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.[2]
Life and career
Dean was born in Nottingham, England, moving to Tooting, London, soon after his birth.[3] 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.[4] 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,[5] 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.[4] Shortly before leaving Soft Machine he started his own group, Just Us.[6]
From 1975 to 1978 he led a nine-piece band called Ninesense,[6] 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.[7] 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,[6] and various projects with former Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper.[2]
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.[8] 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.[4] 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.[9]
Dean died on 8 February 2006 after more than a year of heart and liver problems.[4] He was replaced in Soft Machine Legacy by Theo Travis.
