Search - Greg Osby :: Black Book

As always (too) ahead of his time

Scott Woods | Columbus, Ohio United States | 06/19/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Much like his album "3-D Lifestyles", which sought to breach the gap between hi-hop and jazz, this record seeks to do so with spoken word and jazz. An assortment of poets recite alongside Osby's stylings with varying degrees of interest and effect. it's a project that would likely be wholly embraced now, what, with the surge in popularity in poetry nowadays, but at the time went under the radar because it had no general audience. It's a wild record, careening over various styles and rhythms in true Osby fashion, but maintaining a sensible edge.If you like poetry recordings, you'll dig it, though you may not play it much; thanks to Osby, it's a thinking person's poetry record, even if the poetry doesn't always reach the levels that the music does. Get it used."