Donald Percy Rendell (4 March 1926 – 20 October 2015)

Rendell had begun to play the piano aged five, but switched to saxophone in his teens. During the rest of the 1940s, he was in the bands of George Evans and Oscar Rabin. In 1976, his group called the Don Rendell Five, which featured saxophonist Barbara Thompson, issued Just Music on the small Spotlite label, showcasing Thompson. The group began touring and playing festivals while winning acclaim at home for their style of post-bop music. Rendell kept his session work up, appearing on the 1976 album A Lover and His Lass by Cleo Laine & the Johnny Dankworth Seven. Two years later, in 1978, he issued a double-A-side 12" single with the Don Rendell Five which again included Barbara Thompson as a member of "Roundabouts and Swings" b/w "Blues for Adolphe Sax." In 1979 the saxist issued his Ambitious live nonet project, Earth Music, performed at that year's Greenwich Festival. While it resonated with older fans, it became lost with the British music press's attention to the punk and post-punk music of this period.

In 1984 he began tuition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was survived by his wife, Joan (née Yoxall), whom he married in 1948, his daughter, Sally, his sister, Doris, and three grandchildren.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

  • Meet Don Rendell (Tempo, 1955)[10"]
  • Playtime (Decca, 1958)
  • Roarin' (Jazzland, 1961)
  • Shades of Blue with Ian Carr (Columbia, 1965) – rec. 1964
  • Dusk Fire with Ian Carr (Columbia, 1966)
  • Phase III with Ian Carr (Columbia, 1968)
  • Change Is with Ian Carr (Columbia, 1969)
  • Live with Ian Carr (Columbia, 1969)
  • Greek Variations & Other Aegean Exercises with Ian Carr, Neil Ardley (Columbia, 1970)
  • Space Walk (Columbia, 1972)
  • Live at the Avgarde Gallery Manchester with Joe Palin (Spotlite, 1975) – live rec. 1972
  • Just Music with Barbara Thompson (Spotlite, 1976)
  • Earth Music (Spotlite, 1979)
  • Time Presence (DR, 1988)
  • If I Should Lose You (Spotlite, 1992)
  • What Am I Here For? (Spotlite, 1996)
  • Reunion (Spotlite, 2002)
  • Live in London with Ian Carr (Harkit, 2003) – live rec. 1965
  • Phase III / Live with Ian Carr (BGO, 2004) – rec. 1967–68
  • Touch Links of Gold & A Portuguese Portrait (Spotlite, 2004)
  • Original 1964-68 Recordings/Live from the Antibes Jazz Festival with Ian Carr (Spotlite, 2007)
  • Live at the Union 1966 with Ian Carr (Reel Recordings, 2010) – live rec. 1966
  • Live at Klooks Kleek (Record Collector Magazine, 2017)[2LP]

As sideman

With Neil Ardley

  • A Symphony of Amaranths (Regal Zonophone, 1972)
  • On the Radio: BBC Sessions 1971 (Dusk Fire, 2017)

With Johnny Dankworth

  • Lifeline (Philips, 1973)
  • Movies 'n' Me (RCA, 1974)
  • A Lover and His Lass with Cleo Laine (Esquire, 1976)

With Amancio D'Silva

  • Integration (Columbia, 1969)
  • Konkan Dance (Vocalion, 2006)

With Michael Garrick

  • Black Marigolds (Argo, 1966)
  • A Jazz Cantata (Erase, 1969)
  • The Heart Is a Lotus (Argo, 1970)
  • Mr. Smith's Apocalypse (Argo, 1971)
  • Home Stretch Blues (Argo, 1972)
  • Troppo (Argo, 1974)
  • Parting Is Such (Jazz Academy, 1995)
  • Prelude to Heart Is a Lotus (Gearbox, 2013)
  • A New Serious Music (Rhythm & Blues, 2021)

With Stan Tracey

  • The Latin-American Caper (Columbia, 1969)
  • We Love You Madly (Columbia, 1969)

With others

  • Kenny Graham, Presenting Kenny Graham (Vocalion, 2008)
  • John C. Williams, Tenorama (Spotlite, 2003)
  • Joe Harriott, Genius (Jazz Academy, 2000)
  • Ted Heath, Our Kind of Jazz (Decca, 1959)
  • Richard Hewson, Love Is... (Splash, 1978)
  • Mike Nevard's British Jazzmen, Leonard Feather Presents Cool Europe (Verve, 1994) – Split album with Jutta Hipp
  • Brian Priestley, Love You Gladly (Cadillac, 1988)
  • Cyril Stapleton, All Time Big Band Hits (Richmond, 1959)
  • Guy Warren, Afro-Jazz (Columbia, 1969)

References

  • Don Rendell reminisces
  • The Melody Maker Jazz Polls — selected highlights from the British section, 1960–1974