Sextet Storm in Methadrine Time
Four pieces of dissolving structure and pure sonic barrage from a drummer who refused to play it safe.
Tony Oxley recorded 4 Compositions for Sextet in 1970, and it is the second of three albums he made for major labels with essentially the same band. The previous record, The Baptised Traveller, used a quartet; here the group grows to six with the addition of trombonist Paul Rutherford, joining Jeff Clyne on bass, Derek Bailey on guitar, Evan Parker on tenor saxophone, and Kenny Wheeler on trumpet. The lineup is dense, and the session is built around that density rather than around any predetermined plan.
The four tracks are all loose, all improvised, and all loud in the way free playing in this period could be. The compositions are nominal. There are structures on paper, but they break apart quickly under the collective noise, and what you hear is six players pushing against each other at high volume. Oxley's drumming holds it together without ever trying to sound tidy. If you want a clean head-and-solo jazz record, look elsewhere. If you want to hear British free improvisers at full tilt in 1970, this is one of the sharper examples.
It is not the place to start with Oxley, and it is not his most accessible work, but for listeners already drawn to the European free scene it is a strong document. Columbia reportedly found it too hard to market, and Oxley was dropped after the trilogy. Ben Watson, in Honesty Is Explosive!, called it a stone-cold, ice-pick-in-the-forehead record, and that is about right.
Who's playing
Jeff Clynebass
Derek Baileyguitar
Evan Parkertenor saxophone
Kenny Wheelertrumpet
Paul Rutherfordtrombone
Tony Oxleypercussion
Where next?
The musicians on this record
♫
The Topography of the Lungs 1970
Evan Parker
plays tenor saxophone here
plays tenor saxophone here
♫
Derek Bailey & Han Bennink 1972
Derek Bailey
plays guitar here
plays guitar here
