1998 · Album
Banned in New York
Recorded 1997, Sweet Basil, New York City · Blue Note · Produced by not specified in available sources
A Live Band Thinking Hard Together
Even at the fastest tempos Osby seems in control, resisting the temptation to go on automatic pilot.
Banned in New York arrived quietly in 1998 but landed with the kind of critical respect that matters in jazz circles. The Penguin Guide to Jazz immediately flagged it as essential listening, and All About Jazz praised it as exactly what a live Osby record should be — a serious band at work, stripped of studio polish. Harvey Pekar heard what makes this music tick: a bandleader who thinks his way through every phrase, never coasting even when the tempo climbs.
Osby recorded this set at Sweet Basil using a MiniDisc placed on the table in front of the band, which gives the sound an intimate, almost documentary quality. You hear Jason Moran on piano finding spaces rather than filling them, Atsushi Osada anchoring the bass lines with clarity, and Rodney Green on drums responding to every gesture. Osby's alto cuts through without aggression — he's conversing, not lecturing. The material stays in hard bop and post-bop territory, which means there's nothing here trying to prove anything beyond straightforward musicianship and group listening.
This is a solid entry point if you want to hear Osby as a bandleader rather than a soloist. It's not flashy or experimental, and that's precisely its strength. Later in his career Osby would explore more adventurous territory, but this document captures a working band at peak efficiency, thinking together in real time.
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More by Greg Osby
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The musicians on this record
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