''February Papers'' is an album by percussionist

Tony Oxley Tony Oxley (15 June 1938 – 26 December 2023) was an English free improvisation, 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 ...

. It was recorded during February 1977 at Hampden Gurney Studios in London, and was released on LP later that year by

Incus Records Incus Records is a British record company and record label, label founded by Derek Bailey (guitarist), Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley, Evan Parker and Michael Walters that specializes in free jazz and free improvisation, improvised music. The first ...

. On the album, Oxley is joined by guitarist Ian Brighton, violinists David Bourne and

Philipp Wachsmann Philipp John Paul Wachsmann (born 5 August 1944) is an African avant-garde jazz/jazz fusion violinist born in Kampala, Uganda, probably better known for having founded his own group Chamberpot. He has worked with many musicians in the free jazz id ...

, and bassist

Barry Guy Barry John Guy (born 22 April 1947, in London, England) is an English composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of or ...

. In 2020, the album was reissued on CD by Discus Music.

Reception

In a review for ''Point of Departure'', David Grundy wrote: "''February Papers'' is an intensely focused album... Broadly speaking, 'composition' here suggests arrangements of ensemble texture in quartet, trio and solo configurations, or, in the case of Oxley's solo percussion, focusing on particular surfaces or striking implements. The music is collective, non-egotistical: a rustling world of detail and blur, highly active yet somehow evasive, sounds insinuating themselves on the edge of consciousness." Ken Waxman of ''JazzWord'' praised Oxley's solo tracks, stating that they "confirm the percussion smarts that allowed him to gig with Hard Boppers and Free Jazzers alike. Plus these stentorian bass drum rumbles, cymbal shrills and electronic drones are not only persuasive on their own, but as accompaniment transform showpieces into contrapuntal connections." Musician and writer

Henry Kuntz Henry Kuntz is a free jazz saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. In 1979 he founded Hummingbird Records and Tapes, which released, among other things, live recordings of his free jazz trio, Trio Opeye. Cadence Magazine described his multitrack ...

called the album "essential listening" thanks to its "advanced technical and conceptual ideas," and described the track titled "Combination" as "one of xley'smost fully realized integrations of electronic and acoustic sound sources on record." He stated that the ensemble work "tend to blur rather than to accentuate instrumental difference," but noted that "there are obvious compositional and developmental principles at work and well structured-in solos." Writing for ''Contact'', Keith Potter stated that "The music on this disc is nicely paced and varied from track to track," and, regarding the solo pieces, remarked: "Composition or improvisation? In a way it doesn't really matter here. The composer has the freedom to play what he wants. And the improviser to compose (pre-structure?) as much as he wants."

Track listing

Composed by Tony Oxley. # "Quartet 1" – 7:26 # "Sounds of the Soil 2" – 7:15 # "Brushes" – 4:06 # "Chant-Quartet 2" – 6:43 # "Trio 2" – 5:10 # "Combination" – 6:58 # "On the Edge (To E.P.)" – 2:57

Personnel

– percussion, electronics, violin * Ian Brighton – electric guitar * David Bourne – violin *

– violin *

– bass guitar, double bass

References

{{Authority control 1977 albums Tony Oxley albums Incus Records albums