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Reading the booklet accompanying The Complete Dean Benedetti Recordings of Charlie Parker, I have a new-found appreciation for Dean. The Washington Post captured some information about Dean in this article noting the release of the box set in 1990: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...nd-bird/a57e739d-2c67-42f1-946f-95982df27d38/ .
He was a professional musician though he worked only sporadically, first on tenor saxophone and then alto saxophone, a switch he made when he immediately grasped the significance of Charlie Parker's new music on hearing it in 1945. His obsession with Bird led him to record Parker in California and later in New York. He became ill early on with a terminal disease, and died at the young age of 34, the same age as Bird but two years after Bird. Though his recordings were legendary, they remained in the unacknowledged possession of Dean's brother Rick for more than 20 years. Rick finally phoned Bob Porter in 1980 to discuss the recordings. Ten years later they were finally released on Mosaic, and the set has gone out of print in the last few years. If you have access to it, the booklet is well worth a read. Dean's early L.A. bebop band included aspiring jazz teens like Jimmy Knepper and Russ Freeman; they and others contribute to the profile of Benedetti. Dean's music career, such as it was, fizzled out completely, and it seems as his illness progressed he became dependent on his family, moving with them to Italy in his final years and dying there.
He was a professional musician though he worked only sporadically, first on tenor saxophone and then alto saxophone, a switch he made when he immediately grasped the significance of Charlie Parker's new music on hearing it in 1945. His obsession with Bird led him to record Parker in California and later in New York. He became ill early on with a terminal disease, and died at the young age of 34, the same age as Bird but two years after Bird. Though his recordings were legendary, they remained in the unacknowledged possession of Dean's brother Rick for more than 20 years. Rick finally phoned Bob Porter in 1980 to discuss the recordings. Ten years later they were finally released on Mosaic, and the set has gone out of print in the last few years. If you have access to it, the booklet is well worth a read. Dean's early L.A. bebop band included aspiring jazz teens like Jimmy Knepper and Russ Freeman; they and others contribute to the profile of Benedetti. Dean's music career, such as it was, fizzled out completely, and it seems as his illness progressed he became dependent on his family, moving with them to Italy in his final years and dying there.
