Greg Osby

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Greg Osby

| image = Greg Osby photo.jpg

| caption = Osby performing in 2008

| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1960|8|3}}

| birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.

| genre = Free jazz, free funk, M-Base

| occupation = Musician, record label owner

| instrument = Saxophone

| years_active = 1980–present

| label = JMT, Blue Note, Inner Circle Music

| associated_acts =Stata Institute, M-Base Collective

| website ={{URL|www.gregosby.com}}

}}

Greg Osby (born August 3, 1960{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Feather |first1=Leonard |last2=Gitler |first2=Ira |title=Osby, Greg |encyclopedia=The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |pages=508}}) 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/greg-osby |title=Greg Osby: Biography |website=All About Jazz |access-date=February 22, 2022}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/greg-osby-mn0000156900/biography |title=Greg Osby |last1=Ankeny |first1=Jason |website=AllMusic |access-date=4 June 2017}}

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,{{cite book |last=Chinen |first=Nate |title=Playing Changes: Jazz for the New Century |publisher=Vintage Books |year=2019 |pages=106–108 }} 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.{{cite web |url=https://jazzdiscography.com/Artists/Osby/osby-disc.php |title=Greg Osby Discography |first=Ronald |last=Lyles |date=April 6, 2011 |website=JazzDiscography.com |access-date=February 28, 2022}}

He has also played with Phil Lesh and Friends, and he has toured with the Dead, a reincarnation of the Grateful Dead.{{cite web |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/sdut-greg-osby-interview-2014oct24-htmlstory.html |title=Sax Great Greg Osby Transcends the Dead |first=George |last=Varga |date=October 24, 2014 |website=San Diego Union Tribune |access-date=February 28, 2022}} He received the Playboy Magazine Jazz Artist of the Year award for 2004 and 2009.{{cite web |url=https://jazzfuel.com/interview-greg-osby |title=Interview with American Saxophone Great Greg Osby |first=Matt |last=Fripp |date=January 21, 2022 |website=JazzFuel |access-date=February 28, 2022}}

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."{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/arts/music/05osby.html |title=Bridging Jazz Generations Without Nostalgia |first=Nate |last=Chinen |date=August 4, 2010 |website=New York Times |access-date=February 28, 2022}}