Greg Osby is an alto saxophonist who need little introduction to jazz fans. He has a style that is comfortable in either mainstream or avant-garde jazz. He has played with jazz greats like Andrew Hill, Herbie Hancock, and Steve Coleman. His own recordings reveal a lighting fast ease with improvisations that can go inside or outside the melody with ease.

There are thirteen well-recorded live performances on his web site that will attest to his talent. The recordings offer a range of settings from duos to quartets to larger groups. The performances of The Greg Osby 4 and the other quartets may be the most representative tracks. In fact, the first eight of the 13 albums are quartet sessions. Of these, my favorite is the session in Amsterdam on Nov. 23rd of 2000 with Jason Moran on piano, Vashon Johnson on bass, Derreck Phillips on drums. Moran also joins Osby for two inspirational duo concerts from Italy. The Symbols of Light ensemble may best be described as a third stream jazz experiment and is distinctive for its’ superlative string arrangements. The Osby-Turner Collective offers some nice mainstream improvisation reminiscent of 60s post-bop. Especially notable are solos by tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, and flugelhorn player Franco Ambrosetti.

These are exemplary examples of modern jazz and highly recommended. The files are mainly 160kbps MP3, but some of the earlier ones are in 128kbps. As always, if you like the music support the artist by buying his CDs.

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