photo credit: Greg de Wode
words by Emma Warren
Saxophonist Tamar Osborn is an understated force in UK music, embedded in multiple genres as a composer, bandleader, band member and session musician.
This versatile and prolific artist is also a solo artist with a singular vision.
“I’ve had multiple musical lives and I’m not setting out to write jazz, classical or afrobeat,” she says, describing her powerful sound as simply ‘left-of-centre’. “I just make the music I need to hear, to say what I want to say next.”
Her band Collocutor released three albums with On The Corner Records. Big names pop up in her history, too, whether that’s the tour with Kelis or dance maestro Akram Khan, or recording with Spiritualized – her first session, in 2000, after graduating from Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she studied jazz and classical. A ‘crucial link in the chain’ comprises a couple of artists she’s worked with since the late 2000s – Jessica Lauren and Nick Woodmansey’s Emanative. The latter provided an introduction to On The Corner as well as people who’d become artistic collaborators such as Sarathy Korwar or LA drummer Tommaso Cappellato.
Since 2009 she’s been a member of Dele Sosimi’s Afrobeat Orchestra, as well as performing in Fela! The Musical and the 10-piece band, The Fontanelles, which came from the show. When the acclaimed Africa Express Tour arrived in the UK she was invited on board. She also took part in the Marseilles, Roskilde and London editions where she played alongside Tony Allen, Fatoumata Diawara and Damon Albarn.
Tamar Osborn is a ‘go-to’ person, and not just because she’s a solid doubler in multiple wind instruments, or because her orchestral chops underpin an innovative approach. It’s her commitment to collaboration, music and conversation, and more recently, wholly improvised gigs and recordings. In 2024 award-winning improv event Moments Notice decided to launch a record label, selecting Osborn’s trio performance with drummer Will Glaser and keyboardist Yohannes Kebede for the first release.
Alongside collaborations with Flock (Osborn, Bex Burch, Sarathy Korwar, Danalogue and Al MacSween) and Camilla George, there’s membership of ensembles including quartet Unknown to Known and trio Tryp Tych Tryo with Wojtek Mazolewski and Natcyet Wakili. Additionally, she’s a key collaborator and performer for peers including Jake Long, Momoko, Ill Considered, Rosa Brunello and Pouya Ehsaei.
Tamar Osborn grew up in Luton with a South African mother of mixed heritage and an English dad. Subsequently, Tamar and her brother were introduced to aspects of South African music culture including Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Abdullah Ibrahim and Bheki Mseleku. “We always knew the world was a big place,” she says. “There are other cultures and they’re part of who we are.” Completing a long circle, her 2026 solo album cycle Varier includes a collaboration with Cape Town drummer Asher Gamedze.
Back in the early 2000s she was jamming on her sax with DJs and at hip hop cyphers at east London’s Dragon Bar, long before UK jazz had generated its own lively dancefloors. This led to work with DJs in Malaysia, and then India, where she met and began playing with Taal Tantra. They combined classical Indian and Western jazz, and members included Tanmoy Bose, Ravi Shankar’s tabla player. There is a throughline in her work, of music for people to dance to, and an understanding of the relationship between music, repetition, movement and healing. “Doing it together, collectively, is so important.”
Now based on the south coast of England, she has embedded herself in the local area, with Dark Circles record shop in St Leonards having an entire Tamar Osborn section on the racks. Her Soho Radio show celebrates and supports artists in her rich and deep ecosystem, with playlists and guest interviewees reading like a who’s who of contemporary adventurous music.
Wherever she goes, whatever she does, Tamar Osborn will always be bringing variety, experience and a deep commitment to music as a force for connection.
