Jump to content

Tony Oxley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tony Oxley
Oxley at the Moers Festival, Germany, in 2008
Oxley at the Moers Festival, Germany, in 2008
Background information
Born(1938-06-15)15 June 1938
Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died26 December 2023(2023-12-26) (aged 85)
GenresAvant-garde jazz, free jazz, free improvisation, fusion
OccupationMusician
InstrumentDrums
Years active1960s–2020s
LabelsIncus, FMP

Tony Oxley (15 June 1938 – 26 December 2023) was an English free improvising drummer and electronic musician.

Born in Sheffield, Oxley moved to London in 1966 and became house drummer at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club where he accompanied visiting musicians such as Joe Henderson, Lee Konitz, Charlie Mariano, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, and Bill Evans until the early 1970s. Each year between 1969 and 1972 he topped the Melody Maker annual jazz readers poll for drummers. In 1970 Oxley helped found Incus Records, with Derek Bailey and others; the label would go on to release more than 50 albums.

In 1993 he joined a quartet with Tomasz Stańko, Bobo Stenson and Anders Jormin, and regularly released albums under his own name throughout the 2000s. His last albums were Unreleased 1974–2016 (2022) and The New World (2023), both released on the Discus label.

Biography

[edit]

Tony Oxley was born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, on 15 June 1938.[1][2] A self-taught pianist by the age of eight, he first began playing the drums at seventeen. In Sheffield he was taught by Haydon Cook. While playing evening gigs with local dance bands at night, he was sacked from his regular job, at a cutlery-making company, for falling asleep.[3]

During his National Service, with the Black Watch military band, from 1957 to 1960, he studied music theory and improved his drumming technique.[1] After leaving the army he became a member of a dance band playing for passengers on the Queen Mary and made several trips to New York.[3] When on shore leave he would visit clubs and hear some of the leading modern jazz figures such as Philly Joe Jones, Horace Silver, Art Blakey. From 1960 to 1964 he led a quartet which performed locally in England.[1] Between transatlantic trips he played in a cabaret band in Chesterfield.[4][1]

By 1963 Oxley was also playing Saturday afternoon gigs with other aspiring young jazz musicians at the Grapes pub in Sheffield.[3] In 1963 he began working with Gavin Bryars and guitarist Derek Bailey,[1] in a trio known as Joseph Holbrooke.[5] Oxley moved to London in 1966 and became house drummer at Ronnie Scott's,[1] where he accompanied visiting musicians such as Joe Henderson, Lee Konitz, Charlie Mariano, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, and Bill Evans until the early 1970s. He was a member of bands led by Gordon Beck and Mike Pyne.[2]

In 1969 Oxley appeared on the John McLaughlin album Extrapolation and formed a quintet with Bailey, Jeff Clyne, Evan Parker, and Kenny Wheeler, releasing the album The Baptised Traveller. Following this album the group was joined by Paul Rutherford on trombone and became a sextet, releasing the 1970 album 4 Compositions for Sextet.[2] That same year Oxley helped found Incus Records with Bailey and others and Musicians Cooperative.[1] The label would go on to release more than 50 albums, continuing even after disagreements caused first Oxley and then Parker to leave.[3] He received a three-month artist-in-residence job at the Sydney Conservatorium in Australia in 1970. Around this time he joined the London Jazz Composers Orchestra and collaborated with Howard Riley.[1]

Oxley was also a member of the saxophonist Alan Skidmore's quintet, which in 1969 won awards at the Montreux Jazz Festival for best group, best soloist and best drummer. With the trio of the pianist Howard Riley, he began using amplification on his expanding drum kit.[3] Each year between 1969 and 1972 he topped the Melody Maker annual jazz readers poll for drummers.[3][6] In 1973 he became a tutor at the Jazz Summer School in Barry, South Wales, and in 1974 he formed the band Angular Apron.[1] Through the 1980s he worked with Tony Coe and Didier Levallet and started the Celebration Orchestra during the latter half of the decade. In the late 1980s, Oxley toured and recorded with Anthony Braxton, and also began a working relationship with Cecil Taylor.[2]

In 1993 he joined a quartet with Tomasz Stańko, Bobo Stenson and Anders Jormin.[7][8] In 2000 he released the album Triangular Screen with the Tony Oxley Project 1, a trio with Ivar Grydeland and Tonny Kluften.[9]

Oxley's own abstract paintings appeared on the covers of some of his later albums, including his last, The New World, a recording of electronic and acoustic percussion music, released on the Discus label in 2023.[3]

Personal life and death

[edit]

Oxley married Tutta (nee Rütten) in 2000.[3]

He died on 26 December 2023, at the age of 85.[10][11][4]

Discography

[edit]

As leader

[edit]

