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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

Read "Greg Osby e il Questionario di Proust" reviewed 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, ...

3
Album Review

Benjamin Boone: Caught in the Rhythm

Read "Caught in the Rhythm" reviewed 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 ...

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Album Review

Arbenz / Krijger / Osby: Conversation #9: Targeted

Read "Conversation #9: Targeted" reviewed 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 ...

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Album Review

Tyshawn Sorey Trio +1 (with Greg Osby): The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism

Read "The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism" reviewed 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 ...

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Album Review

Doug Webb: The Message

Read "The Message" reviewed 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 ...

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Album Review

Kelvin Sholar Trio: Rites of Fire

Read "Rites of Fire" reviewed 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 ...

3
Album Review

Benjamin Boone: The Poetry of Jazz

Read "The Poetry of Jazz" reviewed 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 ...

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Education

Music Education Monday: Saxophone master classes with Greg Osby

Music Education Monday: Saxophone master classes with Greg Osby

Source: 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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Festival

Greg Osby And Cohort Of Rising Stars Present 4-Night International Jazz Festival In New York

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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Opinion

Greg Osby on the Audience and Musicians Who Play for Themselves...

Greg Osby on the Audience and Musicians Who Play for Themselves...

Source: 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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Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Greg Osby, Craig Pomranz, Sinatra Songbook, Funky Butt Brass Band's "Holiday Brasstravaganza," and More

Jazz This Week: Greg Osby, Craig Pomranz, Sinatra Songbook, Funky Butt Brass Band's "Holiday Brasstravaganza," and More

Source: 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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Video / DVD

STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Greg Osby Sampler

STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Greg Osby Sampler

Source: 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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Opinion

Top 10

Top 10

Source: 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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Radio

Greg Osby Broadcasting Live from the Viillage Vanguard This Tuesday, August 3

Greg Osby Broadcasting Live from the Viillage Vanguard This Tuesday, August 3

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman


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Interview

Saxophonist Greg Osby Interviewed at AAJ...And More

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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Performance / Tour

Greg Osby and Sara Serpa Perform at the Village Vanguard

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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Education

Saxophonist Greg Osby at Middle Tennessee State University; Murfreesboro, TN

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 ...

Don Byas
saxophone, tenor
Sonny Rollins
saxophone
Art Tatum
piano
Earl Bostic
saxophone, alto
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
saxophone, tenor
Von Freeman
saxophone, tenor
Bunky Green
saxophone, alto
Eddie Harris
saxophone, tenor
Joe Henderson
saxophone
Ben Webster
saxophone, tenor
Matthias Kohler
saxophone, alto

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Caught in the Rhythm

Origin Records
2023

buy

Minimalism

Inner Circle Music
2023

buy

Conversation #9:...

Hammer Productions
2023

buy

The Message

Posi-Tone Records
2022

buy

Rites of Fire

KASMAVTSU Records
2021

buy

Mississippi 1955 Confessional

From: Caught in the Rhythm
By Greg Osby

Microburst

From: Lincoln Memorial
By Greg Osby

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