Tony Oxley Explained

Tony Oxley
Background:non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth Date:1938 6, df=yes
Birth Place:Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Genre:Avant-garde jazz, free jazz, free improvisation, fusion
Occupation:Musician
Instrument:Drums
Years Active:1960s–2020s
Label:Incus, 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

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.[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.[4] 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] [5] 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.[6] [7] In 2000 he released the album Triangular Screen with the Tony Oxley Project 1, a trio with Ivar Grydeland and Tonny Kluften.[8]

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

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

He died on 26 December 2023, at the age of 85.[9] [10] [11]

Discography

As leader

With The Quartet

As guest

With Gordon Beck

With Bill Dixon

With Barry Guy/London Jazz Composers Orchestra

With Joseph Holbrooke

With Rolf Kühn

With Howard Riley

With Tomasz Stańko

With John Surman

With Cecil Taylor

With others

Other sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Colin Larkin. Guinness Publishing. 1992. First. 0-85112-939-0. 1884.
  2. Book: Car. Ian. Ian Carr. Digby Fairweather . Digby . Fairweather . Brian Priestley . Brian . Priestley . 2004 . The Rough Guide to Jazz, 3rd Edition . 601.
  3. News: Tony Oxley obituary . Richard . Williams . Richard Williams (journalist) . 28 December 2023 . The Guardian.
  4. Book: Cox . Christop . Warner . Daniel . 2004 . Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music . 257 . Bloomsbury Academic . 978-0826416155.
  5. Web site: Melody Maker Readers Poll (1971).... henrybebop.co.uk.
  6. Web site: Leosia. ECM Records.
  7. Web site: Tomasz Stanko: Leosia album review . 30 January 2015. Allaboutjazz.com.
  8. Web site: Tony Oxley Project 1 - Triangular Screen . AllMusic.
  9. Web site: Tony Oxley (1938 - 2023) . 26 December 2023 . The Free Jazz Collective . 26 December 2023.
  10. Web site: Reports: Tony Oxley Has Died. Clashmusic.com. 26 December 2023.
  11. Web site: Drummer Tony Oxley has Passed Away, Aged 85. Ultimate-guitar.com.
  12. Web site: Tony Oxley: The Baptised Traveller album review. 4 October 2003. Allaboutjazz.com.
  13. Web site: Tony Oxley - 4 Compositions for Sextet. AllMusic.
  14. Web site: Tony Oxley - Ichnos . AllMusic.
  15. Web site: John Surman, Alan Skidmore, Tony Oxley - Jazz in Britain '68-'69. AllMusic.
  16. Web site: TONY OXLEY - Tony Oxley. JazzMusicArchives.com.
  17. Web site: Alan Davie, Tony Oxley - The Alan Davie Music Workshop. AllMusic.
  18. Web site: Tony Oxley - February Papers . AllMusic.
  19. Web site: Jazzlists: Ego Records discography. Jazzlists.com. 27 December 2023.
  20. Web site: ULRICH GUMPERT - Ulrich Gumpert / Radu Malfatti / Tony Oxley : Ach Was!?. JazzMusicArchives.com.
  21. Web site: popsike.com - ALAN SKIDMORE TONY OXLEY SOH View Records LP - auction details. Popsike.com.
  22. Web site: TONY COE - Coe, Oxley & Co. Nutty On Willisau. JazzMusicArchives.com.
  23. Web site: Live At Roccella Jonica. Norma Winstone.
  24. Web site: TONY OXLEY - Tomorrow Is Here. JazzMusicArchives.com.
  25. Web site: Jazzlists: Bead Records discography. Jazzlists.com.
  26. Web site: PALLE MIKKELBORG - Silenzi Osceni - Live In Roccella Jonica 1986. Jazzmusicarchives.com.
  27. Web site: CLAUDIO FASOLI - Claudio Fasoli - Mick Goodrick - Palle Danielsson - Tony Oxley : Bodies. Jazzmusicarchives.com. 29 December 2023.
  28. Web site: Explore – Stefano Battaglia, Tony Oxley – Splasch Records. Splasch-records.com. 29 December 2023.
  29. Web site: Paul Bley - In the Evenings out There. AllMusic.
  30. Web site: TONY OXLEY - The Tony Oxley Quartet. Jazzmusicarchives.com. 29 December 2023.
  31. Web site: STEFANO BATTAGLIA - Sulphur. JazzMusicArchives.com.