With The Quartet

  • Dedications (Konnex, 1984)[49]
  • Relation (Konnex, 1985)[50]
  • Interchange (Konnex, 1986)[51]
  • Live (Konnex, 1987)[52]

As guest

[edit]

With Gordon Beck

  • Gyroscope (Morgan, 1969)[53]
  • Seven Steps to Evans – A Tribute to the Compositions of Bill Evans (MPS, 1980)[54]

With Gordon Beck Quartet

  • Experiments with Pops (Major Minor, 1968)[55]
  • When Sunny Gets Blue (Spring '68 Sessions) (Turtle, 2018)[56]


With Bill Dixon

With Barry Guy/London Jazz Composers Orchestra

With Joseph Holbrooke

  • ' 98 (Incus 2000)[58]
  • The Moat Recordings (Tzadik, 2006)[59]

With Rolf Kühn

  • Devil in Paradise (BASF, 1971)[60]
  • Going to the Rainbow (BASF, 1971)[61]

With Howard Riley

  • Flight (Turtle, 1971)[62]
  • Synopsis (Incus 1974)[63]
  • Overground (Emanem, 2001)[64]

With Tomasz Stańko

With John Surman

With Cecil Taylor

With others

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 1884. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  2. ^ a b c d Car, Ian; Fairweather, Digby; Priestley, Brian (2004). The Rough Guide to Jazz, 3rd Edition. p. 601.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Williams, Richard (28 December 2023). "Tony Oxley obituary". The Guardian.
  4. ^ a b "Drummer Tony Oxley has Passed Away, Aged 85". Ultimate-guitar.com.
  5. ^ Cox, Christop; Warner, Daniel (2004). Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 257. ISBN 978-0826416155.
  6. ^ "Melody Maker Readers Poll (1971)..." henrybebop.co.uk.
  7. ^ "Leosia". ECM Records.
  8. ^ "Tomasz Stanko: Leosia album review". Allaboutjazz.com. 30 January 2015.
  9. ^ "Tony Oxley Project 1 - Triangular Screen". AllMusic.
  10. ^ "Tony Oxley (1938 - 2023)". The Free Jazz Collective. 26 December 2023. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  11. ^ "Reports: Tony Oxley Has Died". Clashmusic.com. 26 December 2023.
  12. ^ "Tony Oxley: The Baptised Traveller album review". Allaboutjazz.com. 4 October 2003.
  13. ^ "Tony Oxley - 4 Compositions for Sextet". AllMusic.
  14. ^ "Tony Oxley - Ichnos". AllMusic.
  15. ^ "John Surman, Alan Skidmore, Tony Oxley - Jazz in Britain '68-'69". AllMusic.
  16. ^ "TONY OXLEY - Tony Oxley". JazzMusicArchives.com.
  17. ^ "Alan Davie, Tony Oxley - The Alan Davie Music Workshop". AllMusic.
  18. ^ "Tony Oxley - February Papers". AllMusic.
  19. ^ "Jazzlists: Ego Records discography". Jazzlists.com. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  20. ^ "ULRICH GUMPERT - Ulrich Gumpert / Radu Malfatti / Tony Oxley : Ach Was!?". JazzMusicArchives.com.
  21. ^ "popsike.com - ALAN SKIDMORE TONY OXLEY SOH View Records LP - auction details". Popsike.com.
  22. ^ "TONY COE - Coe, Oxley & Co. Nutty On Willisau". JazzMusicArchives.com.
  23. ^ "Live At Roccella Jonica". Norma Winstone.
  24. ^ "TONY OXLEY - Tomorrow Is Here". JazzMusicArchives.com.
  25. ^ "Jazzlists: Bead Records discography". Jazzlists.com.
  26. ^ "PALLE MIKKELBORG - Silenzi Osceni - Live In Roccella Jonica 1986". Jazzmusicarchives.com.
  27. ^ "CLAUDIO FASOLI - Claudio Fasoli - Mick Goodrick - Palle Danielsson - Tony Oxley : Bodies". Jazzmusicarchives.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  28. ^ "Explore – Stefano Battaglia, Tony Oxley – Splasch Records". Splasch-records.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  29. ^ "Paul Bley - In the Evenings out There". AllMusic.
  30. ^ "TONY OXLEY - The Tony Oxley Quartet". Jazzmusicarchives.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  31. ^ "STEFANO BATTAGLIA - Sulphur". JazzMusicArchives.com.
  32. ^ "TONY OXLEY - The Enchanted Messenger". JazzMusicArchives.com.
  33. ^ "Jazzlists: Fish Music discography". www.jazzlists.com.
  34. ^ "Soho Suites – Derek Bailey & Tony Oxley ← Cafe OTO". www.cafeoto.co.uk.
