Greg Osby | |
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![]() Osby performing in 2008 | |
Background information | |
Born | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | August 3, 1960
Genres | Free jazz, free funk, M-Base |
Occupation(s) | Musician, record label owner |
Instrument(s) | Saxophone |
Years active | 1980–present |
Labels | JMT, Blue Note |
Website | www |
Greg Osby (born August 3, 1960 [1] ) is an American saxophonist and composer.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, then at the Berklee College of Music. [1] He moved to New York City in 1982, where he played with Jaki Byard, Jim Hall, Muhal Richard Abrams, Andrew Hill, Jack DeJohnette, Dizzy Gillespie, and Herbie Hancock. [2] In 1985, he joined DeJohnette's group Special Edition. [2] With Geri Allen, Steve Coleman, Gary Thomas, and Cassandra Wilson, he was a founding member of the M-Base Collective. [3]
Osby began recording albums under his own name for JMT Records in the mid-1980s, then signed with Blue Note in 1989. [2] In 2007, he formed his own label, Inner Circle Music. [2] He gave exposure to young pianist Jason Moran, [4] who appeared on most of Osby's 1990s albums, including Further Ado, Zero, Banned in New York and Symbols of Light, a double quartet featuring the addition of a string quartet to the band. [5]
He has also played with Phil Lesh and Friends, and he has toured with the Dead, a reincarnation of the Grateful Dead. [6] He received the Playboy Magazine Jazz Artist of the Year award for 2004 and 2009. [7]
Nate Chinen, writing for The New York Times , called Osby "a mentor and a pacesetter, one of the sturdier bridges between jazz generations," and stated that he has "a keen, focused tone on alto saxophone and a hummingbird's phrasing, an equilibrium of hover and flutter." [8]
Title | Recorded | Label | Released | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Greg Osby and Sound Theatre | May–June 1987 | JMT | 1987 | |
Mindgames | May 1988 | JMT | 1988 | |
Season of Renewal | July 1989 | JMT | 1989 | |
Man-Talk for Moderns Vol. X | October–November 1990 | Blue Note | 1991 | |
3-D Lifestyles | Blue Note | 1993 | ||
Black Book | Blue Note | 1995 | ||
Art Forum | Blue Note | 1996 | ||
Further Ado | Blue Note | 1997 | ||
Zero | January 1998 | Blue Note | 1998 | |
Banned in New York | Blue Note | 1998 | Live | |
Friendly Fire | December 1998 | Blue Note | 1999 | with Joe Lovano |
New Directions | May 1999 | Blue Note | 2000 | with Stefon Harris, Jason Moran, Mark Shim |
The Invisible Hand | September 1999 | Blue Note | 2000 | with Gary Thomas, Andrew Hill, Jim Hall, Scott Colley, Terri Lyne Carrington |
Symbols of Light (A Solution) | January 2001 | Blue Note | 2001 | |
Inner Circle | April 1999 | Blue Note | 2002 | |
St. Louis Shoes | January 2003 | Blue Note | 2003 | |
Public | January 2004 | Blue Note | 2004 | Live |
Channel Three | February 2005 | Blue Note | 2005 | |
9 Levels | August 2008 | Inner Circle Music | 2008 |
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