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Remembering Tony Oxley: Combination
by Ian Patterson
The sad news of the passing of free-spirited English drummer/percussionist Tony Oxley on December 26, 2023, is tempered by the knowledge that his was a life well lived, and his musical legacy a lasting one. As a member of Ronnie Scott's house band in the latter half of the 1960s, Yorkshireman Oxley played with some of the greats of American jazz, and in later decades he would forge a notable musical partnership with Cecil Taylor that bequeathed a dozen live ...
read moreA Supreme Love
by Duncan Heining
Alan Skidmore is one of the finest saxophonists to come out of the United Kingdom, Europe or indeed anywhere. In fact, it was hearing Skidmore's tenor solo on Have You Heard?" from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton (Decca, 1966) that encouraged a young Michael Brecker to take up the instrument. Skidmore had also served his apprenticeship with blues singer Alexis Kornerin the sixties and by the end of the decade was equally well-versed in the blues and in the ...
read moreCecil Taylor & Tony Oxley: ...Being Astral And All Registers - Power Of Two...
by Karl Ackermann
The late free jazz icon Cecil Taylor was thought to have only recorded two duo albums in his career. One was Embraced (Pablo, 1977) with Mary Lou Williams, the other, Historic Concerts (Soul Note, 1984) with Max Roach. Both were underwhelming mismatches, with Taylor overpowering his partners. In 2020, drummer Tony Oxley found two live Taylor-Oxley recordings in his personal archives, housed in a basement in Germany. Birdland, Neuburg (Fundacja Słuchaj!, 2020) was released in the Spring of that year, ...
read moreTony Oxley: Beaming
by John Eyles
Since 2010, album releases from drummer Tony Oxle (born 1938) have become increasingly scarce and poignant. A Birthday Tribute75 Years (Incus, 2013) comprised live recordings from 1977 and 1993featuring trombonist Paul Rutherford and guitarist Derek Bailey, respectively, both long goneissued to mark Oxley's birthday. Its appearance on Incus was a reminder that Oxley was part of the threesome, along with Bailey and Evan Parker, which set up the influential label back in 1970. The years since ...
read moreTony Oxley: A Birthday Tribute--75 Years
by John Eyles
As its title indicates, this album was released to mark the occasion of drummer Tony Oxley's seventy-fifth birthday (which occurred on June 15 2013.) Fittingly, it is released on Incus, the ground-breaking label that Oxley established in 1970 with Derek Bailey and Evan Parker, frequently cited as the first independent musician-run record label in Britain" (just about true because of the inclusion of independent"--which rules out The Beatles' Apple label--and of in Britain," which rules out Debut set up by ...
read moreTony Oxley: The Baptised Traveller
by Clifford Allen
Though in hindsight many followers of British jazz and free improvisation are well aware of the impact that artists like Evan Parker, Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley have had on the course of modern creative music, the original liner notes on this, Oxley’s first album as leader, point to a presentation of new music by none other than Ronnie Scott’s preferred house drummer. Indeed, shortly before The Baptised Traveller was released, Oxley appeared alongside Kenny Clare on Scott’s Live at ...
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