Don Dean circa 1967

During the mid- to late-1960s, Don Dean was manager of the elegant Club Seville at the Sheraton Crest M0otor Inn (now the Radisson Hotel) on Austin's Town Lake. Don had a remarkable eye and ear for talented entertainers, bringing to the Club Seville a mix of local musicians, such as the Kings IV (also known as the Michael Stevens IV), and renowned performers from afar, including Viet Nam's exotic songbird Bach Yen, Colorado-based jazz virtuosos the Lee Arlano Trio (both also Sonobeat artists), and Paul New (who Sonobeat recorded but never released). Don was also a damn good master of ceremonies, singer, and friend to Sonobeat co-owner Bill Josey Sr.

Under Don Dean, the Club Seville was the first Austin night club to sign for a package of KAZZ-FM live remote broadcasts, all hosted by Bill Josey Sr., a tradition that continued on a regular basis through KAZZ's final live broadcast, on New Year's Eve 1967 (and we offer excerpts from that last broadcast on our history page). Don also performed with the Club Seville house band frequently and could belt 'em out with the best of the pop stylists of the era, his voice and phrasing reminiscent in many ways of that other Dean (Martin). Don's single, Night Life, a production subsidized by the Club Seville, was Sonobeat's third stereo 45 rpm release.

The Don Dean single sleeve designed by Rim Kelley

If any Sonobeat recording fully embraced Austin's indigenous jazz scene in the '60s, it was Don's free-swinging interpretation of the Rogers and Hart standard Where or When, the single's B side. The A side, Night Life, is Don's literate and lively reading of Willie Nelson's 1959 classic. Both sides were backed by the versatile Michael Stevens IV and produced by Bill Josey Sr.

	Don Dean master tape box and single

The single sold surprisingly well, not just as a must-have souvenir to remind lovebirds of a delightful evening of dining and dancing at the Club Seville, but also at downtown Austin music stores J. R. Reed and The Record Shop.

Notwithstanding his formidable stage presence and intense personality, Don was modest and, instead of recording an album for Sonobeat, encouraged Bill Josey Sr. to record other performers who graced the Club Seville's stage, including the Lee Arlano Trio, Bach Yen, and Fran Nelson.

Recorded at the Club Seville, Don's instrumental tracks were mixed "wet" -- in a single pass -- to a 2-track Ampex 354. Don overdubbed his vocals a day later at the KAZZ studios. The result is pure, adult pop jazz. And, of course, in 1967, jazz rhymed with KAZZ.