue 20 – the issue that never happened!"). 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 bassist Hugh Hopper.

In 2002, Dean and three other former Soft Machine members (Hugh Hopper, drummer John Marshall, and guitarist Allan Holdsworth) toured and recorded under the name Soft Works.Bennett 2005, p. 398. 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 discography for live albums) 1970: Third 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: Abracadabra 2003: Soft Mountain: Soft Mountain 2004: Soft Bounds: Live at Le Triton 2005: Soft Machine Legacy: Live in Zaandam 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: 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 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 Extended Biography AllAboutJazz.com: "Former Soft Machine saxophone player Elton Dean dies" – interview for Facelift Magazine.