THE TONY AWARDS — Spike Wells

…….not for Broadway theatre but for British drummers.

And the winners are………… CROMBIE, OXLEY and LEVIN!

A few months ago I wrote in homage to the great PHIL SEAMEN (see the Musing "Very Able Seamen"). Now I'd like to pay a brief tribute - these are not full, or even necessarily accurate, biographies but just personal experiences and opinions.

TONY CROMBIE

"Laid back" hardly does him justice. I have watched him playing the ride-cymbal with his arm resting on the floor tom-tom for maximum support and minimal effort, a cigarette in a long Noel Coward-style cigarette holder protruding from his mouth.

Don't be fooled, though. He could really swing and was capable of coming up with some very original cross-rhythms. One night at Ronnie's he played some very hip figure and I exclaimed from the audience. Tony looked up in surprise and delight that anyone was actually listening, let alone acknowledging his particular skill.

He was a very early figure on the scene in the 50s, playing with Ronnie Scott and other British be-bop pioneers and at the end of that decade, he made a bold and not unsuccessful foray into the rock scene with a group called "Tony Crombie and the Rockets".

But he continued to be a very fine jazz drummer and I loved the two records he made in the early 60s under his own name with Bobby Wellins in the band, particularly "Jazz Inc" on the Tempo label.

In 1968, Ronnie was experimenting with an octet featuring two drummers, Tony Oxley and A.N.Other, the second chair being filled at one point by T.Crombie.

Not a good idea. Any hint of rivalry or, perish the thought, a drum "battle" was anathema to the suave and relaxed Mr.Crombie and this duo only lasted a few weeks. (I was then asked to play alongside Oxley instead and did so briefly and enjoyably but Ronnie soon disbanded this group.

TONY CROMBIE with SPIKE WELLS at a musicians’ photo shoot in Soho c.1995

Crombie was a real character. We will not see his like again

T.ONY OXLEY

is probably the most enigmatic, infuriating and gifted modern percussionist this country has ever produced.

A blunt Yorkshireman from Sheffield, he cut his musical teeth playing side drum with the Black Watch (3rd Scottish regiment). He decided to take the London scene by storm through writing to pianist Gordon Beck and demanding that Gordon use him on drums.

This may have been typically arrogant but it was true! He fitted superbly with Beck (and bassist Jeff Clyne) in a ground-breaking trio. Then he seemed to be at Ronnie Scott's every night playing with everybody and doing things with the hi-hat beat that nobody had ever thought of. His ride cymbal too was infectious but he always speeded up, deliberately or otherwise!

I found his attitude to the musicians he played with extraordinary ("I fookin'scared 'im!" "I put a boot right up 'is arse!") but his playing was magnificent for those, like Gordon, Alan Skidmore, Kenny Wheeler and others, who could feed off it.

He was very friendly to me (we both endorsed Hayman drums and, although I played in a much more restrained and old-fashioned style, he was lavish in his praise of my big band work.

Tony (having absorbed Gordon Beck's approach to the piano) played superbly on the few occasions when he accompanied Gordon's hero BILL EVANS. I believe Bill wanted him permanently and invited him back to the States but Tony refused.

This must have been because Tony's heart lay in the direction of the avant-garde and he turned from then on to this sphere. His drum kit became unrecognisable. For instance, he sawed off half a petrol tank and used it as a giant cowbell. Whatever bizarre drums and bells he used, he was so musical that he always made the perfect sounds for the occasion.

Tony has so much talent that I personally would have wished to hear more conventional jazz out of him. But he has a very strong sense of vocation and has long been gone to Germany now where he still prolifically produces his weird and wonderful music.

TONY LEVIN

Funnily enough, this Tony concentrated on his own brand of the avant-garde (especially in his group Mujician) as the last stage of his career. But Levin's career had famously been launched way back when Tubby Hayes by sheer luck heard him playing in a band at Birmingham airport and immediately wanted him to come down to London to join his own quartet.

Of course Tony could not resist/refuse (who would?), although he was heavily involved with his father's local furniture business.

This meant not moving from Birmingham and doing all Tubby's gigs, including not-very-well-paid pub gigs at the cost of a great deal of tire rubber and not much sleep.

This was the classic Tubby Hayes quartet of 1966/1967 with Mick Pyne and Ron Matthewson. I remember Mick telling me that he and Ron would blearily make their short way from 80 Sinclair Road W.14 to the Bull's Head, Barnes only to find Tony, drums already set up on the stand and raring to go, having just driven down the M1 (no M40 in those days) from Birmingham.

It was a terrific group and it is a tragedy that its shelf life was cut all too short by Tubby's increasing bouts of ill-health. When Tubby was fit, however, they achieved great things. Not only the magnificent album Mexican Green but roaring live gigs. Fortunately Tony himself had the foresight to record them at the Little Theatre club in Rochester.

Tony's style was amazing. He had strong hands and a huge technique which some say could tempt him to play too loud. Tubby's reaction to such criticism would doubtless be the same as Miles Davis to any complaints about Philly Joe. "I don't care. I need his fire!"

I was in awe of Tony. He had a beautiful little Rogers kit which he got a great sound out of. He was possibly a little old fashioned in his use of the bass drum but his accents were thrilling and his cymbal beat was beautifully flexible. He had started to get that "floppy" Tony Williams feel which I loved and tried to develop.

In the mid 60s, Levin was the drummer to turn to after Tony Oxley had perhaps become a tad too aggressive and unapproachable. Levin made some great records with John Taylor, Stan Sulzmann and others and I remember him grooving with Joe Henderson at Ronnie’s

When Tubby got back on his feet in the Summer of 1968, Tony was unavailable - tied up in Birmingham with the family business as his father had become ill and retired. Tubby needed a new drummer on the spot in London and Ron Matthewson recommended me.

I felt very nervous about filling Tony's shoes. He was very encouraging though and we did one memorable BBC recording together in a Tubby double big band playing 200% PROOF!

The last time I saw Tony was at the Appleby Jazz Festival. He was selling his self-produced CDs and played a lovely set with Gordon Beck and Jeremy Brown. I'm glad we had a chance to hang out.

Tony is sadly gone now but it is wonderful that his son Miles Levin has grown up to be an excellent drummer and is carrying on his dad's tradition.