Ichnos (album)

Ichnos
Ichnos
Studio album by Tony Oxley
Released	1971
Genre	Free jazz
Length	40:12
Label	RCA Victor; SF 8215
Tony Oxley chronology

Ichnos is an album by English musician Tony Oxley. Released in 1971 by RCA Victor, it features Oxley on percussion, Evan Parker on saxophone, Kenny Wheeler on trumpet and flugelhorn, Paul Rutherford on trombone, Derek Bailey on electric guitar, and Barry Guy on double bass. The musicians are heard in varying combinations: two sextets, two quartets, and a percussion solo.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[4]
Tom Hull – on the Web	B+^[5]

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."^[6]

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."^[7] He concluded: "It makes all previous music sound grey."^[8]

The editors of Mats Gustafsson'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!"^[9]

Track listing

Composed by Tony Oxley. Track timings not provided.

"Crossing" (sextet)
"Oryane" (percussion solo)
"Eiroc" (quartet)
"Santrel" (quartet)
"Cadilla" (sextet)

Personnel

Tony Oxley – drums, percussion
Evan Parker – soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
Kenny Wheeler – trumpet, flugelhorn
Paul Rutherford – trombone
Derek Bailey – electric guitar
Barry Guy – double bass

References

^ ^a ^b "Tony Oxley: Ichnos". AllMusic. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
^ "Tony Oxley - Ichnos". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
^ "Tony Oxley / Ichnos". ArtistInfo. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
^ Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Oxford University Press. p. 368.
^ Hull, Tom. "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
^ Rogers, Graham L. (January 2007). "JANUARY News". Paris Transatlantic. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
^ Watson, Ben (2004). Derek Bailey and the Story of Free Improvisation. Verso. p. 143. ISBN 9781844670031 – via Google Books.
^ Watson, Ben (2004). Derek Bailey and the Story of Free Improvisation. Verso. p. 144. ISBN 9781844670031 – via Google Books.
^ Gustafsson, Mats; Thorstensson, Björn (2022). "No Way Back!" (PDF). Discaholic. No. 4.

[allmusic-1] "Tony Oxley: Ichnos". AllMusic. Retrieved February 23, 2023.

[2] "Tony Oxley - Ichnos". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved February 23, 2023.

[3] "Tony Oxley / Ichnos". ArtistInfo. Retrieved February 23, 2023.

[4] Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Oxford University Press. p. 368.

[5] Hull, Tom. "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved June 3, 2023.

[6] Rogers, Graham L. (January 2007). "JANUARY News". Paris Transatlantic. Retrieved February 23, 2023.

[7] Watson, Ben (2004). Derek Bailey and the Story of Free Improvisation. Verso. p. 143. ISBN 9781844670031 – via Google Books.

[8] Watson, Ben (2004). Derek Bailey and the Story of Free Improvisation. Verso. p. 144. ISBN 9781844670031 – via Google Books.

[9] Gustafsson, Mats; Thorstensson, Björn (2022). "No Way Back!" (PDF). Discaholic. No. 4.

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v t Tony Oxley
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release, unless stated otherwise.
Studio albums	The Baptised Traveller (1969) Ichnos (1969-1970) 4 Compositions for Sextet (1970) Unreleased 1974–2016 (1974, 1981, & 2016) The Advocate (1975 & 2006) February Papers (1977) Elaboration of Particulars (1977 & 1978) In the Evenings out There (1991) The Tony Oxley Quartet (1992) Beaming (2019) The New World (2022)
Live albums	The Tony Oxley/Alan Davie Duo (1974-1975) A Birthday Tribute: 75 years (1977 & 1993) Soho Suites (1977 & 1995) The Enchanted Messenger (1994) Digger's Harvest (1998) Floating Phantoms (1999) Triangular Screen (2000) GratHovOx (2000)

v t Barry Guy
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release, unless stated otherwise.
Solo albums	Fizzles (1991) Symmetries (2001) Five Fizzles for Samuel Beckett (2009) Irvin's Comet (2019)
with Howard Riley	Angle (1968 & 1969) The Day Will Come (1970)
with Tony Oxley	Ichnos (1969 & 1970) February Papers (1977) Unreleased 1974–2016 ( 1974, 1981, & 2016)
with Paul Rutherford	Iskra 1903 (1970 & 1972) Sequences 72 & 73 (1972, 1973, & 1974)
with London Jazz Composers' Orchestra	Ode (1972) Zurich Concerts (1987 & 1988) Harmos (1989) Double Trouble (1989) Theoria (1991) Double Trouble Two (1995) Radio Rondo/Schaffhausen Concert (2008)
with the Barry Guy New Orchestra	Inscape–Tableaux (2000) Oort–Entropy (2004)
with Evan Parker	Atlanta (1986) 50th Birthday Concert (1994) Bush Fire (1995) The Redwood Session (1995) Natives and Aliens (1996) Toward the Margins (1996) At the Vortex (1996) Drawn Inward (1998) After Appleby (1999) Memory/Vision (2002) Birds and Blades (2002) Boustrophedon (2004) The Moment's Energy (2007) Live at Maya Recordings Festival (2011) Music for David Mossman (2016)
with Mats Gustafsson	You Forget to Answer (1994 & 1995) Gryffgryffgryffs (1996)
with Marilyn Crispell	Cascades (1993) Odyssey (1990) Ithaca (2003) Phases of the Night (2007) Deep Memory (2015)
with Cecil Taylor	Nailed (1990) Melancholy (1990)
with Bill Dixon	Vade Mecum (1993) Vade Mecum II (1993)
with Roscoe Mitchell	Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3 (2004)
Related articles	Spontaneous Music Ensemble

Ichnos (album)

Reception

Track listing

Personnel

References

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