His father, Percy, was the musical director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company; his mother Vera (née Trewin) was also a musician.
[3] During the late 1950s and early 1960s he led bands, including one with Ian Carr that lasted until 1969, one with Barbara Thompson in the 1970s, and as the sole leader in the 1980s and 1990s.
Two years later, in 1978, he issued a double-A-side 12" single with the Don Rendell Five which again included Barbara Thompson as a member of "Roundabouts and Swings" b/w "Blues for Adolphe Sax."
In 1979 the saxist issued his Ambitious live nonet project, Earth Music, performed at that year's Greenwich Festival.
[2] A Jehovah's Witness convert in 1956, Rendell said his new outlook meant he felt like an ordinary person for the first time in many years.
[6] He was survived by his wife, Joan (née Yoxall), whom he married in 1948, his daughter, Sally, his sister, Doris, and three grandchildren.