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Mike Osborne

British musician (1941–2007)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ1933416
Source-derived summary

Michael Evans Osborne (28 September 1941 – 19 September 2007) was an English jazz alto saxophonist, pianist, and clarinetist who was a member of the band Brotherhood of Breath in the 1960s and 1970s.

Biography

Mike Osborne was born in Hereford, England, and attended Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire and the Guildhall School of Music. From 1962 to 1972, Osborne belonged to the Mike Westbrook band. During this period the artist also worked with musicians such as Michael Gibbs, Mike Cooper, Stan Tracey, Kenny Wheeler, Humphrey Lyttelton, Alan Skidmore, John Surman, Harry Miller, Alan Jackson (drums), John Mumford (trombone) and Lionel Grigson. During 1974–75, Osborne was part of the saxophone trio S.O.S. with John Surman and Alan Skidmore. They recorded an LP plus BBC radio and television sessions and toured extensively in Europe.

Health issues hastened the end of his career in 1982, and he returned to Hereford, where he was living under care at the time of his death in 2007, aged 65.

Select discography

Mike Osborne Quintet: Outback (Turtle); with Chris McGregor (piano), Harry Miller (bass), and Louis Moholo (drums)

Mike Osborne Trio: Border Crossing (Ogun)

Mike Osborne Trio: All Night Long (Live at Willisau) (Ogun)

Mike Osborne & Stan Tracey: Original (Cadillac)

Mike Osborne Force of Nature (REEL)

Mike Osborne/Stan Tracey Duo (Cadillac)

Tandem: Mike Osborne/Stan Tracey Live at the Bracknell Festival (Ogun)

Mike Osborne Quintet: Marcel's Muse (Ogun)

Shapes (Future Music)

With Brotherhood of Breath

Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath (Neon)

Procession (Live at Toulouse) (Ogun)

Travelling Somewhere (Cuneiform)

Bremen to Bridgwater (Cuneiform)

Eclipse at Dawn (Cuneiform)

With Barry Guy/London Jazz Composers' Orchestra

Ode (Incus, 1972)

With John Surman

John Surman (Deram)

How Many Clouds Can You See? (Deram)

With John Surman and Alan Skidmore

SOS (1975) (Ogun)

With Mike Westbrook

The Mike Westbrook Concert Band: Marching Song Vols.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Mike Osborne” as british musician (1941–2007). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Mike, Osborne and British.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1941, 2007, 1962, 1972—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1941-09-28. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Mike, Osborne and British providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Mike Osborne”, the useful work is to connect “british musician (1941–2007)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1933416. VIAF identifies the subject as 5143400. The Library of Congress control number is no2006022637. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1941, 2007, 1962 and 1972.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Mike Osborne”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Mike Osborne primary sources, Mike Osborne archive and Mike research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Mike Osborne”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Mike Osborne” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.