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Greg Osby
Saxophonist, composer, producer, educator and curator Greg Osby has been a formidable presence on the international music scene as a leader of his own ensembles and as a guest artist with other acclaimed groups for the past 39 years. Highly regarded for his insightful and innovative approach to composition and performance, Osby is an inspired voice among the ranks of improvising musicians. He has earned numerous awards and critical acclaim for his recorded works and passionate live appearances and has been recognized by The New York Times as one of the "most provocative musical thinkers of his generation".
Born and reared in St. Louis, Greg Osby began his professional music career in 1975, after three years of private studies on clarinet, flute and alto saxophone. Coming from a vibrant and musical city, Osby showed an early interest in the performing arts and spent his years in secondary school with a heavy involvement in Blues and Jazz groups. In 1978 Osby furthered his musical education at Howard University (Washington, D.C.) where he majored in Jazz Studies. He continued his studies at the Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA) from 1980 to 1982.
Upon relocating to New York in late 1982, Osby quickly established himself as a notable and in demand sideman for artists as varied as Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Jack DeJohnette, Andrew Hill, Freddie Hubbard, Muhal Richard Abrams, Woody Shaw, Jim Hall, Chick Corea, The Grateful Dead as well as with many other international new music ensembles. In addition to his rigorous performance schedule, Osby devotes a generous amount of his time to educational activities. Mr. Osby is also a founding member of the innovative M-BASE music collective.
In 1985 Osby was invited to to join Jack DeJohnette's innovative group, "Special Edition". It was as a member of this ensemble Osby was able to fine tune the more challenging aspects of his conception in an open ended, no holds barred musical situation. Says Osby, "My musical thinking for performance and composition advanced by light years as Jack was open to my input and was very encouraging in pushing me to to maintain a steady flow of experimentation. It marked a major turning point in my development as an artist."
After recording 4 projects for JMT/Polygram, Osby signed with Blue Note Records in 1990 and recorded fifteen outstanding recordings for that label as a leader. In 2007, Osby launched his own label, "Inner Circle Music", which serves as a platform for many of today's brightest artists.
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Greg Osby e il Questionario di Proust
by Paolo Peviani
Il tratto principale della mia musica La mia musica è una chiara rappresentazione dei miei interessi e delle mie priorità . La qualità che desidero nei musicisti che suonano con me Nei musicisti cerco dedizione e integrità. Prediligo anche i giovani musicisti che hanno spiccate capacità di memorizzare musica originale. Come musicista, il momento in cui sono stato più felice Ogni volta che ho ricevuto una chiamata da uno dei miei eroi musicali, ...
Continue ReadingBenjamin Boone: Caught in the Rhythm
by Paul Rauch
The connection between poetry and jazz music is a delicate one. It has been documented so infrequently, in performance and recordings, that one still conjures the flicker of an image of Jack Kerouac reading in some dark Greenwich Village cafe with Steve Allen or Zoot Sims, surrounded by beret-wearing, cappuccino-sipping beatniks. The work of Fresno-based saxophonist Benjamin Boone has assisted in widening that view through four albums recorded for the Origin Records label, including the fourth, Caught in the Rhythm ...
Continue ReadingArbenz / Krijger / Osby: Conversation #9: Targeted
by Chris May
This mind-bending album skewers any notion that modern-day organ trios are all unimaginative bores churning out reheated cliches lifted from Blue Note and Prestige albums of the 1950s and '60s. With that stereotype in mind, one would hesitate to apply the term organ trio" to the collaborative group on Targeted. But its instigator, the Swiss drummer Florian Arbenz, uses the description in his liner notes when introducing Hammond organist Arno Krijger. Arbenz actually calls the band a ...
Continue ReadingTyshawn Sorey Trio +1 (with Greg Osby): The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism
by Troy Dostert
Even for a musician who thrives on unsettling expectations, Tyshawn Sorey's Mesmerism (Yeros7 Music, 2022) caught a lot of listeners by surprise. The inimitable drummer's recordings have long occupied that amorphous space between avant-garde jazz and contemporary classical music, and accessibility" has rarely been the term of choice for his creative output. But utilizing a trio format including pianist Aaron Diehl and bassist Matt Brewer, the album offered six remarkable renderings of classic jazz repertoire, including such time-worn standards as ...
Continue ReadingDoug Webb: The Message
by David A. Orthmann
The trappings of The Message, tenor saxophonist Doug Webb's eleventh release for Posi-Tone Records, are perhaps recognizable to anyone with an interest in jazz conventions. All hands, except for drummer Charles Ruggiero, contribute at least one composition. While some are more adventurous (tenor saxophonist Bob Reynolds' Where Did You Come From?," and alto saxophonist Greg Osby's Nekide") than others (Webb's Caught In The Webb" and organist Brian Charette's Bonnie Lass"), there is nothing here that pushes the envelope or prompts ...
Continue ReadingKelvin Sholar Trio: Rites of Fire
by Franz A. Matzner
A syncretic symphony, Kelvin Sholar's Rites of Fire is the product of 15 years of meditation on the history and esoteric mechanisms of musical expression. The richly satisfying album is unbounded by anything other than Sholar's relentless commitment to self-discovery. Sholar's own resurrection from clinical death to artistic and spiritual rebirth is embedded in the core of the multi-movement composition, which neither defies nor accepts conventional barriers. The piece flows from a space of integration, merging a complex network of ...
