All the brilliant drummers I have worked with have a special way of talking when it comes to Tony Oxley. I think it's a sort of reverence: to his technique, his creativity and his track record. Maybe also it was his ability to move so adroitly between the worlds of Time and No Time and play with such intensity and originality in both.
Even on a relatively ordinary kit, Oxley had an instantly recognisable sound. The way he divided the beat left me thrilled but lost. His extended kit - for his work in free improvisation - included an enormous cowbell, which drew jokes about the size of the cow. It was regularly hit &/or scraped. He really did sound like no-one else. The electronics part of the kit remained after the kit was put aside and became central in his late recordings. Some of them were issued on Mark Wastell's Confront label.
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