Donald Dean (born June 21, 1937) is a jazz drummer who has worked with Kenny Dorham, Les McCann and others. A collection related to him is led by the Los Angeles Jazz Institute.^[1]

He appears, alongside Les McCann and Eddie Harris, on the soul jazz album Swiss Movement, recorded live on June 21, 1969, at The Montreux Jazz Festival.^[2]

His grandson Jamael Dean is a musician who has worked, and performed, with Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Carlos Niño. Jamael is signed to Stones Throw Records on which he released his debut record, Black Space Tapes, in November 2019.^[3][4]

With Les McCann

• Swiss Movement (Atlantic, 1969)
• Much Les (Atlantic, 1969)
• Comment (Atlantic, 1970)
• Second Movement (Atlantic, 1971)
• Invitation to Openness (Atlantic, 1972)
• Talk to the People (Atlantic, 1972)
• Live at Montreux (Atlantic, 1973)
• Layers (Atlantic, 1973)
• Les Is More (Night, 1991)

With Jimmy Smith

• Bluesmith (Verve, 1972)
• Paid in Full (Mojo, 1974)
• 75 (Mojo, 1975)

With others

• Earl Anderza, Outa Sight (Pacific Jazz, 1962)
• Carmell Jones, Business Meeting (Pacific Jazz, 1962)
• Horace Tapscott, Live (Americana, 1988)
• Horace Tapscott, Why Don't You Listen? (Dark Tree, 2019)

• Richard Cook & Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings, 8th Edition, London, Penguin, 2006 ISBN 0-14-102327-9
• Leonard Feather & Ira Gitler, The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford/New York, 1999, ISBN 978-0-19-532000-8