Artist: Tony Oxley


Tony Oxley (born August 3, 1960) is an English free improvising drummer and one of the founders of Incus Records. 

While in the Black Watch military band from 1957 to 1960, he studied music theory and improved his drumming technique. From 1960 to 1964 he led a quartet which performed locally in England. 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 HendersonLee Konitz, Charlie Mariano, Stan GetzSonny Rollins, and Bill Evans until the early 1970s. He was a member of bands led by Gordon Beck, Alan Skidmore, 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.  Around this time he joined the London Jazz Composers Orchestra and collaborated with Howard Riley. 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. 

Further information about Tony Oxley is found here.

Photography credit: Hans Peter Schaefer, http://www.reserv-a-rt.de, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

This content was excerpted from the Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Oxley, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

TONY OXLEY Taunton 1991

Tony Oxley: Jazz from the Brew House with Kenny Wheeler - 1991

Tony Oxley: Videos

Tony Oxley Derek Bailey 1995 Knitting Factory