Mike Osborne RIP

[clifford_thornton]

Bummer.

MIKE OSBORNE - 28 September, 1942 -2007

With sadness in our hearts, we have to tell you that Mike died this morning after a long battle with cancer.

Although he has not been playing for many years his original and exciting music is still as relevant today, influencing many generations. Please pass this on to any of Mike's friends/collegues I might have missed.

The funeral, which will be held in Hereford, dates and arrangements are not complete, but Louise, Mike's former wife, is arranging matters and would appreciate if anyone will be able to attend to let her know so she can assess numbers for a reception afterwards.

[P.L.M]

He was sick from such a long time.

RIP, Mike.

[Alexander Hawkins]

Really sad - hadn't heard until now. He was a phenomenal player; and a huge loss to all of us he hasn't gigged for so long. Get him and Louis Moholo on the same stand and things really started happening!

[B. Clugston]

A great player whose standing isn't what it should be, partly due to his long illness.

RIP.

Got to listen to his excellent duets with Stan Tracey as a memorial.

[Nate Dorward]

Sorry to hear this. I wish I knew his music better--it's so hard to get hold of much of it, though I have a few sideman appearances.

[ep1str0phy]

Ozzie's been out of the limelight for a while now, but this is still a huge blow. I JUST got a copy of the John Stevens Live at the Plough disc on Ayler, and the alto just smokes on that one...

Osborne just had this tremendous integrity of tone--dark, thick, and bloody, unlike many of his peers in the modern alto camp. It's one of the truly individual sounds for me in European jazz (hell, all jazz)--this Bird-ish kind of piquancy, with so many of the rough edges waxed over and un-jumpy, resolute. I mean, the alto can sound really skittish... Ozzie could and sometimes did play in that angular mode, but for my money he had a most appealing smoothness to harshness ratio--really unique.

...and with his passing the sun really sets on one of the all-time, A1, baddest companies of alto players (Dudu and Elton Dean, too, in my mind, thinking in terms of the Brotherhood). Thinking about the era and ethos that Ozzie comes from (conducting the ever-uphill battle of forming research on the Blue Notes/Brotherhood, I am), there's so much sadness and so, so much beauty in there.

RIP to a real border crosser.

[GARussell]

Very sorry to read this. As I recall I had a few albums in college which he was on, all of them good. The first that comes to mind is Mike Westbrook's Love Songs.

He was in the limelight for only a short while. Maybe now we will see a rediscovery of some of his work.

[king ubu]

rest in peace

great post, ep1!

I am a bit in the same boat as Nate - have heard Osbourne on sideman appearances, both albums and live shows, and always enjoyed his playing there, but I'm not familiar with any of his own recordings.

[ep1str0phy]

Border Crossing is the shite--pretty tough-sounding freebop with a modal bent, featuring the unbeatable rhythm team of Harry Miller on bass and Louis Moholo on drums. It's still available from the Ogun label, paired with a fine but (IMO) lesser date, Marcel's Muse.

Now that was an awesome sax trio, and very special dynamic... Osborne had a very muscular tone and a deliberate air about his phrasing--a true architect, in other words, who somehow managed to evade (or is that cut through?) coming across as self-conscious or workaday. What's interesting in the pairing with Miller and Moholo is that that rhythm duo had a strong personal magnetism, a propulsive capacity that might at times verge on chaos, Miller a hard-toned, rhythmically daring melodicist, Moholo--wildly grooving but at the same time abstract, tricky to disorienting with his accenting, but always crystal clear... a very welcome role-reversal as far as sax trios go, with the body in the horn and the lightness, the destabilizing factors coming out of the rhythm section. In a word: supple.

That trio did things that weren't Border Crossing, but I think that's the best one presently available. Other stuff that's out there (and, IIRC, somewhat illegitimately--did clifford say this?) are the FMR reissues of Outback and Shapes. I have the former album, which augments the Osborne/Miller/Moholo trio with Chris McGregor and Harry Beckett... the record is comprised of two long compositions, both texturally dense and, I think, requiring a strong degree of concentration to really delve into. The Brotherhood rhythm section works wonderfully in the dangerous context of severe harmonic stasis, and the horns solo with gusto (special mention to Harry Beckett who just kicks it here like I've seldom heard elsewhere). (I don't have the second disc, which clifford might be able to comment on, seeing as it features at least one of his favorite bassists...)

