Greg Osby

Greg Osby
Osby performing in 2008
Background information
Born	(1960-08-03) August 3, 1960 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Genres	Free jazz, free funk, M-Base
Occupation(s)	Musician, record label owner
Instrument	Saxophone
Years active	1980–present
Labels	JMT, Blue Note
Website	www.gregosby.com

Greg Osby (born August 3, 1960) is an American saxophonist known for his very personal playing style and compositions.

Biography

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, then at the Berklee College of Music. Osby's main instrument is alto saxophone but he occasionally plays soprano saxophone as well. He played with Jack DeJohnette's group Special Edition from 1985-1991and has recorded with Jim Hall and Andrew Hill, among many other legendary icons in music. With Geri Allen, Steve Coleman, Gary Thomas, and Cassandra Wilson, he was a founding member of the M-Base Collective.

He began recording albums under his own name for JMT Records in the 1980s, then recorded for Blue Note in the 1990s. In the 2000s, 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 was named Jazz Artist of Year in the March 2009 issue of Playboy magazine.

Discography

As leader

Title	Recorded	Released	Label	Notes
Greg Osby and Sound Theatre	May–June 1987 (*)	1987	JMT
Mindgames	May 1988	1988	JMT
Season of Renewal	July 1989	1989	JMT
Man-Talk for Moderns Vol. X	October–November 1990	1991	Blue Note
3-D Lifestyles		1993	Blue Note
Black Book		1995	Blue Note
Art Forum		1996	Blue Note
Further Ado		1997	Blue Note
Zero	January 1998	1998	Blue Note
Banned in New York		1998	Blue Note	Live
Friendly Fire	December 1998	1999	Blue Note	with Joe Lovano
New Directions	May 1999	2000	Blue Note	with Stefon Harris, Jason Moran, Mark Shim
The Invisible Hand	September 1999	2000	Blue Note	With Gary Thomas, Andrew Hill, Jim Hall, Scott Colley, Terri Lyne Carrington
Symbols of Light (A Solution)	January 2001	2001	Blue Note
Inner Circle	April 1999	2002	Blue Note
St. Louis Shoes	January 2003	2003	Blue Note
Public	January 2004	2004	Blue Note	Live
Channel Three	February 2005	2005	Blue Note
9 Levels	August 2008	2008	Inner Circle Music

As sideman

With Franco Ambrosetti

• Movies Too (Enja, 1988)
• Music for Symphony and Jazz Band (Enja, 1991)

With Cecil Brooks III

• The Collective (Muse, 1989)

With Uri Caine

• Cipher Syntax (JMT, 1989) as Strata Institute
• The Goldberg Variations (Winter & Winter, 2000)

With Steve Coleman

• Drop Kick (Novus, 1992)

With Robin Eubanks

• Karma (JMT, 1991)

With Gary Thomas

• By Any Means Necessary (JMT, 1989)
• Pariah's Pariah (Winter & Winter, 1998)

With Andrew Hill

• Eternal Spirit (Blue Note, 1989)
• But Not Farewell (Blue Note, 1991)

With Jason Moran

• Soundtrack to Human Motion (Blue Note, 1999)

With Tineke Postma

• Sonic Halo (Challenge Records, 2014)

External links

• Greg Osby – official site