Pioneering Saxophonist and Composer Greg Osby to Perform with Students at Berklee

January 26, 2007

	Press: to inquire about photo availability and usage, please e-mail us.
	Greg Osby
	Photo by Clay Patrick McBride

Berklee celebrates Black History Month and the college's new Africana Studies curriculum with influential post-bop jazz saxophonist and composer Greg Osby, Thursday, February 8, 8:15 p.m., at the Berklee Performance Center (BPC). Osby will rehearse and teach students throughout the week preceeding the concert, which will feature music associated with his career. General admission is $5 (seniors, $2). Tickets are available at the Berklee box office, at 136 Massachusetts Avenue. Please call 617 747-2261 or visit the BPC website.

Osby, a Berklee alumnus, will be in residence as a Herb Alpert Visiting Professor, giving a series of master classes and clinics, Jan. 29–Feb. 8. The Alpert Professorship, established in 2000 with the support of the Herb Alpert Foundation—the philanthropic organization launched by A&M Records cofounder and multi-Grammy-winning recording artist Herb Alpert—brings to Berklee a steady stream of world-class performance and music industry leaders. Past Alpert Professors have included jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, pianists Alan Broadbent and Michel Camilo, bassist Abe Laboriel Sr., producer/engineer George Massenburg and members of the jazz-fusion band the Yellowjackets.

Greg Osby has made an indelible mark on contemporary jazz as a bandleader and as a guest artist with other acclaimed musicians over the past 20 years. Born in St. Louis, Osby played in a series of r&b, funk, and blues bands before enrolling at Howard University and then Berklee. Upon relocating to New York, Osby quickly became an in-demand sideman for such artists as Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Jack DeJohnette and Andrew Hill. Releasing his solo recording debut with Sound Theater in 1987, Osby went on to make acclaimed contributions to Hill's Eternal Spirit and But Not Farewell; and pioneer the fusion of hip-hop and jazz with 1990's Man-Talk for Moderns, Vol. X—the first of many sessions for Blue Note. In 2003 Osby crossed over into rock music, touring with the Dead, a reincarnation of the Grateful Dead. Channel Three, Osby's most recent album, was released on Blue Note in 2005.

For editorial information or digital photos, the media may contact:

Nick Balkin
Office of Public Information
(617) 747-2247
nbalkin@berklee.edu