And--there's that Ric Colbeck album that seems to never get reissued, which features some of Ozzie's most unhinged playing (an element that never really got across in the Brotherhood, where counterpoint to Dudu sort of meant providing some solid foundation)--some false register stuff that is just insane.

Sadly, I think most of Osborne's output is OOP, maybe to reappear from the admirably-getting-along Ogun CD program, maybe in the ether (who knows?), probably very expensive, but most of it, I'm sure, worth tracking odwn.

[JohnS]

Sad news. Last time I saw Mike play was many years ago. His playing was so intense, I think he had health problems even then. Mre than just a footnote to British jazz.

[B. Clugston]

Because so much of his work is OOP, Osborne is a great blindfold test stumper.

Amongst the in-print stuff, great place to hear him is on the live Harry Miller Isipingo disc.

[clifford_thornton]

That Shapes CD (on FMR) is really nice. Fine playing by Ozzie, with Surman, Skidmore, Moholo, Miller and Earl Freeman along for the ride.

The trio with Miller and Moholo was fantastic - Bordercrossing and the hard-swinging Live in Wilisau also.

Amen on the Colbeck - one of my favorite jazz records!

IIRC, Bordercrossing is in print on CD via Ogun, as is that FMR.

[clifford_thornton]

Oh, and there's a pianoless quartet session that I believe Cuneiform are going to issue. Marcio Mattos is on bass; can't remember the trumpeter or drummer. It's from a live recording circa 1980. I heard it once and enjoyed it quite a bit... will keep everyone posted.

It would have been nice for Ozzie to see the appreciation pouring out in this thread, as it would also have been nice for him to see his works collected in some sort of definitive form - as I'm sure will happen soon enough, whether via Ogun or somebody else.

[ep1str0phy]

I had not heard about the Cuneiform release, and it's apparently not up on their website yet. That is kick ass news.

Re: clifford--are you saying that the FMRs are available via Ogun? I recall hearing that the FMR reissues weren't legit (but, hell, I want them to be!).

[Alexander Hawkins]

Lots of FMRs are available from FMR (www.fmr-records.com) - including Outback, currently on sale.

Don't know a thing about reissue politics etc., but FMR are totally legit AFAIK - certainly with new releases - they just put my record out!

[Chalupa]

Mike Osborne, R.I.P.

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of alto

saxophonist Mike Osborne, or Ozzy as he was affectionately known, less than a fortnight

before what would have been his 65th birthday. The cause was lung cancer.

Osborne, often referred to as the Jackie McLean of Britain, an

appellation of which he would be most proud, came to prominence in the fertile English

jazz scene of the mid '60s. He was a member of the progressive Mike

Westbrook Concert Band and participated in the small ensemble

recordings of John Surman, Ric Colbeck, Harry Beckett and Alan Skidmore. He showed his

versatility playing in the rock projects of Mike Cooper concurrently

with being a member of the hornline of Chris McGregor's Brotherhood

of Breath. Osborne released several recordings under his own name

from 1970 to 1977 on the Turtle and Ogun labels. Notable associations

included a trio with bassist Harry Miller and drummer Louis Moholo, a

duo with pianist Stan Tracey and the horn trio SOS with Surman and

Skidmore, one of the first of its kind.

Osborne's playing was marked by several qualities: excellent

articulation and time, wonderful invention that absorbed both traditional and free

playing (despite his affiliations, he was far more the former than

the latter) and an enthusiasm that manifested itself in some of the

most incendiary playing on the instrument in jazz history. Whether it

in an intimate setting or as part of a large ensemble, Osborne was an

unmistakable voice, one of the finest to come out of a long tradition

of British saxophonists.

