Me and Dino —- Sept 25, 2011
I remember during the Bubbadino years we were comparing our musical backgrounds, being that we only grew up 20 miles apart on the same side of L.A. Dino said how he used to hide his Band albums when his jazz buddies were coming over. I remember those days, when we were discovering jazz, it became all-encompassing. And our rock affinities went into the background. Whereas, I had a side dish of blues, Dino went more into R&B and funk. (The real blues out of Chicago and Mississippi was hidden —- Dino and I grew up in the white suburbs and blues wasn’t on the radio until the 70s, up till then we’d been getting our blues second-hand from English bands like Cream, Yardbirds, John Mayall, Peter Green, Jeff Beck, the Rolling Stones. In Southern California the Beach Boys were big but I didn’t lean that way for some reason, I probably had too much country in me. And when I first heard Muddy and Wolf (those double-Lp Chess aimed at the rock audience took a direct hit on yours truly). I was hooked.
Dino was a drummer in a surf band, something he should have never told us, as we made him track the drumkit parts for the Bubbadinos — we called him Juan Take, we reminisced the last time I saw him, “that’s because I didn’t have the chops for multiple takes.” He played trombone in his school stage bands growing up in Whittier. Eventually, he and two other horn players hired themselves out for R&B session work, which led to a long association with Ike Turner at Bolic Sound (Dino is on NUTBUSH CITY LIMITS, 1973). Then, when Ike & Tina’s marriage broke up, Tina took Dino on the road as her MD where he played trombone and keyboard washes, that was an entire year, my guess 1977? Much of Dino’s history can be found at his blog under the chapter heading “Backstory.”
Dino has taken the road to terra incognita, the Great Unknown, departing on the full moon night of July 23. It is monsoon season here in New Mexico right now. Thunder and lightning. A few days before that he said he’d spoken with Colleen and she was good with his plan. So, he was looking forward to their being together again (Colleen died March 2, 2019 from a fluke intestinal bug). He also told me that his work was done here and was quite content with the body of work he’s left us. (Cookie Marenco and Carlos Santistevan are curators of his archive — Joey Sabella is Executor of the Estate. Also, there’s the archives here at Zerx —- Dino is on 2 or 3 dozen Zerx cdS.)
J.A.Deane 1950-2021 — Throat cancer. A lifelong avoidance of western medicine precipitated his decision to forgo chemo & radiation and let nature take him back.
You just never know in this life who you’ll meet someday that’s going to play a major part. Dino and I were already well along into our 40s when we met and started collaborating (easily, a hundred or more projects). Well, as Joey said, “We’ve lost a brother.”
Dino was a movie watcher. I always thought he would have made a great soundtrack composer, but he did that one better and made live soundtracks for Theater Grottesco in Santa Fe. One of his favorite movies was BIG LEBOWSKI —- When I watched it with him I said This isn’t a movie this is anthropology, a documentary, Dino, we grew up in this era and with guys like this! He also follow’d Joni Mitchell’s music and was something of a scholar on her records —- We did a radio on her music, seems like we did two on her?
Our tastes were similar, although, different. Dino wasn’t much into chords, and was suspicious of the western scales and intonation. I love the American Songbook and jazz standards and all the songforms. He had moved away from all that. So much so, I was always amazed how we’d be in a mixing session and certain notes that were flat-out “wrong” he never flinched. Our main crossover was that we were of that generation that loved free jazz, Coltrane of the latter years, Ornette, and he especially loved Miles of BITCHES BREW and everything after that. I remember when AGHARTA was released, how knocked out he was (I was less so —- I’m an acoustic kind of guy).
Dino & Colleen left New Mexico in 2014 and moved up to Longmont, Colorado, above Boulder on the eastern side of the Rockies, so, we didn’t see much of them for awhile —– This is Dino in the kitchen here at 725 with his steel —- March 9, 1997 photo by MW
Dino always said he wanted to retain a “primitive relationship” with the lap steel guitar (in countrymusicspeak we call them “steel” one word) and fell in love with Rev. Lonnie Farris who’s congregation I followed around Watts for a couple years, and gave Dino a recording I had made of the Reverend —– Dino kept this photo taped to his amplifier during the Bubbadino years —- photo by MW August 28, 1977
This was probably a quartet led by electroacoustic composer Steve Peters (sitting with his black boxes), with two trombonists: J.A.Deane & Steven Feld, and in the back is Steven Miller on electronics —————-photo by MW February 21, 1998 @ Outpost —– A year later Feld & Dino formed a short-lived trombone quintet (5 trombones, maybe a tuba or low horn here and there) ensemble called BONEFIED with cd TROMBONE REVENGE (Zerx 018) —- I remember Dino’s great comeback after reading the nasty review in CADENCE on their CD when the reviewer sniffed from on high how he “hated to see the standards of trombone lower’d this way” Dino laughed, “WHAT STANDARDS? I’ve been playing trombone for 40 years and I’ve never heard of these ‘standards’!”
