It’s not often that I encounter a woman who plays baritone saxophone. It’s one of the more difficult horns to play, let alone master, and the lowest pitched sax that one commonly hears in jazz. Multi-instrumentalist Tamar Osborn has stated that the baritone is her top choice to play, but soprano, alto, and tenor are also in her arsenal. She’s no stranger to wind instruments either, performing with  clarinets, flutes, and piccolo.

Employing such a variety of instruments, it should come as no surprise that she’s worked within a diverse assortment of groups as well. She graduated from London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London in 2020 and has been applying her knowledge of both classical and jazz to great effect as a leader and in groups like Collocutor, Flock, the Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra, the London Odense Ensemble, and Unknown to Known. The latter released Lightship just last month.

As if those projects don't keep Osborn busy enough, she’s also collaborated with Indian artists such as dancer Akram Khan, tabla Pandit (master) Tanmoy Bose; African artists Baaba Maal, Fatoumata Diawara and others with the African Express Project; and DJ Khalab. Tamar Osborn’s career thus far is truly the embodiment of music being the universal language.