Jazz Articles about Greg Osby

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Greg Osby: Symbols of Light (A Solution)

by David Adler
August 1, 2001

Both Ted Nash and Tom Harrell have explored the “double quartet" concept. Now we can add to the list Greg Osby, whose music sounds nothing at all like theirs. Supplementing his working quartet (Jason Moran, Scott Colley, Marlon Browden) with a string quartet, Osby heightens the dark, austere quality of his harmonies. This results in some of the most moving music of Osby’s career. On the whole, it’s more striking and focused than last year’s Invisible Hand. It also features ...

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Greg Osby: Symbols Of Light (A Solution)

by Mark Corroto
July 1, 2001

With ten previous Blue Note recordings now behind him, Greg Osby’s jazz ship still flies under jazz stardom’s radar. Perhaps it is because he has neither taken the Young Lion’s bebop-rehash approach to music, nor shunned popular appeal and played free jazz. His music, like Charlie Parker 45 years before him, has always been about taking the next logical step in jazz. In his early years, teamed with the M-BASE collective, Osby pushed the musical boundaries outward. Like bebop’s “Chinese ...

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Greg Osby: The Invisible Hand

by John Sharpe
June 1, 2000

It’s always been a sign of respect and acceptance in the jazz world when the “old pros” partake in a session with the new kid on the block. The fact that legendary veterans Jim Hall (guitar) and Andrew Hill (piano) were enthusiastic participants on Greg Osby’s new CD speaks volumes for this “newcomers” talent. Both men wrote a selection for the album; with Hall contributing the melancholy, classically influenced Sanctus and Hill penning the adventurous Ashes. Overall, The Invisible Hand ...

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Greg Osby: The Invisible Hand

by Jim Santella
April 1, 2000

What is the invisible hand?

Maybe it’s the helping hand Greg Osby gets on his 14th Blue Note album from veterans Jim Hall and Andrew Hill. We could all use a helping hand like that from time to time. They’ve each written one selection for The Invisible Hand. Hill’s “Ashes" lopes along with a dramatic sense of adventure, while the guitarist’s “Sanctus" marches solemnly in step with French and Spanish classical sounds. Osby’s three ballads appear intimate and dreamy. While ...

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Greg Osby: The Invisible Hand

by Mark Corroto
March 1, 2000

Greg Osby has come a long way from his beginnings in St. Louis playing funk and R&B. His sound crossed our radar screens after moving to Brooklyn and joining forces with Steve Coleman in the mid-‘80s to form M-BASE, an urban-beat driven jazz. Osby had a very calculated, sometimes emotionless sound. It was if he was working equations in his head as he played. Where his older recordings suffered from a staid studio approach, his recent effort, Banned In New ...

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Greg Osby, Stefon Harris, Mark Shim, Jason Moran: New Directions

by Jim Santella
March 1, 2000

Another modern mainstream sextet plays standards. Not exactly. It’s true that Greg Osby, Stefon Harris, Mark Shim and Jason Moran are four of the most exciting younger cats to come along in years. And it’s true that they’re playing classic tunes from the modern mainstream vocabulary. But this front line is made up of two saxophones, giving the ensemble a unique sound quite apart from a standard lineup. What’s more, their treatment of these familiar melodies is nothing at all ...

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Jason Moran: Soundtrack to Human Motion

by David Adler
October 1, 1999

Can we all just agree that this is the debut of the year, if not the record of the year? Jazz has seen its share of excellent young players, but 24-year-old pianist Jason Moran really raises the bar with his superb Soundtrack to Human Motion. Moran explains the title as follows: “I like to think this recording could serve as the soundtrack to all movements a human might make in a given dayï." If only my daily movements were anywhere ...