Greg Osby – Public

Public
Greg Osby
(Blue Note – 2004)
by John Thompson
Again, another Osby release not for the faint of heart. While watching the Greg Osby Quartet live at the 2003 Mount Hood Jazz Festival (Portland, Ore.), I marveled at what the group displayed, which was typical Greg Osby music. Much has been written about Osby’s style, so I will not attempt to do so. But the one of the thing that impressed me highly was his technical abilities, which appear on this January 2004 live at the Jazz Standard release called “Public.”

Osby (AS) is found in good company with Nicholas Payton (T), Rodney Green (D), Megumi Yonezawa (P), and ex-Marsalis and Tonight Show bassist Robert Hurst. Don’t expect to recognize Gershwin’s “Summertime,” because the living ‘aint easy here. My favorites are the bop-slathered “Bernie’s Tune” and especially the familiar sounding, Gillespie-Parker tune “Shaw Nuff.” Vocalist Joan Osborne is added on “Lover Man.” – – 4 stars.