  32. Web site: TONY OXLEY - The Enchanted Messenger. JazzMusicArchives.com.
  33. Web site: Jazzlists: Fish Music discography. www.jazzlists.com.
  34. Web site: Soho Suites – Derek Bailey & Tony Oxley ← Cafe OTO. www.cafeoto.co.uk.
  35. Web site: Alexander von Schlippenbach - Digger's Harvest Album . www.allmusic.com.
  36. Web site: Tony Oxley Project 1 - Triangular Screen . www.allmusic.com.
  37. Web site: Tony Oxley - Floating Phantoms . www.allmusic.com.
  38. Web site: Frank Gratkowski » GratHovOx. Till M.. Kammertöns.
  39. Web site: Ali Haurand, Tony Oxley, Alan Skidmore - S.O.H.: Live in London . www.allmusic.com.
  40. Web site: Tony Oxley - The Advocate . www.allmusic.com.
  41. Web site: Derek Bailey, Derek Bailey Quartet, Tony Oxley - Tony Oxley/Derek Bailey Quartet . www.allmusic.com.
  42. Web site: Conny Bauer, Gianluigi Trovesi, Tony Oxley, Dietmar Diesner - Live at Jazzwerkstatt Peitz . www.allmusic.com.
  43. Web site: Sebastiano Meloni, Adriano Orrù, Tony Oxley - Improvised Pieces for Trio . www.allmusic.com.
  44. Web site: Tony Oxley: A Birthday Tribute--75 Years album review @ All About Jazz. All About. Jazz. 23 October 2013. All About Jazz.
  45. Web site: Tony Oxley: Beaming album review @ All About Jazz. All About. Jazz. 27 June 2020. All About Jazz.
  46. Web site: Tony Oxley/Alan Davie: Elaboration of Particulars. Jazzwise.
  47. Web site: Tony Oxley: Unreleased 1974-2016. Jazzwise.
  48. Web site: The New World - 165CD (2023), by Tony Oxley. Discusmusic.bandcamp.com. 29 December 2023.
  49. Web site: THE QUARTET – DEDICATIONS (KONNEX RECORDS, 1984).
  50. Web site: The Quartet – Relation (1985, Vinyl) - Discogs. .
  51. Web site: inconstant sol.
  52. Web site: THE QUARTET – LIVE (KONNEX RECORDS, 1987).
  53. News: Gordon Beck, Experiments with Pops. Robin. Denselow. 24 November 2006. The Guardian.
  54. Web site: Gordon Beck: Gyroscope album review @ All About Jazz. All About. Jazz. 17 July 2002. All About Jazz.
  55. Web site: MPS. Mps-music.com. 2020-03-26.
  56. Web site: Gordon Beck Quartet Featuring Joy Marshall: When Sunny Gets Blue: Spring '68 Sessions album review @ All About Jazz. All About. Jazz. 12 November 2018. All About Jazz.
  57. Web site: Barry Guy, London Jazz Composers' Orchestra - Ode . www.allmusic.com.
  58. Web site: Joseph Holbrooke '98 – Gavin Bryars.
  59. Web site: Joseph Holbrooke Trio: The Moat Studio Recordings – Gavin Bryars.
  60. Web site: ROLF KÜHN - Devil In Paradise. JazzMusicArchives.com.
  61. Web site: Rolf Kühn Jazzgroup – Going to the Rainbow (1970) -. 9 January 2018.
  62. Web site: Howard Riley - Flight . www.allmusic.com.
  63. Web site: Howard Riley - Synopsis . www.allmusic.com.
  64. Web site: Howard Riley - Overground . www.allmusic.com.
  65. Web site: BILL EVANS (PIANO) - In Yugoslavia : The 1972 Ljubljana Concert. JazzMusicArchives.com.
  66. Web site: Georgie Fame – The Two Faces Of Fame (1967, Vinyl) - Discogs. .
  67. Web site: Michael Gibbs - Jazz Views. Jack. Kenny. 13 November 2023.
  68. Web site: George Gruntz – Monster Jazz - Monster Sticksland Meeting Two (Vinyl) - Discogs. .
  69. Web site: Tubby Hayes Quartet: Tubby Hayes: Seven Steps to Heaven - Live at the Hopbine 1972 album review @ All About Jazz. All About. Jazz. 15 November 2013. All About Jazz.
  70. Web site: JEAN-LUC PONTY - Jean-Luc Ponty Meets Giorgio Gaslini. JazzMusicArchives.com.
  71. Web site: Don 'Sugarcane' Harris – Keep On Driving (1970, Vinyl) - Discogs. .
  72. Web site: Didier Levallet Octet – Scoop (1983, Vinyl) - Discogs. .
  73. Web site: All In All In All, by Mark Nauseef. Relative Pitch Records.
  74. News: Ronnie Scott, Live at Ronnie Scott's. John. Fordham. 16 March 2007. The Guardian.
  75. Web site: Alan Skidmore - Once Upon a Time . www.allmusic.com.
  76. Web site: Jasper van't Hof; George Gruntz, Fairytale in High-Resolution Audio . www.prostudiomasters.com.

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