“...a masterful stride/ragtime/bar-room pianist.” (Southern Rag, England)
“Osborne is not, specifically, a ragtime stylist, nor is he definitively of the blues, folk, jazz or swing persuasion. He’s all of them! His playing rings of Zez Confrey or the young George Gershwin.” (San Francisco Examiner)
“... a lanky ‘goodtime piano man’ with ... a set of hands that can force a simple set of upright keys to cough up the grandest of crescendos or tease from the ivories melodies light as spring rain.” (Chico News & Review)
“His new CD, recorded on the job, reveals him to be a fine entertainer who knows how to please a crowd and hold their interest while exposing them to some fine classic ragtime amidst the inevitable war-horses and sentimental favorites ...”
(The Mississippi Rag)
By his appearance, demeanor and talent Hoyle Osborne might have lived an earlier life as a saloon and riverboat piano player.
He is the resident piano player at the Diamond Belle Saloon in Durango, Colo. And in fact Osborne has spent 18 months working on the Mississippi River paddlewheel steamboat The Delta Queen. By day he served as the assistant cruise director and by night he was the boat’s entertainer. Osborne, however, is happily ensconced in the Southwest of the 20th century. (The Albuquerque Journal)
Hoyle Osborne’s composition Enchantment: A New Mexican Serenade was awarded second place in the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation’s Ragtime Composition Contest 2000. Osborne performed the new tune at the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in Missouri on June 3. Read about it in the Durango Herald.
And, once again, in 2001, Osborne’s composition, The Trickster, took second place in the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation’s Ragtime Composition Contest.
Hoyle Osborne has composed a number of piano solos which all bring fresh and creative twists to the ragtime tradition. Eight of these are now available in the music book Enchantment and Other Compositions in the Ragtime Tradition. Sheet music for The Trickster will be sent along with every music book ordered.
Osborne also composes, arranges, and produces for theatrical and video productions. The Aztec Media multi-image show, Mesa Verde, runs nightly during the summer at Mesa Verde National Park. Osborne collaborated with Jeanie McLerie & Ken Keppeler (Bayou Seco), Jane Voss, harpist Sylvia Zurko, and bass player Bob Cordalis, on music for the annual summer-long Farmington, NM, production, Black River Traders. Osborne’s music has been used in various shows produced by Rocky Mountain Public Television and Aztec Media.
