most of the tracks are solo percussion and electronics,a couple feature ensembles with the usual suspects,derek b ,barry g
this has remained sadly unissued for some inexplicable reason.
Born Sheffield, 15 June 1938. Drums, percussion, violin, electronics.
Tony
Oxley, with
Derek Bailey and Gavin
Bryars, created one of the foundations of free improvisation in the UK through their explorations in the group Joseph
Holbrooke. A detailed retrospective view of Joseph
Holbrooke can be found in
Bailey (1992, pp. 86-93) but, briefly, the group existed in Sheffield from 1963 to 1966, initially playing conventional jazz though by 1965 playing totally improvised pieces. The fact that the three were 'isolated' in Sheffield from developments elsewhere (John Stevens and the
SME) provided an ideal environment for experimentation and development. After that the participants moved to London,
Oxley becoming the house drummer at Ronnie Scott's while all the while continuing with experimental music. He was in at the beginning of the
Incus label with Bailey and
Evan Parker and some of his work for that label is recognised as landmarks in the development of free music. He also appeared in various (early) versions of the
London Jazz Composers Orchestra
In the last 25 years he has performed and recorded in an extremely wide variety of situations, from those where an emphasis on time-keeping is important to free situations with perhaps Paul
Bley at one extreme and Cecil Taylor at the other. His work with Taylor, as a member of The Feel Trio with William Parker, in duos, or augmented with other musicians (such as the quartet of Taylor,
Oxley, William Parker and Derek Bailey for two concerts in London and Manchester in 1991) lasted from 1988 to 1991 and can be seen by the viewing a selection of their
concert schedule.
In recent years Tony
Oxley has run his own
Celebration Orchestra, worked with Bill Dixon - both are painters as well as musicians, and there have been plans for multimedia presentations - and with the Austrians, violinist Andreas
Schreiber and pianist Dieter
Glawischnig in the trio
Cercle. This group briefly toured the UK in 1997 (having played the Beijing Jazz Festival in October 1996), with displays of
Oxley's paintings, and had a broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in May 1997.
Oxley has also begun to work again in duo with Derek Bailey, playing, for example at the Knitting Factory in New York in September 1995, in London in November 1995 and in
Vand'Oeuvre in France in May 1997. He also remains in demand to bring unconventionality to conventional settings, particularly with his '
rainforest percussion', playing for example, on
ECM recordings with Paul
Bley and John
Surman and with the
Tomasz Stanko Quartet.
His kit is highly individual and an early version of it was described by
Derek Bailey (1992, p. 101) thus:
'The acoustic part is: drums - eight, various sizes and texture; cymbals, fourteen, various sizes, thicknesses, weights, sounds; cowbells - five, from six inches to sixteen inches; wood surfaces - five, wood blocks and oriental skulls; saucepans - two. The amplified section of the kit is: amplified frame containing cymbals, wires, various kitchen equipment, motor generators, springs, used with 3 contact mikes (home-made), 2 volume pedals, 1 octave splitter, 1 compressor, 1 ring modulator and oscillator, 1 amplifier and two speakers.'
More recently the whole kit has been slimmed down and the electronics have (probably temporarily) been put to one side, but the playing, of course, remains individualistic. A transcription of an interview with
Oxley, where he discusses his current kit (1997) with
Alyn Shipton in a BBC Radio 3 Broadcast is
available, complete with sound clips.
Tony
Oxley is also a painter and three pages of his paintings can also be viewed:
Paintings 1 or
Paintings 2 and
Paintings 3.
PLEASE BUY CD'S BY TONY
OXLEY ,
YOULL FIND MANY LISTED IN HIS SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY AT THE EUROPEAN FREE IMPROVISED MUSIC PAGES.
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Tony Oxley, percussion, amplified percussion
Barry Guy, bass
Dave Holdsworth, trumpet
Evan Parker, soprano saxophone
Howard Riley, piano
Paul Rutherford, trombone
Derek Bailey, guitar
A1. Never Before Or Again 10:41
A2. M-W-M 6:57
A3. EIROC II 5:27
B1. East Of Sheffield 6:26
B2. South East Of Sheffield 5:47
B3. P.P.1 8:37
Track A1 (Parker/Holdsworth/Rutherford/Riley/Guy/Oxley) recorded 1972;
track A2 (solo Oxley) recorded 1975
Track A3 (Bailey/Parker/Rutherford/Oxley) recorded 1971
Track B1 (solo Oxley) recorded 1971
Track B2 (solo Oxley) recorded 1973
Track B3 (solo Oxley) recorded 1975
INCUS 8 (vinyl rip)