ELTON

Elton Dean,  alto sax, saxello

Paul Dunmall,  tenor sax

Paul Rogers,  double bass

Tony Levin,  drums

1. Two and eleven  41.16

2. Eeedy Peedy   25.18

Recorded live at the Vortex, London.  September 28th 1997

DUNS Limited Edition DLE 051

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ELTON

That unique sound played with passion and spirit.  A dear friend.        A good laugh.  Generous and unfazed by anything.  His band-leader skills.  His compositions.  His commitment to free playing.

His Shamanist beliefs.  His encouragement for any good musician he heard and not afraid to tell them.  His flat in Stoke Newington, London, a gathering place and watering hole for musicians and friends for thirty years or more.  His gallery of photographs on the wall, some very faded.  His love of sport and getting high.

Family, friends, musicians - we will all miss him greatly.

Paul Dunmall

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Maybe you too were drawn to the jazz spirit by Elton Dean playing with Soft Machine thirty five years ago!  Elton's fabulous solo at the end of Slightly All The Time on Third still sounds fabulous but it never moved me as much as listening to it after learning that he was no longer with us.

Elton Dean only ever sounded like himself, which was always heartfelt and beautiful.  The vitality of this thing we call jazz, improvised music, is so great, so inspiring and so useful that we must embrace and treasure it.

Like any sax player on the scene, Elton recognised Paul Dunmall to be the giant that he is, and once said he thought Mujician was the best band since Coltrane's.  So to play in the grouping presented here with Paul and the superlative Paul Rogers and legendary Tony Levin, I know was special to him.

And the music was happening, like it always did when Elton played.  Everyone plays great and is great.

So please forgive a bit of pre-echo from my cassette and be thrilled by four men reminding us there's a whole other dimension out there!

Thank you Elton.

Andy Isham                                                            Feb 2006

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