Artist: Elton Dean Genre(s):
Other
Discography:
Just Us Year: 2007
Tracks: 7
Two's and Three's Year: 1994
Tracks: 7
British saxist Elton Dean was one of the key figures in British unloose wind for decades. Closely affiliated with the Canterbury conniption, Dean -- born in Nottingham on October 28, 1945 -- had a résumé far more wide-ranging and than that tag would delineate. Dean began his professional career with Long John Baldry's Bluesology in 1967 -- the piano player in that band was Reginald Dwight, wHO found later stardom under the Elton John stage name formed by combining the "Elton" from Elton Dean and "John" from Long John Baldry. Dean left wing Baldry's outfit and helped to form the Keith Tippett half a dozen. They recorded iI albums for the Vertigo tag between 1967 and 1969.
In 1969, Dean left wing the group to join Soft Machine. The batting order of Dean, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, and Mike Ratledge is at present legendary as Dean played on the band's finest recording,
Third. Dean left wing the band in 1972 after the transcription of
Twenty percent. Dean's résumé afterward Soft Machine was a manic film over of activity. While in the band he took part in the Centipede project, and subsequently going he joined the Brotherhood of Breath in 1973, the Carla Bley Band in 1977, and Keith Tippett's Ark from 1978-1979. He likewise formed Soft Heap in 1978 and became a member of the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra in 1982. The 1990s saw Dean move through an astounding identification number of projects, as he collaborated with everyone from Paul Rutherford and Annie Whitehead to Roswell Rudd, Marcio Mattos, and Keith Tippett's fully grown band.
As the 2000s began, Dean continued recording and touring, showcasing his highly idiosyncratic yet clever method acting of composition and complexly staggered harmonical and polytonal improvisational inventions. His brobdingnagian number of unreleased recordings were as well parceled out to respective labels for spillage, adding to an already abundant archive. Although Dean had foregone Soft Machine stake in 1972 to quest after freer jazz contexts for his improvisational abilities, over the geezerhood he continued to perform and record with bands featuring other musicians from the Softs orbit, including Soft Works with bassist Hopper, drummer John Marshall, and guitar player Allan Holdsworth (heard on 2003's
Abracadabra) and Soft Machine Legacy with guitar player John Etheridge replacing Holdsworth (heard on 2005's
Alive in Zaandam). Despite ill health, Dean had been planning to accept portion in a February 2006 tour of duty with Soft Machine Legacy; however, he died on the eighth of that month at the age of 60, leaving slow a catalog of pioneering operate in British jazz-rock, new wave wind, free jazz, and originative improvisation spanning over 35 age.
