Lol Coxhill
b. Lowen Coxhill, 19 September 1932, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. Coxhill first attracted attention in the early '60s playing soprano saxophone with a startlingly wide variety of bands. In his early career, he was at home playing with R&B singers, rock groups, free jazz ensembles and was especially adept playing unaccompanied solos. On occasion, he would also happily sit in with traditional bands, making no attempt to adapt his forthright and contemporary style and yet improbably making the results work. In the '70s and '80s Coxhill was involved with such musicians as Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath, Bobby Wellins, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey and Tony Coe; he worked frequently with pianist Steve Miller, was co-leader of the now-defunct Johnny Rondo Trio, and is now a member of two regular groups— the Recedents (with Mike Cooper and Roger Turner) and the Melody Four (actually a trio, with Tony Coe and Steve Beresford). For a while in the early '80s, he was a guest member of the punk group, the Damned. In the '70s he also began to develop a sideline career as an actor, and has appeared in a number of plays in the theatre and on television: he was also the subject of the documentary film, FROG DANCE. A strikingly original player, Coxhill's fiercely independent approach to his music has always been leavened by his droll sense of humour and a broad-minded eclecticism—in the early '90s he was playing early jazz with bassist Dave Green, singing Marx Brothers songs with the Melody Four and continuing his total improvisations both solo and with the Recedents.