July 31, 2021
Among the many interesting musical characters who landed in New Mexico when I lived there, Dino was one of the most remarkable. He wasn’t a household name to most listeners, but he had been a vital member of several intersecting music scenes in both California and NYC before coming to northern NM with his partner, the dancer Colleen Mulvihill. He quickly impressed all who encountered him.
Dino and I played a couple of shows together, and I was fortunate to get him to record my piece The Webster Cycles. This is a piece with a rather open-ended score, and it had been performed quite a bit, though rarely to my satisfaction. I had always imagined Stuart Dempster playing it on trombone (before I moved to Seattle and became friends with Stuart), and Dino struck me as the right person for the job. He recorded a version of it for six trombones that became the definitive performance. It was the last thing he recorded on trombone before devoting himself entirely to electronic music, and he was very proud of it. I remain grateful to this day. You can hear an excerpt below.
I later brought Dino to Seattle to perform on a couple of occasions, and we had a great time hanging out again. One of those gigs was after Butch Morris died, and Dino came up to do a tribute gig with he and Wayne Horvitz each conducting sets with the Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble using improvisational conduction techniques they had learned from Butch and developed in their own distinct ways.
Not long ago I wrote to Dino about something and heard back from him that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 throat cancer. He was in the process of moving back to Albuquerque to be cared for by dear friends and to go on hospice service. Given the treatment options and odds of survival, or the likely quality of life if he did survive, he opted to refuse further treatment and left this world on the night of July 23, 2021 (Mountain Time). I’m thankful to have had him as a friend and collaborator. I’ll miss him.
Here is Dino’s web site, which I suspect will be around for a little while yet. And here is a tribute page on Facebook, should you wish to learn more, and another by our pal Mark Weber in Albuquerque. Our friend CK Barlow wrote this excellent summary of Dino’s many accomplishments. I don’t think she’ll mind if I share it here.
I want you to know about Dino, aka JA Deane, so I’m going to tell you some things he did during his amazing life…It’s hard for me to even express what he meant to me. But I really, really just want you to know who he was and some of the cool things he did.
First, though, so much love and gratitude to dear friends and bandmates Katie Harlow and Joey Sabella for helping Dino transition with strength and dignity. Joey played music with Dino for close to 50 years, and both Katie and Joey performed in Out of Context, as did I.
Here are some highlights of Dino’s career.
Played trombone, alto-flute, clavinet and string synthesizer for Ike and Tina on and around Nutbush City Limits, and for Tina after she and Ike split up.
Rigged up his trombone with electronics to control analog synths – pre-MIDI – and used tape-echo to create a live-looping system.
Played in the art-punk band Indoor Life, which took him from San Fran to NYC, which led to him playing samplers and electronics for Jon Hassell.
With Hassell, started doing something he called “live sampling,” possibly coining the term. Appeared on Hassell’s landmark album Power Spot.
Back in San Francisco, played trombone and electronics on three John Zorn albums, with COBRA gaining the most attention.
Started playing with Butch Morris in the 80s – trombone, electronics and sampler – including Morris’ touring trio with Wayne Horvitz in ’86 and throughout the European festival circuit 88-90.
Moved to Ribera, NM in ’95 and engaged in a new musical community. Releases include NOMAD (Victo), works for dance for his partner, Colleen Mulvihill (Olympic gymnast, choreographer, dancer). Their partnership lasted 38 years, ending with her death in 2019.
Coproduced a 10-CD boxed set for Morris called Testament (New World). Performed with Morris and Le Quan Ninh (percussionist) at Berlin’s ’93 FMP festival, released as Burning Cloud.
Played lap steel, piano and bass flute in The Bubbadinos, “the world’s worst country band.”
Recorded the definitive version of Steve Peters’ Webster Cycles.
Developed incredible sound designs for Sam Shepard (Fool for Love), Theatre Grottesco and many more.
Expanding on a vocabulary of hand signals originated by Butch Morris, led the Out of Context ensemble for 15 years, with members spanning Santa Fe and Albuquerque, NM.
Worked tirelessly to preserve Morris’ legacy and contributions.
Passed away this morning [July 24] at 1:26 AM Eastern time.