Sadly, drug use and mental illness would take its toll by the

beginning of the '80s. Documents exist of Osborne actively playing at

least until 1982 but after that police troubles forced him back to

his childhood home of Hereford (near the Welsh border) where he

remained, first at home then in hospital care, until his death.

Though he did not record after the '70s, recent issues of older

material have brought Osborne's career back into focus - albums by

Harry Miller's Isipingo, the Brotherhood of Breath and John Stevens.

To view his discography is to witness the development of British jazz

into a creative and enduring legacy. A complete list is available at

www.jazzlab.iwarp.com.

Jazz is filled with tragic stories like Osborne's. At the end

of his life, he greatly appreciated that people still remembered him

and his music and still retained some of the beautiful spirit heard

on his recordings. Farewell Ozzy. - Andrey Henkin / Editor, All About

Jazz NY

[relyles]

Oh, and there's a pianoless quartet session that I believe Cuneiform are going to issue. Marcio Mattos is on bass; can't remember the trumpeter or drummer. It's from a live recording circa 1980. I heard it once and enjoyed it quite a bit... will keep everyone posted.

It could possibly come from this radio broadcast, which I have had in my collection for a couple of years now.

Osborne, Mike 10/17/80 3. Kölner Jazzhaus Festival, Musikhochschule, Cologne, Germany

Mike Osborne (as), Dave Holdsworth (tp), Marcio Mattos (b), Brian Abrahams (d)

It is in deed very good and I will be sure to purchase it once it is officially released. To me, Osborne occupies a similar space as Jimmy Lyons in some ways and I have really enjoyed his playing since a friend hipped me to him.

[relyles]

Obituary

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike Osborne

Saxophonist at the heart of the resurgence of British jazz

Richard Williams

Friday September 21, 2007

Guardian

In the late 1960s, as jazz appeared to be losing its base of popular support, a new generation of musicians revitalised the London scene. Prominent among them was Mike Osborne, an alto saxophonist whose playing combined poise and passion in a way that helped banish the inferiority complex long endured by British musicians. For the next few years, Osborne, who has died of lung cancer aged 65, could be numbered among the most outstanding exponents of his instrument, irrespective of nationality.

Prolific to the point of ubiquity during his short time in the spotlight, Osborne was gradually handicapped by mental illness, exacerbated by the strains and indulgences of the jazz life. After several years of increasingly infrequent activity, he finally ceased playing in 1982, returning to Hereford, the town of his birth, where he spent the rest of his life in various forms of care. His long silence deprived jazz of an individual voice characterised by an ardour that seemed to come from somewhere deep within him.

Osborne's father worked as an administrator for the local council and his mother owned a hairdressing business. He was educated at Wycliffe college, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, and arrived in London at 18 to study clarinet, piano and harmony at the Guildhall School of Music.

His gifts and interests led him towards a circle of young musicians surrounding the composer Mike Westbrook, who formed the first of his many bands in 1962 and invited Osborne to become one of its principal soloists, alongside the baritone and soprano saxophonist John Surman, the trombonist Malcolm Griffiths and the trumpeter Dave Holdsworth. This ensemble, usually of between 10 and 12 pieces, became known as the Mike Westbrook Concert Band and made a series of albums that won widespread acclaim.

Although his ease with the idiom of post-bop jazz and his fondness for the work of such American altoists as Jackie McLean and Ornette Coleman was evident from the start, Osborne was no copyist. His originality could be heard in the cadenza and solo that decorate the version of Lover Man, included as part of the potpourri of standard and original tunes making up Release (1968), the second of the Westbrook band's albums. Taking a tune familiar from versions by Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker, he invested it with a new and compelling poignancy.

Soon in demand with other band-leaders, he appeared in Surman's octet, the big bands of John Warren and Kenny Wheeler, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, and Harry Miller's Isipingo. Pianist McGregor, bassist Miller and drummer Louis Moholo, all part of the South African diaspora of the 1960s, formed the rhythm section on the first recording to appear under Osborne's name, a quintet album titled Outback (1970).