Continue ReadingBenjamin Boone: The Poetry of Jazz
by Duncan Heining
Lenny Bruce might have skewered it with his skit, Psychopathia Sexualis." Mike Myers' mildly misogynist poet might have parodied it in the movie I Married an Axe Murderer (1993). It has been dismissed as a late-fifties fad associated with the Beats. And, yet, the desire of poets and jazz musicians to combine their art forms has proven surprisingly durable. Sometimes, the practice is just plain embarrassing and made worse by the reality that those involved, like the man ...
Continue ReadingMusic Education Monday: Saxophone master classes with Greg Osby
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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
For this week's Music Education Monday," we've got some ideas and information for saxophonists in both video and audio form, courtesy of St. Louis native Greg Osby. Osby, now 54 years old, attended Howard University and Berklee. Moving to NYC, in the early years of his career he performed and/or recorded with many jazz greats active in the 1980s, including Jack DeJohnette, Jim Hall, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, and many more. Osby also worked closely fellow alto saxophonist Steve Coleman ...
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Greg Osby And Cohort Of Rising Stars Present 4-Night International Jazz Festival In New York
Source:
Evan Weiss
“Our artists endeavor towards producing works which will reveal the best that fearless and idealistic thinkers can achieve in art music.” —Greg Osby NEW YORK, New York: On September 12-14 and 16, Greg Osby’s independent record label, Inner Circle Music, will present eleven of its daring and forward-thinking artists in live performance in the form of a dynamic and highly varied music festival. Greg Osby himself will appear with his own band, along with a slew of established and up-and-coming ...
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Greg Osby on the Audience and Musicians Who Play for Themselves...
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The Independent Ear by Willard Jenkins
Continuing our dialogue on the audience equation for creative music, which heretofore has focused on the puzzling conundrum of the African American audience, the always thoughtful saxophonist-composer and record label (Inner Circle www.innercirclemusic.com) head Greg Osby weighs in on the audience in general, with a particular emphasis on calling into question musicians who only seem to play for their own self-aggrandizement and that of their peer musicians. A recent conversation with one of my colleagues was both illuminating and also ...
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Jazz This Week: Greg Osby, Craig Pomranz, Sinatra Songbook, Funky Butt Brass Band's "Holiday Brasstravaganza," and More
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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
As December goes on, the number of touring acts out on the road usually drops rather precipitously, but this weekend's schedule of jazz and creative music does feature homecoming performances from a couple of St. Louis natives who have enjoyed wider success, as well as some noteworthy gigs from local players. Tonight, saxophonist Greg Osby (pictured) returns home to open a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro. Osby will be performing with his regular working group, sometimes referred to ...
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STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Greg Osby Sampler
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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
This week, let's check out some clips of saxophonist, composer and St. Louis native Greg Osby, who will be returning home to play Wednesday, December 14 through Saturday, December 17 at Jazz at the Bistro. Osby, 51, first left St. Louis in 1978 to study at Howard University, and later Berklee College of Music. He began gaining recognition in the 1980s through his work with veteran leaders such as drummer Jack DeJohnette, pianist ...
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Top 10
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Indaba Music Artist in Residence with Greg Osby
I remember when I first started going to jazz festivals as a fan and eventually as a participant. I was in my late teens and early twenties when I made the observation that, each year, the same personalities and groups were appearing on all of the festivals. I'm talking late 70s and early 80s. The lineups would then consist of maybe Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Williams, the MJQ, Tony Bennett, Dave Brubeck, Nancy Wilson, Oscar Peterson and others that I, being ...
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Greg Osby Broadcasting Live from the Viillage Vanguard This Tuesday, August 3
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
Saxophonist Greg Osby Interviewed at AAJ...And More
Source:
All About Jazz
For over two decades Greg Osby has been at the forefront of modern jazz. As a composer and player he breaks new ground, challenging audiences and the establishment with his complex, propulsive, and ever-evolving music.
Never one to mince words, Osby has built a reputation as a blunt spokesman willing to tell it like it is, whether discussing the state of art, his personal development, or the less appealing aspects of the music business. Now, launching a new label, Osby ...
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Greg Osby and Sara Serpa Perform at the Village Vanguard
Source:
Michael Ricci
A Progressive Who Knows How to Be Here Now
The alto saxophonist Greg Osby has routinely been assessed over the last 20 years as a jazz progressive, the sort of musician who constantly pushes forward. In postbop terms that's high praise, and a kind of trap. It respects the intent of innovation but places a premium on the results, devaluing any effort that isn't a bridge to new terrain. On Tuesday, in the first set of what Mr. Osby described ...
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Saxophonist Greg Osby at Middle Tennessee State University; Murfreesboro, TN
Source:
All About Jazz
The Middle Tennessee State University Department of Jazz Studies is proud to announce saxophonist Greg Osby's residency, November 12-16, 2007. Mr. Osby is well-known throughout the international jazz community as an innovative saxophonist, composer, producer, and educator. He has recorded over fifteen albums as a leader and enjoyed important artistic associations with some the music's most innovative musicians including Andrew Hill, Jack DeJohnette, Steve Coleman, Jim Hall, and Jason Moran. Mr. Osby's activities will include all manners of workshops, covering ...
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Don Byas
saxophone, tenorSonny Rollins
saxophoneArt Tatum
pianoEarl Bostic
saxophone, altoEddie "Lockjaw" Davis
saxophone, tenorVon Freeman
saxophone, tenorBunky Green
saxophone, altoEddie Harris
saxophone, tenorJoe Henderson
saxophoneBen Webster
saxophone, tenorMatthias Kohler
saxophone, altoPhotos
Music
Mississippi 1955 Confessional
From: Caught in the RhythmBy Greg Osby
Microburst
From: Lincoln MemorialBy Greg Osby