Greg Osby

Greg Osby (born August 3, 1960) is an American saxophonist and composer.

Biography

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, then at the Berklee College of Music. 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. In 1985, he joined DeJohnette's group Special Edition. With Geri Allen, Steve Coleman, Gary Thomas, and Cassandra Wilson, he was a founding member of the M-Base Collective.

Osby began recording albums under his own name for JMT Records in the mid-1980s, then signed with Blue Note in 1989. In 2007, he formed his own label, Inner Circle Music. He gave exposure to young pianist Jason Moran, 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.

He has also played with Phil Lesh and Friends, and he has toured with the Dead, a reincarnation of the Grateful Dead. He received the ''Playboy Magazine'' Jazz Artist of the Year award for 2004 and 2009.

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."

Discography

As leader

As sideman

;With Franco Ambrosetti