Reggae saxophonist: Dean Fraser

Dean Ivanhoe Fraser was born on August 4, 1957. A saxophonist extraordinaire, he has contributed to hundreds of reggae recordings since the mid-’70s and has worked with the best singers and instrumentalists in the music industry.

Fraser started to play the clarinet at the age of 12, and by 15, he had taken up the saxophone. Later, he was part of a three-member brass section, in Jamaica in the ’80s. In 1977, he joined Lloyd Parks’ We The People Band, backing Dennis Brown on several of his recordings for Joe Gibbs.

Black Horn Man was Fraser’s first album in 1978 and was followed in 1979 by Pure Horns and Double Dynamite, and in 1980, Revolutionary Sounds for producer Donovan Germain. In the mid-’90s, the saxophonist released Dean Plays Bob, volumes one and two, in tribute to the music of the late reggae king, Bob Marley.

More recently, Fraser has been working with singers Tarrus Riley and Duane Stephenson.

In 1993, Fraser was awarded the Musgrave Medal by the Government of Jamaica for his services to music. This Reggae Month, he is being awarded with the Extraordinary Impact on the Reggae Industry: MENTORSHIP by the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JaRIA).