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Lol Coxhill

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Lol Coxhill
Coxhill at the Red Rose Club, North London, 2007
Coxhill at the Red Rose Club,
North London, 2007
Background information
Birth nameGeorge William Lowen Coxhill
Born19 September 1932
Portsmouth, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Died10 July 2012(2012-07-10) (aged 79)
London, United Kingdom
GenresFree improvisation
Instrument(s)Soprano saxophone, sopranino saxophone

George Lowen Coxhill (19 September 1932 – 10 July 2012),[1] generally known as Lol Coxhill, was an English free improvising saxophonist and raconteur. He played the soprano or sopranino saxophone.

Biography

Coxhill was born to George Compton Coxhill and Mabel Margaret Coxhill (née Motton) at Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK. He grew up in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and bought his first saxophone in 1947. After national service he became a busy semi-professional musician, touring US airbases with Denzil Bailey's Afro-Cubists and the Graham Fleming Combo. In the 1960s he played with visiting American blues, soul and jazz musicians including Rufus Thomas, Mose Allison, Otis Spann, and Champion Jack Dupree. He also developed his practice of playing unaccompanied solo saxophone, often busking in informal performance situations. Other than his solo playing, he performed mostly as a sideman or as an equal collaborator, rather than a conventional leader - there was no regular Lol Coxhill Trio or Quartet as would normally be expected of a saxophonist. Instead he had many intermittent but long-lasting collaborations with like-minded musicians.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was a member of Canterbury scene bands Carol Grimes and Delivery[2] and then Kevin Ayers and the Whole World.[3]

He became known for his solo playing and for work in duets with pianist Steve Miller[4][5] and guitarist G. F. Fitzgerald.

He was thought to have largely inspired Joni Mitchell's song "For Free", while busking solo on the old footbridge which formed part of the Hungerford Bridge between Waterloo and Charing Cross.[6]

Coxhill collaborated with other musicians including Mike Oldfield, Morgan Fisher (of Mott the Hoople), Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath and its musical descendant The Dedication Orchestra, Django Bates, the Damned, Hugh Metcalfe, Derek Bailey and performance art group Welfare State.

He often worked in small collaborative groups with semi-humorous names such as the Johnny Rondo Duo or Trio (with pianist Dave Holland - not the bassist of the same name), the Melody Four (characteristically a trio, with Tony Coe and Steve Beresford), and The Recedents (with guitarist Mike Cooper and percussionist Roger Turner), known as such because the members were (in Coxhill's words) "all bald", though the name may additionally be a play on the American band the Residents. Typically these bands performed a mix of free improvisation interspersed with ballroom dance tunes and popular songs. There was humour throughout his music but he sometimes felt it necessary to tell audiences that the free playing was not intended as a joke.

Coxhill was compere and occasional performer at the Bracknell Jazz Festival, and a raconteur as well as a musician; he often would introduce his music by saying the words, "what I am about to play you may not understand". It was following a performance at Bracknell that he recorded the melodramatic monologue Murder in the Air.

Discography

As leader

  • Ear of Beholder (Dandelion)
  • Toverbal Sweet (Mushroom Records)
  • Fleas In Custard with guitarist G.F. Fitzgerald. Caroline
  • Miller/Coxhill (with Steve Miller on piano) (Caroline)
  • The Story So Far...Oh Really! with Steve Miller (credited as Stephen Miller) piano (Caroline)
  • Welfare State/Lol Coxhill with Welfare State Theatre Group (Caroline)
  • "Murder In The Air" (12" Single)
  • Diverse (Ogun)
  • The Joy of Paranoia (Ogun)
  • Frogdance. Channel 4 soundtrack
  • The Promenaders with other free-improvisers busking on Brighton seafront Y Records
  • Digswell Duets (Random Radar Records)
  • French Gigs with Fred Frith (AAA)
  • Echoes of Duneden with guitarist G. F. Fitzgerald
  • Three Blokes FMP
  • Chantenay 80 (with Maurice Horsthuis and Raymond Boni) (nato)
  • Instant replay (nato)
  • The Dunois Solos (nato)
  • Cou$cou$ (nato)
  • 10:02 (with Daniel Deshays) (nato)
  • Café de la place (nato)
  • Halim (with Pat Thomas) (nato)
  • The rock on the hill (with Barre Phillips and JT Bates) (nato)
  • The Hollywell Concert (SLAM)
  • The Inimitable (Chabada - 10" LP)
  • Before My Time (Chabada - 10" LP)
  • Slow Music with Morgan Fisher (Pipe Records)
  • two tracks for Miniatures 1 & 2, produced by Morgan Fisher (Cherry Red Records)

As sideman/session player

With The Recedents

  • 1987, Barbecue Strut - Nato
  • 1991, Zombie Bloodbath On The Isle Of Dogs - Nato
  • 2014, Wishing You Were Here (5CD Box set) - Freeform Association

Filmography

  • Frogdance, a documentary about Coxhill, was shown by Channel 4 (1987)
  • Appearance as a butler in Sally Potter's 1992 film Orlando
  • Cameo appearance in the season-five episode "A Much Underestimated Man" of the TV detective series Strangers (a precursor to the series Bulman)
  • Appearance as a priest in Derek Jarman's 1986 film Caravaggio

Further reading

  • The Bald Soprano: A Portrait of Lol Coxhill by Jeff Nuttall. Nottingham, Tak Tak Tak, 1989.
  • The Sound of Squirrel Meals: The Work of Lol Coxhill edited by Barbara Schwarz, Black Press, 2006.

References

  1. ^ "Jazz breaking news: Saxophonist Lol Coxhill Dies Age 79", Jazzwise (website), 10 July 2012
  2. ^ Wynn, Ron. "Lol Coxhill: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  3. ^ Smith, David Ross. "Kevin Ayers and the Whole World: Shooting at the Moon". Allmusic. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  4. ^ Jones, Nic (28 August 2007). "Extended Analysis: Steve Miller/Lol Coxhill: The Story So Far...Oh Really?". All About Jazz. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  5. ^ Kelman, John (24 July 2007). "Cd/LP Review: Miller/Coxhill Coxhill/Miller / "The Story So Far..." "...Oh Really?"". All About Jazz. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  6. ^ Walters, John L (11 July 2012). "Guardian obituary". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
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