Making his solo debut with 1987’s Sound Theatre, Osby went on to record several sets for the JMT label, also earning notice for his impressive contributions to Hill’s 1989 release, Eternal Spirit, and its follow-up But Not Farewell with 1990’s Man-Talk for Moderns, Vol. Upon graduating from the Berkley School of Music, he settled in New York City and went on to play behind Jack DeJohnette, Andrew Hill, Herbie Hancock, and Muhal Richard Abrams during the mid-80s, Osby also performed alongside Steve Coleman, Geri Allen, Gary Thomas, and Cassandra Wilson as a member of the renowned M-Base Collective.
Louis and played in a series of R&B, funk, and blues units throughout his teen years before attending Howard University. Post-bop saxophonist Greg Osby was born April 3, 1960, in St. Lake has been a consistently outstanding soloist, composer and bandleader since the early 1970s, and is also a published poet. He leads his own funk-reggae group Jump Up, as well as a jazz quartet. Louis Black Artists Group, he moved to New York in 1976 after teaching at the American Centre for Artists and Students in Paris and studying at the Electronic Workshop.
Louis and received professional encouragement from trumpeter Lester Bowie. Oliver Lake (alto and soprano saxes, flute, synthesizer) grew up in St. Louis Black Artists Group, Bluiett’s credits include work with the Gateway Symphony, Charles Mingus, Sam Rivers, Babatunde Olatunji, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye. In addition to his association with the St. He acknowledges the dramatic impact of hearing Ellington baritone saxophonist Harry Carney at a gig in Boston years ago. Hamiet Bluiett (baritone sax, alto clarinet), the most highly regarded baritone saxophonist to emerge in the 1970s and beyond, has superb command of his instrument in every register.
In 1990 Hemphill left the group and was replaced first by Arthur Blythe, then James Spaulding, and later Eric Person. The group’s Dances and Ballads and Rhythm and Blues received critical acclaim, and its signature tune, Hattie Wall, is also a video, directed by Robert Longo. The WSQ, heralded for a repertoire that is exclusively theirs, has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, and Japan, where the ensemble enjoyed major success as part of the Live Under the Sky Festival. Television appearances include two segments on VH-1’s New Visions program and an appearance on NBC’s Night Music. In 1987 they were voted “Best Jazz Group” in the Playboy Reader’s Poll. The WSQ places consistently in the top five groups listed in Down Beat‘s Annual Critic’s Poll. Since then, the group has recorded many albums together, including the critically acclaimed Plays Duke Ellington (Nonesuch), which was voted one of the best albums of 1986 in the New York Times. “We liked it, and started doing gigs at other colleges,” remembers David Murray. Jordan had heard the saxophonists in their individual groups, and hired them to do a show together. The Quartet began performing as a unit in 1976, inspired by Ed Jordan, head of Music at New Orleans Southern University. Originally consisting of saxophonists Murray, Julius Hemphill, Lake, and Bluiett, the World Saxophone Quartet is one of the finest and most unusual small combos in jazz today. They approach Hendrix’s music with both “reverence and a sense of adventure” ( Jazz Times), qualifying this as an evening of unforgettable jazz.
Hailed as “the most original and important group to emerge since Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, and John Coltrane redefined group improvisation in the late 1950s” ( New York Times), this venerable quartet features David Murray, Oliver Lake, Hamiet Bluiett, and Greg Osby, joined by the celebrated Jamaaladeen Tacuma (electric bass), and Lee Pearson (drums). With all the searing intensity of Jimi Hendrix himself, the World Saxophone Quartet pays blistering homage to this ’60s guitar master in a night that’s pure Hendrix (sans flaming instruments) on Saturday, March 10, at 7 and 9:30 pm, in the Walker Art Center’s William and Nadine McGuire Theater. These players get what Hendrix was about.” - SF Weekly “The forward-jazz interpretations of Hendrix’s beloved songbook feel like a natural evolution, a long-overdue fruition, a homecoming.