  35. ^ "Alexander von Schlippenbach - Digger's Harvest Album" – via www.allmusic.com.
  36. ^ "Tony Oxley Project 1 - Triangular Screen" – via www.allmusic.com.
  37. ^ "Tony Oxley - Floating Phantoms" – via www.allmusic.com.
  38. ^ Kammertöns, Till M. "Frank Gratkowski » GratHovOx".
  39. ^ "Ali Haurand, Tony Oxley, Alan Skidmore - S.O.H.: Live in London" – via www.allmusic.com.
  40. ^ "Tony Oxley - The Advocate" – via www.allmusic.com.
  41. ^ "Derek Bailey, Derek Bailey Quartet, Tony Oxley - Tony Oxley/Derek Bailey Quartet" – via www.allmusic.com.
  42. ^ "Conny Bauer, Gianluigi Trovesi, Tony Oxley, Dietmar Diesner - Live at Jazzwerkstatt Peitz" – via www.allmusic.com.
  43. ^ "Sebastiano Meloni, Adriano Orrù, Tony Oxley - Improvised Pieces for Trio" – via www.allmusic.com.
  44. ^ Jazz, All About (23 October 2013). "Tony Oxley: A Birthday Tribute--75 Years album review @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz.
  45. ^ Jazz, All About (27 June 2020). "Tony Oxley: Beaming album review @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz.
  46. ^ "Tony Oxley/Alan Davie: Elaboration of Particulars". Jazzwise.
  47. ^ "Tony Oxley: Unreleased 1974-2016". Jazzwise.
  48. ^ "The New World - 165CD (2023), by Tony Oxley". Discusmusic.bandcamp.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  49. ^ "THE QUARTET – DEDICATIONS (KONNEX RECORDS, 1984)".
  50. ^ "The Quartet – Relation (1985, Vinyl) - Discogs". Discogs.
  51. ^ "inconstant sol".
  52. ^ "THE QUARTET – LIVE (KONNEX RECORDS, 1987)".
  53. ^ Jazz, All About (17 July 2002). "Gordon Beck: Gyroscope album review @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz.
  54. ^ "MPS". Mps-music.com. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  55. ^ Denselow, Robin (24 November 2006). "Gordon Beck, Experiments with Pops". The Guardian.
  56. ^ Jazz, All About (12 November 2018). "Gordon Beck Quartet Featuring Joy Marshall: When Sunny Gets Blue: Spring '68 Sessions album review @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz.
  57. ^ "Barry Guy, London Jazz Composers' Orchestra - Ode" – via www.allmusic.com.
  58. ^ "Joseph Holbrooke '98 – Gavin Bryars".
  59. ^ "Joseph Holbrooke Trio: The Moat Studio Recordings – Gavin Bryars".
  60. ^ "ROLF KÜHN - Devil In Paradise". JazzMusicArchives.com.
  61. ^ "Rolf Kühn Jazzgroup – Going to the Rainbow (1970) -". 9 January 2018.
  62. ^ "Howard Riley - Flight" – via www.allmusic.com.
  63. ^ "Howard Riley - Synopsis" – via www.allmusic.com.
  64. ^ "Howard Riley - Overground" – via www.allmusic.com.
  65. ^ "BILL EVANS (PIANO) - In Yugoslavia : The 1972 Ljubljana Concert". JazzMusicArchives.com.
  66. ^ "Georgie Fame – The Two Faces Of Fame (1967, Vinyl) - Discogs". Discogs.
  67. ^ Kenny, Jack (13 November 2023). "Michael Gibbs - Jazz Views".
  68. ^ "George Gruntz – Monster Jazz - Monster Sticksland Meeting Two (Vinyl) - Discogs". Discogs.
  69. ^ Jazz, All About (15 November 2013). "Tubby Hayes Quartet: Tubby Hayes: Seven Steps to Heaven - Live at the Hopbine 1972 album review @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz.
  70. ^ "JEAN-LUC PONTY - Jean-Luc Ponty Meets Giorgio Gaslini". JazzMusicArchives.com.
  71. ^ "Don 'Sugarcane' Harris – Keep On Driving (1970, Vinyl) - Discogs". Discogs.
  72. ^ "Didier Levallet Octet – Scoop (1983, Vinyl) - Discogs". Discogs.
  73. ^ "All In All In All, by Mark Nauseef". Relative Pitch Records.
  74. ^ Fordham, John (16 March 2007). "Ronnie Scott, Live at Ronnie Scott's". The Guardian.
  75. ^ "Alan Skidmore - Once Upon a Time" – via www.allmusic.com.
  76. ^ "Jasper van't Hof; George Gruntz, Fairytale in High-Resolution Audio" – via www.prostudiomasters.com.

Other sources

[edit]
[edit]