Working with the South Africans exerted a powerful effect on Osborne's approach. Alongside Miller and Moholo, in a trio whose activities extended across a decade and were documented in two further albums, Border Crossing (1974) and All Night Long (recorded at the Willisau festival in 1975), he shed the last vestiges of the reserve that had marked his youthful playing, his tone broadening and coarsening to powerful effect as he engaged in three-way interplay with a pair of musicians who had become soulmates. His tone, which had once sounded detached, now possessed a scalding urgency.

He also became a member, with his former Westbrook colleagues Surman and Alan Skidmore, of a saxophone trio called SOS (Surman-Osborne-Skidmore), whose format anticipated those of the World Saxophone Quartet and the Rova Saxophone Quartet. In 1974, SOS spent several weeks at the Paris Opéra, performing music written by Surman and Skidmore for a ballet titled Sablier Prison, created by the American dancer Carolyn Carlson, then newly installed as the company's chorégraphe-étoile. It was the first time that the Opéra had opened its doors to an audience wearing jeans and T-shirts, and it created something of a sensation.

Towards the end of their stay in Paris, however, the symptoms of Osborne's illness became troublesome. After returning to the UK he was committed to the Maudsley hospital, south London, where paranoid schizophrenia was diagnosed. On discharge, he and his wife Louise, from whom he was later divorced, decided to move to Norfolk, with mixed results. His friends tell the story of how, at the end of a regular London gig at the Peanuts club in Liverpool Street one night, he hopped into a black cab and instructed the driver to take him home to King's Lynn.

Other recordings, notably Shapes (1973), Marcel's Muse (1977) and Live at the Plough (1979), testified to the success of his move away from the shadow of his early American influences. The reappearance of his work on CD in recent years won him new admirers while reawakening the sense of premature loss experienced by those fortunate enough to have witnessed him in full cry.

Michael Evans Osborne, musician, born September 28 1941; died September 19 2007

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

[alocispepraluger102]

ALL NIGHT LONG

The Music of Mike Osborne Revisited

I first heard Mike Osborne in 1975 at Southport Arts Centre as part of SOS, the trio he shared with Alan Skidmore and John Surman. I’d gone having heard relatively little of him but it sounded like an interesting gig. And it was interesting hearing a saxophone trio that made use of synthesisers alongside the various saxes and bass clarinet. My memories are vague but I remember him as a ramshackle man in t-shirt and baggy cardigan, just like on his album covers. Either Surman or Skidmore told me where I could find the album. Osborne didn’t speak.

That gig piqued my interest in him and other Ogun artists and a few weeks after the gig I picked up the eponymous SOS recording. Surman’s use of electronics was intriguing but it was Osborne’s playing on ‘Wherever I Am’ that grabbed my attention. Cascading lines streamed from the alto jostling with Surman’s synthesisers to create a dense collision of sounds. It’s an uneven album but Osborne’s playing on that piece alone is worth catching. It is a unique and distinctive sound.

It was a while before I saw him again but in the meantime Ogun released the monumental All Night Long, recorded the same year as the SOS album but altogether a different type of trio. Here Osborne teams up with bassist Harry Miller and powerhouse drummer Louis Moholo, his regular trio. The results feature some of the most integrated and inspired small group interactions I’ve ever heard and at the time I was also listening to Ornette’s trio with Izenson and Moffett. Osborne immediately asserts himself with the blistering riff from the title track, Miller answers with attacking bass and soon there is a three way juggernaut of fiery improvisation. You can feel the fire and collective spirit generated by these players who know each other and can respond in a split second to any change in direction. The two sides add up to about 40 minutes and are only part of one set they played. According to Keith Beal’s sleeve notes ‘The trio played three sets equally exciting that night’. Each time I listen to it I am in awe at the intensity of their playing. The levels of energy are astounding as they power forward seamlessly taking in Monk’s ‘Round Midnight’, Osborne’s tunes, like ‘Scotch Pearl’ and ‘Country Bounce’ and collective pieces. Even in more ruminative moments there is a sizzling tension created by Moholo behind Osborne’s compact lyricism. Recorded at Willisau, like the first Brotherhood Of Breath release for Ogun, it is a gig I would have donated vital organs to witness.

