Don Weller, jazz saxophonist who worked with Stan Tracey, Gil Evans and David Bowie – obituary

Don Weller, who has died aged 79, was a tenor saxophonist and one of the most original and well-liked British jazz musicians of his generation; there was no mistaking his full, juicy tone and unique turn of phrase.

Just as important, he had what Humphrey Lyttelton used to call the “here I am!” quality, a presence powerful enough to make itself felt on recordings or over the radio. The very first musical sound to be heard at the opening of the 1986 film Absolute Beginners is a rising ululation of unmistakable Weller. One critic observed that it was a pity the ensuing 90-odd minutes failed to live up to it.

Donald Arthur Albert Weller was born in Thornton Heath, Surrey (now part of Croydon), on December 19 1940. On leaving school he worked as a panel beater.

He began private lessons on clarinet at 14 and later played with the Croydon Orchestra. He also played clarinet in local traditional jazz bands, later switching to the saxophone.

In 1970 he began playing professionally, including two seasons at Butlin’s holiday camps. He also formed the jazz-rock quartet, Major Surgery, rehearsing once a week for two years in the bassist’s front room before their first gig.

In 1976 Weller began a long association with the pianist and composer Stan Tracey. It included taking part in bands of all sizes, from a quintet to a 16-piece big band (usually alongside his friend and fellow tenor saxophonist, Art Themen). In 1978 he formed his own band, the first since Major Surgery, this time in partnership with the drummer Bryan Spring.

Whereas, in the 1950s and even into the 1960s, bands would be more or less permanent items, by the 1970s they would come into being, vanish for a while and then perhaps reappear. The Weller-Spring Quartet had such an existence. Its debut album, Commit No Nuisance, came out in 1979, after which little was heard of it, but it continued, on and off, for several years.

In 1981, Stan Tracey’s Octet was sharing a British tour with the Gil Evans Orchestra from the US. On one occasion Michael Brecker, the American tenor saxophonist, and probably the world’s most revered at the time, became unwell. Don Weller stepped into the breach and performed so impressively that he seems instantly to have become Gil Evans’s tenor man in Britain.

He later toured with Evans, and played on his score for the aforementioned Absolute Beginners. The same event led to Evans’s trumpeter, Hannibal Marvin Peterson, touring Britain as guest artist and recording an album (Poem Song) with a revived Weller-Spring Quartet.

In the course of his career Weller turned up on recordings by all kinds of unlikely people – Cat Stevens, David Bowie, Tucky Buzzard, Alex Harvey – leading to his being described as “versatile”. The opposite is the case. He never budged an inch from his fully formed, mature and highly personal style, which was presumably what they wanted. When he worked with a great singer, such as Tina May, the combination of voice and instrument was quite magical.

It was relatively late in his life that Weller began to be recognised as a composer. Although he had been writing music since the days of Major Surgery, the piece that attracted attention was his Pennine Suite. This was commissioned for the 1995 Appleby Jazz Festival, played by a specially assembled 16-piece band and recorded live. Like his playing, it could not be the work of anyone else

In person, Weller made an imposing figure, tall and taciturn. Whenever possible he dressed for comfort rather than fashion, from the beret on his head to the sandals and comfy socks on his feet. He hated complication and fuss, insisting that he could not play properly in such circumstances. It should all come easy, he said, or it would not come at all.

Don Weller’s wife predeceased him. He is survived by a son and daughter.

Don Weller, born December 19 1940, died May 30 2020