Greg Osby (born August 3, 1960^[1]) is an American saxophonist and composer.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, then at the Berklee College of Music.^[1] He moved to New York City in 1982, where he played with Jaki Byard, Jim Hall, Muhal Richard Abrams, Andrew Hill, Jack DeJohnette, Dizzy Gillespie, and Herbie Hancock.^[2] In 1985, he joined DeJohnette's group Special Edition.^[2] With Geri Allen, Steve Coleman, Gary Thomas, and Cassandra Wilson, he was a founding member of the M-Base Collective.^[3]

Osby began recording albums under his own name for JMT Records in the mid-1980s, then signed with Blue Note in 1989.^[2] In 2007, he formed his own label, Inner Circle Music.^[2] He gave exposure to young pianist Jason Moran,^[4] who appeared on most of Osby's 1990s albums, including Further Ado, Zero, Banned in New York and Symbols of Light, a double quartet featuring the addition of a string quartet to the band.^[5]

He has also played with Phil Lesh and Friends, and he has toured with the Dead, a reincarnation of the Grateful Dead.^[6] He received the Playboy Magazine Jazz Artist of the Year award for 2004 and 2009.^[7]

Nate Chinen, writing for The New York Times, called Osby "a mentor and a pacesetter, one of the sturdier bridges between jazz generations," and stated that he has "a keen, focused tone on alto saxophone and a hummingbird's phrasing, an equilibrium of hover and flutter."^[8]