![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpRPcykqymiAuP4DYEyw7te7zzytXBPcO28eqjRVp1NjK7fjCO8Mz_roX1TYy22i0gFYLNlr-KXYc0eQllaBAU0wGYBpe9TEqrJPKh502vFsc2cjH0vZ67dBv0zdPxfAhLtePLrCfYzhPXyK-pW0Zh4ZnHQNSGkUAQg-4UAtg5_pSB356tAbz4j5Mf/s1600/lol3.jpg)
He's been dead ten years, but somehow I always find myself looking at the personnel of whatever I am listening to and he's on it.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-2ICdfrEIAaE3MOsn9icid3FelPk9yA9kdpfoGUpx5JYw4w4V_aaX20wt3-5qHKD3PWqyFGOCNt8jIRGhNHoRjyUofYU5FiN2rfo5jcV2M8ptVnaYf_4n201mtcdKe-XdRw2UsPF9JALRdaiE3i-J1FgYQaejbNBo8PcV7kxBv9VUlRb__QBEpojE/s1600/lol4.png)
These free improvisers, it's hard sometimes to distinguish them in the non-idiomatic, extemporaneous context, which can often resemble a cacaphonous maelstrom of unrelated sounds to the uninitiated ear.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzPa6uz0xk7U_UZJ6mgCKPJyEWyt9QN8o8lptPk6v9AZFSOYn1SJyleuXnpul0hLro7elGnlcb2TyTlsPy3xgZk_MXet6SIVbUO6pQXKnOrO7WyaDukA1OC0BUIuiPdQzkd23sVekep6ZoggSm0cugFTKjkdeuqtD_UrjCm89oHM0bVDHsDOI0fYZf/s320/lol5.jpg)
A few of them are recognizable from a passel of notes or noises, as with Derek Bailey's guitar scrapings or Evan Parker's half-hour-long, circular breathing displays.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7_cX3HBmGP7ZZzEIhWdNTI9peDJWr95KC-BVixGw6kNYqZBW8cSqDII-8yAK77QOse5TLuRZTHuPoz87k-zK_WpkvbPsKNOkQ2MjouyjfP53QkLcv91dQT_3ia8LW76OS0DjpUZWB7zpGuYXe9WVbI7AAa-VfjrxUltEPSR61_VaaH53eRdVZKXZo/s1600/lol6.jpg)
None more so than Lol Coxhill, perhaps along with Steve Lacy the primary exponent of the soprano saxophone since Coltrane.... and no, Kenny G doesn't count.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtAHa_0xSlxN4wmzrWA0PHOKZx6E6m9NkCcQHc80KDPuWzSn3YBxxD3U5hv59PbfXVV0KhYL2fsBGS29B4gOSMBEvpvyC4EY3N3HXOVBc9I_oPWMUYgluV69MrergtFSJ0ynfVqnGU3QYWoxCtl52RycN-dc9uOvcBy7Kg-AziWex9zm6fD0CU-r4K/s320/lol7.webp)
What I adore about the music of Lol Coxhill is the playfulness of it. The free improv stuff sometimes lacks that and takes itself so seriously, but his stuff always retains a sense of fun and of the wonder and joy of being alive.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQdt299eejx9pju5TxtptBkN2kM1EZ1sP9c7YdLHVvqJgN30dRu3LNUOtr40ajOXvJYl2oVfLWtlKQ_TDiu0OUKivzURBmg4k4pZ13kAyiPcyGNNCOXsK2DtV-Z2RqZr6PbGh84ZHHVEZ2npBYKSE_7uMdroTxqkdtGhTQvWpiR3oGasRaxC4QHR1u/s320/lol9.jpg)
If you love or are at all interested in the free improvising scene -- especially in the UK -- of the last 50 years, it's nearly impossible to avoid him.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGgEW3woxpWr-1T6iYBbAigHZGTn2IcTBrZX4ciDcKG0Xv7yPpyQJYVbJes99rXVkLMhbadHvhySv2UagAYOX7741TrLHVAfagBjkd1GnHHo8qbcIenzhGh-gLc6pkJzqKP0MbwKRc005zyMl7RISGqOawx8htAZoOfukxaJpJhPW8KP-SDeJhoims/s1600/lol10.jpg)
Anyway he'd have been a big 90 today, and I've always wanted to have him on here despite the fact that unissued recordings of him are kind of scarce.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9CKhyQch6PppI3BCbpDPp_obA7XLpFwsteyKRdj7L7BVbqcujkd_r9_XIYFGe6C3c7Mq0R3RjjYJ8vvxWyIHmWsPHOAbvWC1eHzsrQiy561BUQCGdpKbqLkogow_e5Ck0arX-o6HOLSrCAJV8z3suPG5tUFZxFjQX4pYfV7_CDEOOSayN_J9mZQNe/s320/lol11.jpg)
But here's one! So well captured by RAI Radio 3 too, with all the elements that make Lol Coxhill a giant in this kind of musical expression.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8CcOrvQ1AgJkEmcgod75cvlymnJD9FEfMlNDIeQqnDf0cPp3d2eQjTUp8x-mWTnomzEaII7D97whhEos6sNnKFuy7VxLxMTCf9Vkdu0SNCeRQ-kF_xuCM0IKMNHqW1EUE6sk5DkCx5APbWqsiYrFhCHSJgt-MWf5TOky9EBxFheW4IBTUestBb_m2/s320/LC09.jpg)
Lol Coxhill
Centro Produzione Radiofonica
Sala A
Via Asiago
Rome, Italy
10.19.2009
01 Solo
02 Quartet
03 Trio
04 Sextet
Total time: 51:45
all titles are fully improvised
Lol Coxhill - soprano & sopranino saxophones
Roberto Bellatalla - bass (Tracks 02 & 04)
Luca Venitucci - piano & accordion (Tracks 02 & 04)
Luca Tilli - cello (Tracks 02 & 04)
Mike Cooper - guitar & electronics (Tracks 03 & 04)
Fabrizio Spera - drums & percussion (Tracks 03 & 04)
pre-FM reels of an "Il Cartellone - Suite Jazz" broadcast on Italian Radio 3, presumably sourced from the RAI archives
diginoises at the end of all tracks removed by EN, September 2022
337 MB FLAC/direct link
337 MB FLAC/direct link
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOnhlQFo7iK5A_TW10DzDO5MVtqs_24pogxEgBnnZvglRPzT4u_OF6YjDdOWMdWIUey6G23pyBsdQY-g3aAO3fzCY-v9yk_stuX_WhqL6nV3QYN75RmbNEXOPKucfFqTQNzA4rpRlfm2_QG9LeIfPtozt82ZY9NsCK3hNAPkELWn6UD0gRi82AamUZ/s320/lol12.jpg)
I shall return with one more super milestone birthday -- this one's still alive and kicking! -- towards the end of the month.