The Oxcentrics is a

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

jazz band A jazz band (jazz ensemble or jazz combo) is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands vary in the quantity of its members and the style of jazz that they play but it is common to find a jazz band made up of a rhythm section and a ho ...

founded in 1975 at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. The band's name was derived from ''The Oxontrics'', an original 1920s jazz band. Several (although by no means all) members were from

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies f ...

, where many of the rehearsals took place. They played at a number of

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Balls, for the

Oxford University Jazz Club The Oxford University Jazz Society, also known as JazzSoc, is the focus of jazz music at the University of Oxford, England; the place to be for players and listeners, dancers and drinkers. Formerly known as the Oxford University Jazz Club, the s ...

, on

May Morning May Morning is an annual event in Oxford, United Kingdom, on May Day (1 May). Event The event starts early at 6 a.m. with the Magdalen College Choir singing a hymn, the Hymnus Eucharisticus, from the top of Magdalen Tower. The choir trad ...

, and for other events, including playing on punts on the

River Cherwell A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it ru ...

in Oxford. The line-up, mostly Oxford University

undergraduates Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

, who recorded ''The Halcyon Days of the '20s & '30s'' on 29 February 1976 at the Acorn Studios in

Stonesfield Stonesfield is a village and civil parish about north of Witney in Oxfordshire, and about 10 miles (17 km) north-west of Oxford. The village is on the crest of an escarpment. The parish extends mostly north and north-east of the village, ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, and the songs recorded were: ;Musicians * ''Adrian Sheen'' —

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* ''Geoff 'Hot-Lips' Varrall'' —

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

* ''Adam Brett'' —

* '' Olly Weindling'' —

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

* ''

Glyn Lewis Glyn Lewis is a British professor of psychiatric epidemiology and the current head of thDivision of Psychiatryat University College London Education Glyn Lewis was born in Wales. He studied at University College, Oxford, where he played saxophon ...

'' —

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

* ''Paul St John-Smith'' —

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

* '' Charles 'Herbie' Kuta'' —

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

* '' Simon 'Des' Wallace'' —

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

* ''Graham Downing'' —

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

* ''

Chris West Chris West (born 1954) is a British writer. He works in a range of genres: business, psychology, history and crime / general fiction. His four mysteries written in the 1990s were among the first crime novels to be set in the contemporary People ...

'' —

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

;Titles # '' Russian Rag'' # ''

Tiger Rag "Tiger Rag" is a jazz standard that was recorded and copyrighted by the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1917. It is one of the most recorded jazz compositions. In 2003, the 1918 recording of "Tiger Rag" was entered into the U.S. Library of Cong ...

'' # '' Don't Bring Lulu'' # ''

'' # '' Clarinet Marmalade'' # ''

High Society High society, sometimes simply Society, is the behavior and lifestyle of people with the highest levels of wealth, power, fame and social status. It includes their related affiliations, social events and practices. Upscale social clubs were open ...

'' # ''

Petite Fleur "Petite Fleur" is an instrumental written by Sidney Bechet and recorded by him in January 1952, first with the Sidney Bechet All Stars and later with Claude Luter and his Orchestra. Chris Barber recording In 1959, "Petite Fleur" was an internatio ...

'' # ''

At the Jazz Band Ball "At the Jazz Band Ball" is a 1917 jazz instrumental recorded by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. The instrumental is one of the earliest and most recorded jazz compositions. It is a jazz classic and a standard of the genre. The instrumental was ...

'' # ''

Sweet Georgia Brown "Sweet Georgia Brown" is a jazz standard composed in 1925 by Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard, with lyrics by Kenneth Casey. History Reportedly, Bernie came up with the concept for the song's lyrics – although he is not the credited lyricist ...

'' Adrian Sheen was the original

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a dance band, rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhyth ...

and Mike Southon subsequently took over as

frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

in late 1976 (as "Gorgeous Mike Vaseline").

Colin Moynihan Colin Berkeley Moynihan, 4th Baron Moynihan, 4th Baronet (born 13 September 1955), is a British Olympic silver medalist, politician, businessman and sports administrator. Lord Moynihan served as the Chairman of the British Olympic Association ...

was the original but short-lived

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

. Sally Jones

tap dance Tap dance (or tap) is a form of dance that uses the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion; it is often accompanied by music. Tap dancing can also be performed with no musical accompaniment; the sound of the taps is its ow ...

d for the band on occasions.

Jonathan Bowen Jonathan P. Bowen (born 1956) is a British computer scientist and an Emeritus Professor at London South Bank University, where he headed the Centre for Applied Formal Methods. Prof. Bowen is also the Chairman of Museophile Limited and an adjunc ...

took many photographs and recorded the band in the 1970s. Further musicians who played with the Oxcentrics included Yva Thakurdas (trumpet) and Hugh Wallis (tuba). The band's manager was Laura Lassman. The band continued in a changed form in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in the 1980s, managed by Olly Weindling, using many of the top young London jazz musicians such as

Ashley Slater Ashley Slater (born 1961) is a Canadian-born British trombone player and best known for his narration on the television series '' Boo!'' as well as his work with Norman Cook (a.k.a. Fatboy Slim) in the band Freak Power. Career In 1983 after le ...

, Mark Lockheart and Billy Jenkins. Guests included

Django Bates Django Bates (born Leon Bates, 2 October 1960) is a British jazz musician, composer, multi-instrumentalist, band leader and educator. He plays the piano, keyboards and the tenor horn. Bates has been described as "one of the most talented musici ...

Iain Ballamy Iain Ballamy (born 20 February 1964) is a British composer and saxophonist. He is considered one of the 25 greatest jazz saxophonists of all time and was featured as one of the world's all-time greats in ''BBC Music Magazine''s "100 Jazz Legen ...

and many others from

Loose Tubes Loose Tubes were a British jazz big band/orchestra active during the mid-to-late 1980s. Critically and popularly acclaimed, the band was considered to be the focal point of a 1980s renaissance in British jazz. It was the main launchpad for the ...

. In 1988, the Oxcentrics produced a CD, ''Oxcentromania!'' through Eccentric Records. In 2005, the Oxcentrics reformed to celebrate their 30th

anniversary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the List of national independence days, date of independen ...

. They also got together again in 2006 for a one-off gig at a ball held at

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...

, again in 2016 for a late 40th-anniversary gig, and in 2019 back at

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

, followed by a recording session. In 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the band produced a distributed

lockdown A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

versions of the 1925 song '' Don't Bring Lulu'' and the 1918 song '' After You've Gone''. In 2024, the Oxcentrics celebrated their 50th anniversary slightly early as part of the University College, Oxford 775th anniversary celebrations.

References

External links

The Oxcentrics
on

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Oxcentrics
on

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Oxcentrics Top # 6 Facts
on

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* {{cite web, url=https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the_oxcentrics/ , title=The Oxcentrics , website=rateyourmusic.com 1975 establishments in England Musical groups established in 1975 Musical groups from Oxford English jazz ensembles Dixieland revival ensembles Culture of the University of Oxford History of the University of Oxford Lists of people associated with the University of Oxford University College, Oxford

See also

References

External links