Music: Banned In New York

A great live performer, both passionate and incisive, this alto saxophone player has rarely come across as forcefully as he should in the studio. His recent albums on Blue Note have been critically acclaimed, but to this listener often sounded dry and analytic. Not this time. Captured with a MiniDisk recorder plunked on a table at an unnamed New York City nightclub, this is an unusually live "live" album. Playing tunes by Ellington, Monk and Parker as well as an original, Osby and his quartet push and probe but are also unafraid to play pretty. So why aren't all albums recorded in clubs?

--By Bruce Handy