"I refrained from doing a project like this for a long time," says Greg Osby of Channel Three, his 16th album for Blue Note since he signed with the label in 1990, and his first trio recital.
Never one to back down from a challenge, Osby can reflect on an iconoclastic Blue Note oeuvre that includes a project framing his tart alto saxophone sound with strings (
Symbols Of Light); the visionary juxtaposition of legendary elders Andrew Hill and Jim Hall (
The Invisible Hand); a two-sax pairing with tenor titan Joe Lovano (
Friendly Fire); various acoustic investigations of his structurally rigorous, off-kilter compositions (
Art Forum,
Further Ado,
Zero,
Inner Circle); a burning, "bootleg-esque" club performance (
Banned In New York); and, most recently,
St. Louis Shoes and
Public, both heady deconstructions of the jazz tradition. Some of these sessions include trio songs, but none comprise exclusively music for saxophone, bass and drums.
"A lot of trios I've heard sound like they were originally intended to be quartet dates," Osby states, explaining his past reluctance to eschew a chordal instrument. "They lack the cohesion, depth and sense of purpose necessary to make it work. A lot of artists-including myself-have done things prematurely, with insufficient personal seasoning or apprenticeship."
Osby's own '80s and '90s apprenticeship included challenging employment with musicians like Jon Faddis, Jack DeJohnette, Andrew Hill, Herbie Hancock, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Jim Hall, and exploratory collaborations with contemporaries Steve Coleman, Geri Allen and Cassandra Wilson during the fabled years of M-BASE. He's recently documented duos with drum-master Andrew Cyrille and impressionistic pianists Marc Copland and Masabumi "Poo" Kikuchi; recorded the rhythmically complex music of Turkish guitarist Timucin Sahin; and shared a front line with Wynton Marsalis at New York's Jazz Standard last spring. Like Marsalis, he's launched some of the next generation's best and brightest, employing such present stars as Edward Simon, Jason Moran, Stefon Harris, Eric Harland, and Rodney Green at the beginning of their careers.
On Channel Three, Osby unveils his latest discovery, 21-year-old Matthew Brewer, out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and his bassist of choice since 2002. "Matt is a wunderkind, a technical wizard, and has amazing powers of retention," Osby says. "He amazes me with his level of reference, the scope and breadth he brings to each musical scenario. This is very difficult bass music-I wrote it on the saxophone, and he had to play it in tandem with me-and he didn't blink."
On drum set is Jeff "Tain" Watts, one of this era's most prominent drummers, and Osby's friend since both attended Berklee School of Music a quarter century ago. Watts previously appeared with Osby on 1996's Art Forum.
"Jeff has an elastic feel," Osby says. "The pulse is constant, but things fluctuate, which augments the humanity of a situation. It's deliberately loose; and it sounds and sometimes feels like you're in the midst of cacophony, but the playing is well controlled and deliberate. It's a wonderful environment to be in; if you lapse into your own world and don't respond, he'll steamroll right over you.
"I knew Tain would bring a contemporary perspective to environments that someone older or without his particular skills might take in a dramatically different direction. I write very specific drum music, and Tain sight-read it exactly, played the variants I wanted, and made them his own. He has perfect pitch, a
