Skipping Hip-Hop: Saxophonist Greg Osby, who brings...

Skipping Hip-Hop: Saxophonist Greg Osby, who brings in a quartet from New York to play the Club Brasserie in the Bel Age Hotel next week, was among the first musicians to mix hip-hop rhythms with jazz. But his new Blue Note album, “Further Ado,� reflects little hip-hop influence when compared to such earlier albums as 1993’s “3-D Lifestyles� and the JMT release “Mindgames.�

“My hip-hop direction is on hiatus,� Osby said in a phone interview from a New York recording studio last week where he was working on fellow saxophonist Gary Thomas’ upcoming project. “Until hip-hop as a genre advances, and it seems to be at a creative impasse at the moment, I won’t be pursuing it. [Hip-hop] is relegating itself to the same category as some folk music, blues and reggae: If you’ve heard one recording, you’ve heard them all.�

Instead of some hybrid, Osby’s new disc emphasizes composition. It’s dedicated to such Osby mentors as Andrew Hill, Jaki Byard, Muhal Richard Abrams, Eddie Harris, Jack DeJohnette and others and reflects the lessons, and music, he’s heard from them.

“It’s tragic to write tunes only as a vehicle for improvisation,� Osby says, “rather than develop themes and motives [in the music] and to use them as a springboard to improvisation. I’ve been really happy with the way I can draw reflections on where I am as a musician with my compositions.�

The 37-year-old Osby, who came to prominence playing with DeJohnette’s Special Edition and various members of the hip-hop-influenced M-Base movement including saxophonist Steve Coleman, now finds himself in a position to give the emerging young generation of musicians exposure. (His current quartet includes pianist Jason Moran and drummer Azshi Osada.)

“Now suddenly, I’m the elder statesman and everybody in the band is younger than me. They’re from a different, post-hip-hop era. They look at things differently. They can sponge off my experience and I can gain from them. It’s mutually beneficial.�

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* The Greg Osby Quartet plays the Club Brasserie, Bel Age Hotel, 1020 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood; Wednesday-Nov. 8; 9 and 11 p.m. No cover. (310) 854-1111.