Jazz Articles about Greg Osby

New Inventions: Greg Osby Debuts Latest Band at Kennedy Center Jazz

by Franz A. Matzner
November 12, 2007

Saturday, October 27, 2007Kennedy Center Jazz ClubWashington, DC Instrumentalist, composer, and band-leader Greg Osby has helped helm jazz's creative resurgence for nearly two decades. At the Kennedy Center last Saturday, he once again proved why he has long been one of modern jazz's most provocative figures. Presenting the official launch of his latest collection of new young voices in a brand new configuration, Osby not only redefined his sound, but ...

Paul Samuels: Speak

by Mark F. Turner
March 23, 2006

The rhythmic pulse of the drum is the heartbeat of music, yet a skilled jazz drummer can add more than just a steady beat--also providing vibrancy and color to the music.Paul Samuels began learning this early on when his father took him to jazz concerts by musicians like McCoy Tyner, Dizzy Gillespie and the great drummer Tony Williams. He also honed his abilities professionally, playing in different settings with many artists, including sax innovator Greg Osby, with whom ...

Project Z: Lincoln Memorial

by David Miller
November 25, 2005

Warts and All, the title of the popular jamband Moe.'s series of full concert releases, signified that the whole thing was there, unedited, with mistakes, wrong turns, everything. Project Z leader Jimmy Herring is very familiar with this philosophy. His early musical education came on the road with Col. Bruce Hampton and his Aquarium Rescue Unit. Says Herring, "[Hampton]'d say, 'Life ain't always good. Why should music be?' If you're tapped into it and you're really giving it ...

Greg Osby Four at the Green Mill

by Paul Olson
September 15, 2005

Greg Osby Four Green Mill, Chicago September 10, 2005Altoist Greg Osby's fronted a lot of terrific bands over the years, but the quartet he brought to Chicago's Green Mill for a two-night stand on September 9-10 can be listed among the best of them. On the Saturday gig of the residency, the Greg Osby Four--composed of Osby, pianist James Gordon Williams, bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Tommy Crane--combined daunting technique with a restless and fearless ...

Greg Osby: Channel Three

by Jim Santella
August 12, 2005

The freedom that saxophonist Greg Osby exhibits on Channel Three allows him to create openly without clutter. The harmony comes through overlapping tones, as saxophone and bass converse and drummer Jeff Watts echoes with various textures. You can even feel the pitches coming from his drum set.

Working without a pianist, the trio opens up. Sustained notes between phrases have to be supplied as a part of their action. There's no room to lay back. Each of the ...

Greg Osby: Channel Three

by John Kelman
August 10, 2005

At some point in their careers, most saxophonists decide to tackle the trio format and do away with chordal instruments, or pick up another linear front line player to provide either the implicit or explicit harmonies inherent in larger groupings. Greg Osby has waited longer than most to tackle the challenging context, but with Channel Three, his 16th release as a leader, he creates a saxophone trio with a difference. That should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with ...

Greg Osby: Channel Three

by Michael McCaw
August 8, 2005

Channel Three, the first trio album in Greg Osby's now almost twenty-year recording career, is one of challenging, accessible, and incessantly swinging music. In many ways it sits in contrast to anything else in his catalog, but it nonetheless also sounds exactly like the alto saxophonist, due to Osby's indomitable spirit.

Such a unique sound is hard to come by as more and more musicians are finding ways to distribute their music--but Osby's bright tone and note-dense, yet ...