Master drummer Jefferson Voorhees and J.A.Deane, who was in town to catch his friend Adam Rudolph in concert at the Outpost —- Dino & Colleen lived two hours out of town those years, in Ribera, New Mexico, on the Pecos River — photo by MW March 8, 1997 —- Dino was something of a gourmet cook (I am not) and one morning we were in a hurry to get out of here I fried up some eggs & beans & ham & chile and dumped it on our plates and Dino looked at the mess and said, “Well, like they say: Presentation is everything” Just shut up and eat, dood, we got to make tracks!
One of Dino’s main collaborators in New Mexico was Al Faaet, the drummer who taught me that a drum is the voice of the trees —— Here he is in duet with pianist Matt Norman (who moved back to L.A.) at Outpost Performance Space September 2, 2012 —- photo by MW
J.A.Deane & Colleen Mulvihill perform “Lizard” in the the Rotunda of New Mexico State Capitol Building in Santa Fe November 10, 1999 —- photo by MW
Wow, there’s that sampling keyboard that Dino used to haul around the world those years, I had forgot about that ———- Funny story about that guy with all the texts, he was guest with Out Of Context for this performance, a great Santa Fe actor name of Rod Harrison, and like actors everywhere they like a spotlight and an audience (gotta sing gotta dance, right?), he had convinced Dino to become a Bubbadino and when Dino proposed this idea to me, that Rod wanted to read Woody Guthrie’s BOUND FOR GLORY while we cranked out our version of country, I said to Bubba D, “Why do we want an actor acting like an Okie when we’ve got a real Okie right here (me)?” Dino saw the logic in that, besides the Bubbadinos was already a powder keg of personalities without adding another weirdo —— OOC this night at the Outpost February 28, 1997: Joey Sabella (trapset), Stefan Dill(guitar), Tom Guralnick(soprano&electronics), Alicia Ultan(viola), Courtney Smith(harp), Mark Weaver(tuba), Simon Welter(engineer/sound) —- photo by MW
One of our absolute genius collaborations was the record DILLINGER that Dino and I made with poet Todd Moore (there were two Dillinger projects and a few odd separate deals, too) —- This is Todd over on the West Mesa photo by MW July 13, 1992 —- (Todd moved on back in 2010, a great friend)
Michael Sumner & Melody Sumner Carnahan (I think Melody and I were doing a combined reading and book signing at BookWorks in Albuquerque) June 9, 2012 —- Dino made two fantastic records with Melody & Michael and a couple concerts using OOC —- photo by MW
Dino spoke fondly of Lisa Gill and working with her poetry and the sound of her voice “It’s something about how she forms the words and delivers them that got to me” —- He said this when I visited him in hospice at Joey & Katie’s, his own voice was quite changed with the throat cancer, said he especially liked that record he made with Lisa in 2011: FLESH ISN’T REAL DIRT —- Photo by MW at 725 on February 24, 2003
Janet Feder drives down from Denver about once a year and hangs with us —- Summer of 2000 I took her to Ribera NM, to meet Dino and collaborate on a composition, we were there two days, the day of August 12 they came up with “Chica B” that appears on Volume 4 of the 29-volume compilation series ALBUZERXQUE (Zerx 031) —- Janet on baritone guitar, acoustic guitar, egg slicer —- J.A.Deane on lap steel guitar, bass flute, percussion —- They worked on that for about 3 or 4 hours while I took a walk in the hills (for some reason I didn’t take photos —- I don’t always take photos) —- Janet appears on 9 of the volumes in the series over 2 dozen tracks of rare and unavailable-anywhere-else great stuff (she even plays my hubkaphone on one item!) ——- In this photo here she’s with her Denver engineer Colin Bricker at the Roost Concerts, Albuquerque — Sept 13, 2010 —- photo by MW
This was a much expanded version of Out of Context w/ 15 members: I see John Flax (white hat) & Lee Reed(words), Alicia Ultan(viola), Katie Harlow(cello), Bonnie Schmader(bass flute), Joseph Joey Sabella(vibraphone), Milton Villarrubia(drumset), Carlos Santistevan(bass), and in the shadows: the late Jon Baldwin(cornet), Ross Hamlin(guitar), CK Carla Barlow(live sampler sampling), Paul Bossert(trombone), Jefferson Voorhees(percussion), and at the piano in center of photo is guest MYRA MELFORD —- Friday March 30, 2012 @ Outpost Performance Space, Albuquerque USA —- photo by Mark Weber —- (I think the night I met Dino was when he and Myra performed at the old Outpost on October 20, 1995 —- Tom G had said I needed to meet this guy)
OOC rehearsal at Katie & Joey’s house —- August 10, 2010 Albuquerque —- The ensemble this day was: Milton Villarrubia III (percussion & laptop), CK Barlow (live sampling laptop), John Flax(words), Carlos Santistevan(elec-bass), Joseph Sabella(vibraphone), Jon Baldwin(cornet), Katie Harlow(cello), Sam Rhodes(bassoon & soprano sax), with Dino conducting —- photo by MW
Harpist Courtney Smith mugging for the camera during the Out of Context rehearsals for Peter Pan —- October 10, 1999 —- photo by Mark Weber
In country music there’s a tradition of giving your guitar away to a brother when you’re getting ready to move on —- This is Dino’s fretless custom-built dulcimer that he used in the Bubbadinos, made out of walnut by a luthier in South Carolina to Dino’s specifications —- Dino called it The Ascerbus and that it was yours truly who had given it that name (I had misplaced that memory) said that after hearing it for the first time I thought the opposite of “dulcimer” would be ascerbic = ascerbus ———– Those are the 5 cdS the Bubbadinos made between 1997-2001 engineered by Manny Rettinger and Quincy Adams —– That brick I have saved all these years we’ve always called Maxwell’s Silver Hammer anvil (after the Beatles song) —- the last time I saw Dino I asked what in heck song did we use that on? and he knew immediately “11 Months & 29 Days” on the second cd.
