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. 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. During his National Service, with the Black Watch military band, from 1957 to 1960, he studied music theory and improved his drumming technique. 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. 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. Between transatlantic trips he played in a cabaret band in Chesterfield. By 1963 Oxley was also playing Saturday afternoon gigs with other aspiring young jazz musicians at the Grapes pub in Sheffield. In 1963 he began working with Gavin Bryars and guitarist Derek Bailey, in a trio known as Joseph Holbrooke. Oxley moved to London in 1966 and became house drummer at Ronnie Scott's, 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. 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. That same year Oxley helped found Incus Records with Bailey and others and Musicians Cooperative. The label would go on to release more than 50 albums, continuing even after disagreements caused first Oxley and then Parker to leave. 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. 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. Each year between 1969 and 1972 he topped the Melody Maker annual jazz readers poll for drummers. In 1973 he became a tutor at the Jazz Summer School in Barry, South Wales, and in 1974 he formed the band Angular Apron. 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. In 1993 he joined a quartet with Tomasz Stańko, Bobo Stenson and Anders Jormin. In 2000 he released the album Triangular Screen with the Tony Oxley Project 1, a trio with Ivar Grydeland and Tonny Kluften. 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.

Personal life and death

Oxley married Tutta (nee Rütten) in 2000. He died on 26 December 2023, at the age of 85.

Discography

As leader

With The Quartet

As guest

With Gordon Beck With Gordon Beck Quartet 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