GREG OSBY

ACCLAIMED SAXOPHONIST GREG OSBY
RELEASES PUBLIC ON BLUE NOTE RECORDS;
FEATURING TRUMPETER NICHOLAS PAYTON
WITH A SPECIAL APPEARANCE FROM SINGER JOAN OSBORNE:
HIS FIRST LIVE ALBUM SINCE 1998’S BANNED IN NEWYORK

photo © Lourdes Delgado 2003
Marshalling the new creative forces of some of today’s strongest players, alto saxophonist/composer/bandleader/conceptualist Greg Osby releases hìs first live album in six years with Public, recorded live at New York’s Jazz Standard in January 2004. Refusing to coast on the success of last year’s critically acclaimed and popular St. Louis Shoes, the four time JJA Award winner returns with his new band. The Greg Osby 5, playing songs from that well-received album along with a variety of standards recontextualized from Osby’s unique perspective. On board for the new album are Trumpeter Nicholas Payton. Pianist Megumi Yonezawa, bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Rodney Green. And special guest Joan Osborne, who appeared opening night, offers a haunting rendition of Billie Holiday’s torch classic ‘Lover Man.

The special band that Osby put together for St Louis Shoes returns with a change in the piano chair - Yonezawa, a vibrant newcomer fromi Osby’s current touring band. Payton, again holds down trumpet duties “I wanted to take advantage of having Nicholas Payton present” says Osby. “It isn’t often that I enjoy the luxury of having a foil of Nick’s caliber around for a series of performances”. He could be speaking for the whole band when he adds “It’s really inspiring to be able to relay musical information back and forth with players who are so skillful and who possess such a high level of musicalily”.

Referring to one of two bebop classics on Public that allow him to take advantage of Payton’s presence. Osby relates, “'Shaw Nuff' was a natural choice and allowed me to extend the Charlie Parker / Dizzy Gillespie esthetic with personal alterations, of course. You could say the same for the other bebop classic on Public, the stellar Bernie’s Tune”.

And of corse, the original complement the rest of the date as if they were simply extensions of variations on the better know classics. “'Rising Sun' is based on the harmonic framework of another one of my compositions called 'Minstrale'” Osby states. “And I used the basic format from 'Bluesette' to create an environment for 'Visitation'”. Once again recalling the influence of alto legend Bird when talking about 'Visitation' Osby adds, “This is technique that was used to great effect by Charlie Parker in the 1940’s. He was genius at recostructing existing material and making it sound like himself”. Indeed, the longest tune on the album, 'Visitation' traverses many moods and takes many turns, all of them reflecting Osby’s innovative, transformative knack for dipping in and out of the mainstream of jazz.

Osby met Joan Osborne recently while he was sitting in with rock icons The Dead with whom the singer has been touring this past year Acquainted with her through her hit records and recent appearances with the Motown house band, The Funk Brothers, Osby heard something unaffected and natural in her voice that he felt would work well with his band’s new sound.

On the cutting edge for more than 20 years, the St. Louis native has worked to base his career on anyting but musical clichés. Instead going for broke in the various soul, funk and blues bands of his early years, ha expanded his musical vocabulary first al Howard University in Washington DC, and later Berklee College of Music. Followed by a move to New York in 1983. His drive to create an original sound could be heard on dates led by such iconoclastic leaders as Jack DeJohnette, Herbie Hancock, Andrew Hill Dizzy Gillespie and Jim Hall, among many others. His work with fellow collaborators Steve Coleman and Cassandra Wilson helped to establish a new school of jazz in New York’s late '80s/early '90s.
Downtown scene, M-Base Collective. And right around this time, Osby was sailing into his own future as a recording artist / leader, first for the German label JMT and eventually for Blue Note, the label he’s called home since 1991. His twelfth Blue Note release, Public follows on the heels of St. Louis Shoes in addition to such highly regarded—and stilistically differert—releases as Inner Circle (2002), Symbols Of Light (2001), The nvisible Hand (2000), Zero (1998), and Art Forum (1996).

Perhaps unknown to many listeners, Osby’s first live album Banned in New York was an intentional lo-fi effort that was recorded direct to a budget Mini Disc recorder, placed on a table directly in front of the bandstand. “I am quite fond of that release” Osby smiles, and still receive great comments about how it has inspired others.

“The new recording”, he continues, “was done without any artificial staging, embellishment or audio processing. The result is a truly natural sound that is unlike any live recording, that I have heard or been previously been involved wih. With this recording, I feel as though we caplured exactly what took place during the performance and listeners themselves will feel a part of the total experience”.

May 2004