The Bubbadinos —- Ken Keppeler, Bubba D, Stefan Dill, Mark Weber, Mark Weaver —- December 3, 1999
Joey Sabella & J.A.Deane in performance Sept 25, 2011 Albuquerque —- photo by MW Joey and Dino met in San Francisco circa 1986 when Dino & Colleen moved back (he’d lived there 1978-1981) ———– Joey was studying vibraphone with Bobby Hutcherson among others
Dino & Joey live on my Thursday KUNM noon radio show Sept 22, 2011 —– Dino on his custom built solid body fretless electric dulcimer (made by Quintin Stephens, 2008) —- photo by MW —- We should release this music on CD they filled the entire 90 minutes with this titanic sound, it was LOUD like a thunderstorm rolling over, the entire 3-story Onate Hall (KUNM on top floor) University of New Mexico, was shaking
Tom Guralnick deserves a lot of credit for Dino’s successes here in New Mexico, he booked Dino’s projects consistently over the years, AND! played saxophones in the early years of OOC ———– photo by MW March 8, 1997
Out of Contest rehearsal at Outpost Performance Space October 31, 1998 —- Dino (conductor, bass-flute, trombone), Tom Guralnick (saxophones), Courtney Smith (harp), Mark Weaver (tuba & didgeridoo), Katie Harlow (cello), Joey Sabella (drumset) —- photo by MW
September 15, 2011 photo by MW at 725
Thanks. Sorry for your, and our, loss.
Wanted to play another fretless dulcimer and fretless banjo duet with Dino. I’ll have him in my head next time I play the fretless banjo.
Mark what a beautiful tribute. Thank you so much.
Thank you for this, Mark. I will greatly miss Dino and his musics.
4 THINGS
1) MD = Music Director (aka Straw Boss in some situations)
2) Bob Gusch (above Comment) is an A-List woodwinds master who worked with Dino when Dino was guest conductor in 1997 with Outpost Repertory Jazz Orchestra under the direction of David Parlato —- the track appears on ALBUZERXQUE Vol.8 (Zerx cd 038) 2001 release —- Bob is one of my favorite clarinet players in New Mexico, among all the other instruments he plays, you can catch him these days with this trio the Bob Cats
3) When Bobby Bradford needed suggestions on a portable recording rig (to record his cd LIVE AT LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM of ART) I hooked him up with Dino —- And so Bobby purchased a Sony mini-disk recorder and a quasi-expensive (about 400 clams) stereo mic —- Worked like a charm ———— Dino’s involvement with electronics dates back to the first time he encounter’d an ARP2600 in a Hollywood recording studio where he was recording jingles or some other session man thing ———– And for years he was a Beta tester for the industry: They’d send him gear they had in R&D and he’d take it out for a test drive and report back —- His website reflects a lot of this work with the tech industry
4) The Bubbadinos only played live, I think, 4 times —- Not much demand for a scary band like that —- However, we played in the studio several dozen times —- In that, we were like Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers (1926-1930) that never performed live but made many of the most cherished jazz records of all time ————— Another one of my cherished memories, is when we were recording at KUNM Studio A and when Ken arrived, who was the most “traditional” of the group, next to me, I pointed to where he was to set up and when I pointed to where Dino and Stefan were set up on one side of the studio, Ken deadpanned, “Good, so all the noise will be coming from one place” (Dino and Ken had a good-natured long-standing ribbing session going on —- both of them were jokesters) Dino and Stefan were into electronics and feedback and all that ——————-When I say “traditional,” even tho this band was my band (with a lot of input from Dino) I never expected it to turn out the way it did ——— It had a life of its own, it was like holding a bomb that went off in our hands, from the very first thing we ever recorded “Wade in the Water” at Ubik Sound that afternoon and Manny the engineer came running out and yelled exuberantly, “THAT WAS FUCKING INCREDIBLE!” all wild-eyed shaking his head in amazement ———– I was in my cubicle and looked up at Manny like he was nuts, that track was so far from what I expected a train could have flatten’d me with less effect.
Thank you Mark, beautiful tribute.
Just read this today for the first time. Alicia pointed me in its direction. Beautiful piece Mark. Written like the true friend you were. Dino left this world just as he lived it…with peace and dignity. A very special man. An example for all of us. RIP