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Tony Oxley: Unreleased 1974 - 2016
by Chris May
The British drummer and bandleader Tony Oxley passed in 2023, aged 85, after a career which began in the mid 1960s as the drummer in the house band at Ronnie Scott's club. From this prestigious but relatively codified platform, Oxley soon steered into less travelled waters. In 1969 he was in the quartet which recorded John McLaughlin's debut album, Extrapolation (Polydor). In the early 1970s, he began adding ring modulators, tone generators and other fx tools to his assemblage of ...
Continue ReadingHoward Riley / Keith Tippett: Journal Four
by John Sharpe
British pianists Howard Riley and Keith Tippett were seasoned proponents of the never widespread format of the piano duet, both together and apart. Riley's partners also included Jaki Byard as well as overdubbed sessions with himself, while Tippett's discography contains entries with Stan Tracey, Daryl Runswick and Matthew Bourne (though the last took place subsequent to this 2016 concert at Soho's Pizza Express). Journal Four is indeed their fourth and, sadly, final, record documenting what proved a fertile and enduring ...
Continue ReadingHoward Riley: Live In The USA
by John Sharpe
This archival issue should further bolster British pianist Howard Riley's place among the top rank. Riley first came to prominence with the advent of his pioneering trio with bassist Barry Guy and various drummers including Tony Oxley, which extended yet further the egalitarian template first established by Bill Evans and Paul Bley. However Live In the USA is a forward looking outing in the unaccompanied format Riley has made his own throughout a career which has seen more than fifteen ...
Continue ReadingHoward Riley: Constant Change 1976-2016
by John Sharpe
Howard Riley's discography contains at least 14 entries under solo piano. And that doesn't count the dates where he overdubbed himself two or three times. So listeners might legitimately ask the question: do we need any more? Well on this showing the answer is, unfortunately for sagging shelves, a resounding yes. Constant Change 1976-2016 brings together two CDs worth of concert and out of print selections recorded between 1976 and 1987, and supplements it with three CDs ...
Continue ReadingHoward Riley and Keith Tippett at Pizza Express
by Duncan Heining
Howard Riley and Keith Tippett Pizza Express London March 9, 2015 It's been a while since two of the world's great improvising pianists played together--twenty-two years to be precise. This fact alone may have brought a goodly and appreciative turn-out to Soho's Pizza Express Jazz Club. If so, Howard Riley and Keith Tippett met all their expectations. delivering a three fine sets--alone and finally together. Tippett opened the event--hints of blues ...
Continue ReadingHoward Riley: Howard Riley: Lush Life
by Duncan Heining
With the reissues of Discussions, Angle and The Day Will Come, the last few months have offered an embarrassment of riches for Howard Riley fans. We have here two recent solo recordings, one in the studio and one live in Lithuania, and a live duo album with the late, great Jaki Byard from 1985. Of course, there was a great deal going on between The Day Will Come and 10.11.12. There were duos with Keith Tippett, quartets with Art Themen ...
Continue ReadingHoward Riley: Reinventing the Jazz Piano Trio
by Duncan Heining
Even allowing for journalistic hyperbole, the phrase “reinventing the jazz piano trio" was a doozy. It all seemed a bit “Emperor's new clothes" or, as my late mother used to put it, “new coat and no knickers." For a time in the noughties, British critics variously applied the phrase to Esbjorn Svensson, Brad Mehldau, The Necks, The Bad Plus, Michael Wollny, Vijay Iyer and even Neil Cowley. One wondered what these writers knew of Cecil Taylor, Paul Bley, Don Pullen ...
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