Tony Oxley (1938 - 2023)

Tony Oxley. Photo by Peter Gannushkin

By Martin Schray

Once the Jost Gebers, the man behind the seminal record label FMP, and Tony Oxley wanted to take Oxley’s drum equipment in a Volkswagen bus from West to East Berlin. At the GDR border a guard was checking them and was puzzled over what strange stuff was being transported. Gebers explained to him that Oxley was a drummer. When the border guard then found a violin, the matter was clear to him. Oxley had to be a musical clown. Now Tony Oxley, who was anything but a clown, and rather a phenomenal sound researcher, percussionist, violinist and electronic musician, has died after being sick for a long time.

Oxley was born in Sheffield and taught himself to play the drums. When he was drafted into the British army, he became a percussionist in the military orchestra. While serving, Oxley was able to travel to the United States where he heard jazz greats, such as Art Blakey, Horace Silver, and Philly Joe Jones live. To see these people live was a life-changing experience. Back home in Sheffield, he formed a jazz combo, which he led for three years. In 1963, he had another decisive encounter: He met guitarist Derek Bailey, who was living just around the corner. “A once in a century coincidence,“ as Oxley described the meeting to the German music journalist Bert Noglik . With bassist Gavin Bryars they formed a trio called Joseph Holbrooke (the band was named after a long-deceased British composer). The group started out playing jazz standards, but quickly evolved into other kinds of music, driven by the interests of the three. Bryars was interested in avant-garde classical composers, Oxley in the more radical players in contemporary jazz and Bailey in both. Improvised music was the common denominator that kept the trio going. It was music virtually unknown in England or elsewhere in Europe at the time. According to Oxley and Bailey the music developed virtually out of itself in the course of Joseph Holbrooke’s playing. In 1967 Oxley moved to London. Before long he had established himself as the house drummer at one of the city’s most popular jazz clubs: Ronnie Scott’s. Although Oxley had already moved beyond traditional jazz in his own music, he enjoyed performing with the players who had helped invent jazz - legends such as Ben Webster, Joe Hendeson, Stan Getz, and Bill Evans. Thus, he developed a distinctive rhythmic style. He was able to play time in form of polyrhythmic beats, without losing the original groove, just to pick it up later on. For many musicians he was a real challenge.

Oxley’s work at Ronnie Scott’s had given him a solid reputation as a jazz drummer although he had already connected to the freely improvised scene. In 1969, he performed on John McLaughlin’s first LP Extrapolation, and as a member of Miles Davis’s band the guitarist was already up and coming. His connection to him might have been the reason why Oxley was offered a recording contract by CBS and he was able to release The Baptised Traveller, which featured members of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble: Evan Parker on saxophone, Derek Bailey on guitar, Kenny Wheeler on trumpet, and Jeff Clyne on bass. The result was a vision of the future of jazz, hardly heard at that time. Oxley’s band even managed to make another record for CBS, Four Compositions For Sextet , Paul Rutherford on trombone augmented them. Commercially the albums were not successful, no wonder CBS sacked him.

Yet, Oxley was on the safe side as to money because of his engagement at Ronnie Scott’s, but in general improvised music in Great Britain didn’t do well. It was hardly possible for the musicians to find gigs, media and record labels simply ignored it. This was the reason why Oxley co-founded the Musicians Cooperative with Bailey, Parker and several other musicians in 1970. Another move was to start Incus Records, an independent artist-owned record label, with Evan Parker and Derek Bailey. Finally, the musicians were able to document their music, to release and distribute their albums without being dependent on the big majors.

But most of all, Oxley became the drummer who was so influential for future generations when he decided to expand his drum kit. He started to experiment with various forms of amplification and electronic devices such as ring modulators, for example. He especially liked to use them on the foreign objects he had incorporated into the kit: bowls, pieces of wire, screws, and other metal objects that were able to create a wide range of pure sounds. His already unique rhythmic style was linked to a new sound universe. From that moment on no one sounded like Tony Oxley.

As to music two more meetings were important in Toney Oxley’s life: The one with the painter Alan Davie, who gave him his first violin. Oxley was immediately interested in the rhythmic possibilities of the instrument (not the melodic ones, again typically Oxley) and so he decided working with string ensembles of all kinds. The other one was Oxley’s encounter with Cecil Taylor. He met him when the pianist had an FMP residence in Berlin during the summer of 1988. He played with him as a duo, with William Parker in the Feel Trio, and in the 17-piece Cecil Taylor European Orchestra. What is more, Taylor introduced him to Bill Dixon, with whom he also recorded several albums for the Italian Soul Note label. Oxley became Taylor’s favourite partner for the rest of the pianist’s life.

Tony Oxley oeuvre is so huge and various, it’s hard to give recommendations. His early recordings are certainly important landmarks for the development of European free jazz. The Baptised Traveller (CBS, 1969) and Ichnos (RCA Victor, 1971) with the same band, only that Barry Guy has replaced Jeff Clyne, are just spectacular. Tony Oxley (Incus, 1975) - also with the same collaborators (but Dave Holzworth is on bass and Howard Riley on piano) - must also be mentioned. Oxley’s trio with Riley and Barry Guy is definitely recommendable, for example Synopsis (Eminem, 1974). His work with Cecil Taylor is well-documented and almost all the releases are excellent. Above all, the first Feel Trio album, Looking (FMP 1990), with William Parker on bass is outstanding, possibly one of the best free music recordings ever made and one I hold especially dearly. As a duo the two developed a breathtaking energy, just listen to Leaf Palm Hand (FMP, 1989) and Ailanthus / Altissima: Bilateral Dimensions Of 2 Root Songs (Triple Point Records, 2009). Personal favorites of mine are his albums on Soul Note with Bill Dixon (trumpet), Barry Guy and William Parker on bass - Vade Mecum Iand II (1994 and 96).

“I consider myself more a percussionist, in contrast to a jazz drummer who keeps time“, Oxley told Bert Noglik in the aforementioned interview. “In the new improvised music, a percussionist can interrupt the flow of his playing without affecting the nature of his relationship to the other players.“ Should St. Peter have checked Tony Oxley at the gates of heaven and the drummer had his stuff with him, he will surely not have taken him for a clown, but for what he is: one of the greatest drummers of the last 60 years. The jazz band in heaven can look forward to him.

Annotation: parts of this obituary are based on a text by Gerald E. Brennan on Tony Oxley

Watch Mr. Oxley play: