''Ichnos'' is an album by English musician

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 ...

. Released in 1971 by

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

, it features Oxley on percussion,

Evan Parker Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation. Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free ja ...

on saxophone,

Kenny Wheeler Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, Order of Canada, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards. Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he w ...

on trumpet and flugelhorn, Paul Rutherford on trombone, Derek Bailey on electric guitar, and

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 ...

on double bass. The musicians are heard in varying combinations: two sextets, two quartets, and a percussion solo.

Reception

In a review for ''Paris Transatlantic'', Graham L. Rogers wrote: "This is powerful work from a time and place when free improvisation was in its youth and talented musicians with uncluttered heads took risks and disregarded rules, creating the spontaneous, imaginative music which came to define the genre." Author Ben Watson stated: "By seizing the timbral serialism of Webern and performing it with the expressive velocity of jazz, Oxley's group heralded almost everything new in music for the next three decades... It revives Edgard Varèse's project of a music that would organise itself according to the dictates of timbre and the impact of noise rather than overarching systems of harmony and rhythm." He concluded: "It makes all previous music sound grey." The editors of

Mats Gustafsson Mats Olof Gustafsson (born 29 October 1964) is a Swedish free jazz saxophone player. Career Gustafsson came to the attention of lovers of improvised music as part of a duo with Christian Munthe (started in 1986), as member of Gunter Chris ...

's ''Discaholic'' called the recording a "free music monster. Monumental, intricate, detailed and balanced music and just a classic album of the highest beauty!" They commented: "The solo excursions on this album are magic beyond words... this is as good as it gets. Highest possible recommendations!"

Track listing

Composed by Tony Oxley. Track timings not provided. # "Crossing" (sextet) # "Oryane" (percussion solo) # "Eiroc" (quartet) # "Santrel" (quartet) # "Cadilla" (sextet)

Personnel

– drums, percussion *

– soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone *

– trumpet, flugelhorn * Paul Rutherford – trombone * Derek Bailey – electric guitar *

– double bass

References

{{Authority control 1971 albums Tony Oxley albums RCA Victor albums Free jazz albums