In 1963 after playing with a military band he gave life to a trio of musicians including Gavin Bryars and Derek Bailey, before moving to London where he became sideman for the Ronnie Scott’s. There he played with musicians like Joe Henderson, Charlie Mariano, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins and Bill Evans, and with local glories as Alan Skidmore and Gordon Beck.
In 1969 he played on Extrapolation by Miles Davis’ ex guitarist John McLaughlin and then he formed the above mentioned quintet. Pivotal and key figure for the London Improv scene, at a certain point he inaugurated a long time collaboration with pianist Cecil Taylor and bassist William Parker in the famous Feel Trio. I had the opportunity to see them play live in Italy and the music was outstanding: every musician was playing indipendently from the other twos, but listening to the three as a whole was an enormous experience. They were in fact matching exactly together.
Skimming through his vast discography one can only admire the varius contexts, from due to large orchestra, in which Oxley played with some of the most important avant-gardists of his own time. Strangely underappreciated by the critics who come to jazz from other musical worlds – strangely because Oxley rarely was ‘swinging’ so his approach to drums full of middle- or micro- rhythms would seem appealing to them at least theorically – he was a musician’s musician, but he was also very appreciated by the audience.
Difficult as it was to be an avant garde improviser in Europe since the 1960s – no easy melodies nor easy rhythms to approach, and the will to get rid of anxiety with only a sincere will to be yourself while playing – Tony Oxley always tried to learn new tricks and tips, curious to put himself in difficult and out-of-the-comfort-zone positions in order to understand better the essence of the music he was playing and he was in love with.
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