Another gig I’m still kicking myself for missing is the appearance at the 1976 Bracknell Festival of the Mike Osborne/Stan Tracey duo. Thankfully the album Tandem captures their set plus a later visit in November of that year. If Osborne in a trio setting could transmute base metals in the cauldron of his invention then his matching with Tracey was equally an act of pure magic. The opening of the set, ‘Ballad Forms’, conveys a note of urgency: listen to this! And you cannot do otherwise, from Tracey’s introductory notes to the final elegiac nod towards Lester Young via Mingus you are assailed by a constant flood of melodic and rhythmic explorations. Tracey’s angular, percussive piano seems to drive Osborne to further heights. Sometimes Osborne will play a bluesy line and Tracey will be pounding behind then out of it will come an uplifting line of wistful melody. At times Osborne sounds like several saxes as Tracey batters and sustains a barrage of chords alongside him. The range of dynamics is immense here, moving from acerbic vigour to reflection, from harsh dissonance to melancholy. It is one of the most completely satisfying performances from a duo I can remember. As if that weren’t enough there are two more equally exciting pieces on the album.

I saw Osborne again in 1977 at Eric’s in Liverpool. This time he was with Isipingo, the sextet led by Harry Miller. They played a tight set made up mostly of Miller’s compositions from the album Family Affair and it was good to see/hear Louis Moholo and Mark Charig alongside Ossie. Frank Roberts was in the piano seat that night instead of the advertised Keith Tippett and to my ears something was missing. For proof of this listen to ‘Jumping’ from the Isipingo album. Here Osborne is in full flight as soon as the opening theme is stated and Tippett is with him accenting and dancing around his every move. Their rapport is tangible. There are elements of both the Osborne/Tracey duo and his coruscating trio on this recording but one of the finest moments is when he and Tippett join forces again. He hits and sustains a high note, a clarion call, and Tippett responds with a groundswell of chords that push Osborne to make phenomenal, emotive statements. The music rises and falls as Moholo joins them. It is very reminiscent of sections from the Bracknell concert. All musicians play exceptionally well but Osborne was clearly having an inspired night.

Mike Osborne’s final recording for Ogun was 1977’s Marcel’s Muse, a studio affair with stalwarts Miller and Charig joined by guitarist Jeff Green and drummer Peter Nykyruj. I thought it might suffer from the absence of Moholo and a pianist, Tippett or Tracey, but Osborne gets proceedings off to a hectic start with Charig chasing him furiously on ‘Molten Lead’. Both men turn in ebullient solos and the rhythm section is solid. Osborne’s strongest performance comes on ‘Where’s Freddy ?’ another tune which gets off to a flying start with alto and cornet joyfully projecting the theme. Then the alto comes forward and takes off on furiously fluid runs sounding as though he will never stop, though he does, just to let Charig loose on an equally exciting flight. Osborne’s momentum is unstoppable and full of barely contained vitality. The album also features the bluesy ‘I Wished I Knew’, a Billy Smith number which cools down the tempo. There is a glimpse of the reflective Osborne playing the tune straight, holding back and letting the melody convey its sense of something lost, something hurting. Superb performances all round. With hindsight it could sound like a swan song but at the time I thought it just another gem from musicians I greatly admired.

These are just some of my favourite moments from his career. Meanwhile much of Mike Westbrook’s big band works have been made available again so it is possible to hear him again in that context. There was also the release of Outback and Shapes by FMR a couple of years back. And of course, the latest Brotherhood Of Breath cd, a concert from 1973, features a classic Osborne solo and composition. ‘Think Of Something’ has a wonderfully ragged theme before his alto clears a path and, aided by his trio and various punctuations from the rest of the horns, swings with controlled power over the ensemble. One voice among many but a unique and distinctive one, slipping in some of his favourite licks.

