Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Donald Arthur Albert Weller was born on December 19, 1940 in Thornton Heath, Croydon, England. He began learning clarinet at the age of 14, and was classically educated for four or five years. He played the solo part in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto at Croydon Town Hall aged 15, and began performing in Dixieland bands around the Croydon area, before switching to tenor saxophone and playing in Kathy Stobart’s rehearsal band.

During the 1970s he formed a jazz-rock group called Major Surgery that played a regular weekly gig at a local pub, the Dog & Bull. They played Weller’s compositions on the album released as The First Cut. This was followed by a quartet with drummer Bryan Spring and at the same time Don worked regularly with pianist Stan Tracey, and also with Harry Beckett and in a quintet with Art Themen. Renowned for his versatility, he has played with artists such as Alan Price, Tina May and Charlie Hearnshaw.

Weller played saxophone for rock records, working with the likes of David Bowie. He was the lead saxophonist with Tower of Power on the instrumental track Nascimento on Cat Stevens’ Back To Earth and also played on the Alex Harvey album The Mafia Stole My Guitar.

In the Eighties he stood in for Michael Brecker when the Gil Evans Orchestra played at the Bracknell Jazz Festival. This gig subsequently led to him touring the UK and recording with one of the band’s trumpeters, Hannibal Marvin Peterson, added on to the Weller–Spring Quartet. He went on to play and record with Evans’ British Orchestra, becoming a regular member of Rocket 88, as well as a first choice for TV and film soundtracks.

He contributed to several films composed for jazz big bands and was commissioned for his Electric Jazz Octet. Tenor saxophonist, and composer Don Weller had a triple bypass in 2012 and eight years later transitioned on May 30, 2020 in Croydon at the age of 79.

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