Greg Osby
Greg Osby (* 3. August 1960 in St. Louis , Missouri ) is an American jazz - saxophonist .
Training and first years as a sideman
As a child, Osby received training in clarinet , flute and alto saxophone . He began his professional musical career in 1975. From 1978 he studied at Howard University and from 1980 to 1983 at Berklee College of Music . He then worked in New York City a . a. with musicians like Herbie Hancock , Dizzy Gillespie , Andrew Hill , Muhal Richard Abrams , Jim Hall and Jaki Byard . In 1985 he became a member of Jack DeJohnette's group Special Edition.
Own albums
M-Base, Funk, Fusion and Rap
In 1987 Osby's first album was released on the German label JMT . In the first few years he was part of the aesthetic M-Base collective, which was co-founded by his saxophonist colleague Steve Coleman and which was soon to be joined by musicians like Gary Thomas and Cassandra Wilson . When he switched to Blue Note , he made his first style change and recorded an album marked by fusion and funk with Man-Talk for Moderns Vol. X , which was followed by an album more rap than jazz -dominated with 3D lifestyles . Black Book finally gave a reference to the albums that followed later; in contrast to the two previous albums, jazz took on an equal position next to the other main element, in this case hip-hop .
Osby himself claimed to have never left jazz during this time, electronics and hip-hop were just a different sound environment.
Turning to acoustic jazz
With Art Forum , Osby turned completely to acoustic jazz, without foregoing modern elements, and has stuck with it ever since. At the Further Ado that followed , he introduced Jason Moran , who became a well-known Blue Note musician himself with his debut in 1999. The 1998 Banned in New York is an official bootleg that was recorded directly on DAT . He was then entrusted with a project by Blue Note in which he sponsored the young Blue Note musicians Stefon Harris , Jason Moran and Mark Shim : The album was released in 2000 under the name New Directions . The Invisible Hand went the opposite way, here Osby played together with old masters like Andrew Hill and Jim Hall . In Symbols of Light (A Solution) one was String Quartet involved; it is the last album for the time being (the following release was made two years earlier) with Jason Moran as a band member. Inner Circle , which was created in 1999, again a more experimental work, was only released by Osby in 2002 because he had concerns about the recording Audience. With St. Louis Shoes , Osby brought out a work conceived as an homage to the city of his childhood, in which he partially completely rearranged jazz classics. After the live album Public he recorded the album Channel Three in 2005 with bassist Matthew Brewer and drummer Jeff Watts , where he again broke new ground by doing without a keyboard instrument.
In 2013 he recorded the album Sonic Halo together with the Dutch saxophonist Tineke Postma .
Osby was most recently a professor at Berklee College of Music.
Discography
| title | admission | Release year | Label | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greg Osby and Sound Theater | 05-06.1987 | 1987 | JMT | Date of recording including mix; Republished at Winter & Winter |
| Mindgames | 05.1988 | 1988 | JMT | Republished at Winter & Winter |
| Strata Institute: Cipher Syntax (with Steve Coleman ) |
03-04.1988 | 1989 | JMT | Republished at Winter & Winter |
| Seasons of Renewal | 07.1989 | 1989 | JMT | Republished at Winter & Winter |
| Man-Talk for Moderns Vol. X | 10-11.1990 | 1991 | Blue note | |
| Strata Institute: Transmigration | 03.1991 | 1991 | Rebel-X / DIW / Columbia | |
| 3D lifestyles | k. A. | 1993 | Blue note | |
| Black Book | k. A. | 1995 | Blue note | |
| Art forum | k. A. | 1996 | Blue note | |
| Further Ado | k. A. | 1997 | Blue note | |
| zero | 01.1998 | 1998 | Blue note | |
| Banned in New York | k. A. | 1998 | Blue note | Live album |
| Friendly Fire (with Joe Lovano ) | 12.1998 | 1999 | Blue note | |
|
New Directions (with Stefon Harris , Jason Moran , Mark Shim ) |
05.1999 | 2000 | Blue note | |
| The Invisible Hand | 09.1999 | 2000 | Blue note | |
| Symbols of Light (A Solution) | 01.2001 | 2001 | Blue note | |
| Inner Circle | 04.1999 | 2002 | Blue note | |
| St. Louis Shoes | 01.2003 | 2003 | Blue note | |
| Public | 01.2004 | 2004 | Blue note | Live album |
| Channel Three | 02.2005 | 2005 | Blue note | |
| 9 levels | 08/2008 | 2008 | Inner Circle Music | first release of the label founded by Osby |
| Sonic Halo (with Tineke Postma) | 11.2013 | 2013 | Challenge Records |
Web links
- Entry at allmusic.com
- Greg Osby's website
- Live At The Village Vanguard: Greg Osby Quintet. National Public Radio, August 3, 2010, accessed January 22, 2015
Individual evidence
- ^ Greg Osby - Architect of the Unusual . hjs-jazz.de, 1998
- ^ John Fordham : Tineke Postma / Greg Osby: Sonic Halo review - imaginative contemporary jazz . In: The Guardian , October 9, 2014, review; accessed January 22, 2015.
- ^ Greg Osby Sextet at Jazz Standard .
- ↑ Website of the Inner Circle Music label ( memento of the original from October 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Osby, Greg |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz musician (alto saxophone) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 3, 1960 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | St. Louis , Missouri |