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.