News of him and his present condition is scant but it seems unlikely that he will play again in public. Evan Parker’s interview in Jazz on CD (March ’95) makes clear the reasons. It is a great loss to jazz and makes his recorded output all the more precious.

©Paul Donnelly

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY:

Border Crossing, Mike Osborne Trio (OGUN OG300)

All Night Long, The Willisau Concert (OG700)

SOS, Skidmore/Osborne/Surman (OG400)

Tandem, Mike Osborne/Stan Tracey (OG210)

Marcel’s Muse, Mike Osborne Quintet (OG810)

Family Affair, Harry Miller’s Isipingo (OG310)

Procession, Brotherhood Of Breath (OG524)

Travelling Somewhere, ditto (Cuneiform : Rune 152)

[clifford_thornton]

Oh, and there's a pianoless quartet session that I believe Cuneiform are going to issue. Marcio Mattos is on bass; can't remember the trumpeter or drummer. It's from a live recording circa 1980. I heard it once and enjoyed it quite a bit... will keep everyone posted.

It could possibly come from this radio broadcast, which I have had in my collection for a couple of years now.

Osborne, Mike 10/17/80 3. Kölner Jazzhaus Festival, Musikhochschule, Cologne, Germany

Mike Osborne (as), Dave Holdsworth (tp), Marcio Mattos (b), Brian Abrahams (d)

It is in deed very good and I will be sure to purchase it once it is officially released. To me, Osborne occupies a similar space as Jimmy Lyons in some ways and I have really enjoyed his playing since a friend hipped me to him.

That's it.

FMR I've heard conflicting reports about. No they're not anything to do with Ogun...

[sidewinder]

Really sad news, truly sorry to hear this. Will dig out some Mike Osborne on vinyl over the weekend - probably 'Outback', 'Flare Up' and one or two of the Westbrooks.

Used to hear him quite a bit on the radio back in the '70s and still remember the shock and concern expressed within the British jazz press when he withdrew from the scene. For many years then he seemed a forgotten, near legendary figure but thankfully in the last few years his great work has started to be appreciated. 'Jackie McLean of British Jazz' indeed.

Edited September 21, 2007 by sidewinder

[Guest Bill Barton]

RIP. Sadly, I was a latecomer to his music, but what I've heard moved me deeply.

[king ubu]

I just got a shipping confirmation for the "Trio and Quintet" Ogun (incl. "Border Crossing" and "Marcel's Muse" - too bad he needed to die before I jumped for a leader disc of his... but then I really will have to consider a buying stop for several months soon, so... thanks for your recommendation, ep1! I'm sure I'll enjoy it a lot - nothing with Miller/Moholo so far that I haven't liked a lot!

Thanks for posting the obits, too!

[ep1str0phy]

Happy to see folks heading out for some of the leader material--it's really quite good. Lord knows Ogun is doing what it can, but I would be thrilled to see more of Ozzie's appearances on that label come "back" to light. And ubu--the Miller/Moholo team could and did play in about every "sort" of modern context, so expect the unexpected (nothing like the Brotzmann trio or large groups, actually really dissimilar to Harry Miller's groups--to say nothing of Keith Tippett's large-scale ensembles--and a bit more intimate, though I'm not sure I could say "more" or "less" flexible, than their Brotherhood work).

Interesting about the quartet date clifford and relyles mention--Brian Abrahams was Chris McGregor's trio man after the latter's move to France and the dissolution of the first Brotherhood. He's also one of two drummers on Brotherhood #2's Yes Please, an OK album that, despite a stellar lineup, is regarded a few marks down from Brotherhood #1--in large part, I think, because those two percussionists have a hard time (it's partially a recording thing) managing a fraction of Moholo's energy. I'm looking forward to hearing what he brought to MO's music...

[clifford_thornton]

I've never investigated those later McGregor albums, so I don't know Abrahams's work real well. I liked what I heard on the Ozzie session in question, however.

I hope Ogun are able to continue; who knows what they've got in those vaults!