Born in 1965, in Darmstadt, Germany, Dell received a degree for professional music from Berklee College of Music. In 1989-90, he was master student with Gary Burton. At Berklee, his fellow students included Roy Hargrove, Mark Turner, Geoff Keezer, Jim Black, Donny Mc Caslin and Danilo Perez. Dell has recorded numerous CD's and toured worldwide. His work was honored with several awards e.g. the Downbeat Allstar Award, the Award of the "Deutsche Schallplattenkritik", the JazzArt-Award - Music of the 21st Century, the Musicprize of the City of Darmstadt.
Writing in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in 2013, music critic Uli Olshausen described Dell as the most virtuoso vibraphonist of the European Jazz History. The Reclam Jazzlexikon hails Dell as one of Europe's leading vibraphonists. With the ensemble DRA, founded in 1998, Dell introduced the terminology research-based work into the realm of avant-garde improvisation music. Along these lines, Dells work has been categorized as discursive jazz.
