Chico Freeman Lenox Avenue Breakdown CD

Personnel: Arthur Blythe (alto saxophone); Bob Stewart (tuba); James Newton (flute); James "Blood" Ulmer (guitar); Cecil McBee (bass); Jack DeJohnette (drums); Guillermo Franco (percussion).
Producer: Bob Thiele.
Reissue producer: Donald Elfman.
Recorded at Mediasound Studios, New York, New York. Originally released on Columbia (35638). Includes liner notes by Stanley Crouch.
Personnel: Arthur Blythe (alto saxophone); James Blood Ulmer, Cecil McBee (guitar); James Newton (flute); Bob Stewart (tuba); Jack DeJohnette (drums); Guilherme Franco (percussion).
Audio Mixers: Doug Epstein; Arthur Blythe; Bob Thiele.
Liner Note Author: Stanley Crouch.
Recording information: Mediasound Studios, NY.
Photographer: Jim Houghton.
Given the urban title of alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe's debut Columbia album, it's quite a shock when he and his red-hot band of collaborators that include James Blood Ulmer on guitar, Bob Stewart on tuba, flutist James Newton, bassist Cecil McBee, and Jack DeJohnette open with the decidedly funky Latin breaks on "Down San Diego Way." It's not a vamp and it's not a misleading intro, the first of four tracks showcases not only the deep versatility of the rhythm section, but Blythe's own gift as both a composer and as a soloist. He states the melody, handing off the harmonics to Ulmer and Newton and then flies high into the face of its chosen changes, allowing the beat to change under him several times before bringing back a theme and letting Ulmer solo. Blythe's grounding in the blues and in modal composition guide him on the title track; he and Newton move through intervallic shifts of chromatic intensity and spatial columnar structures, while Ulmer builds a middle bridge to both ground and fly from. But Blythe is not content here to showcase the extremes. On both "Slidin' Through," his exercise in harmolodic composition, and "Odessa," Blythe provides ample proof of his wisdom as a bandleader, encouraging solo and rhythmic interplay between different groups of musicians such as McBee and Blythe on the former and between himself, Newton and Ulmer on the latter as the rhythm section winds it out in both cases, stretching the narrow envelope into something far more textured and thematically unified -- note the Ornette-meets-noir ambience of "Odessa." This group lays like a band that had been together for years, not the weeklong period it took them to rehearse and create one of Blythe's masterpieces. Over 20 years later, Lenox Avenue Breakdown still sounds new and different and ranks among the three finest albums in his catalog. ~ Thom Jurek
In addition to having excellent cover art (an illustrated cityscape in which a giant saxophone--complete with windows, a doorway, and stoop--takes its place among the neighboring buildings), LENOX AVENUE BREAKDOWN is also a dynamic, unjustly overlooked jazz album. Prodigiously talented as an instrumentalist and composer, alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe was one of the most innovative jazz musicians of the 1970s and '80s, and LENOX AVENUE BREAKDOWN, his Columbia Records debut, proves it.
Blythe's ability to marry the best of the genre's traditions (he is equally versed in swing, post-bop, and romantic styles) with his avant-garde leanings is evident here. "Odessa," for example, a modal exploration, begins melodically, yet pushes further into free-jazz territory as the tune progresses. The angular bop of the title track is offset by adventurous soloing and unique instrumentation (flute and tuba add to the sonic palette here, along with guitarist James "Blood" Ulmer and drummer Jack DeJohnette). Blythe also knows how to keep things groovy, as the Latin-infused "Down San Diego Way" shows, with its interlocking webs of percussion. This is challenging, engaging jazz of the first order that still sounds fresh decades after its release.

Re-Issue

The Wire (5/99, p.68) - "...instrumentation and programming are characteristically challenging....Blythe's compositions are in essence simple vamps, but make for compelling improvisational structures....Simply maginificent."