''Lenox Avenue Breakdown'' is an album by

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

saxophonist Arthur Blythe. It was released by Columbia Records in 1979 and reissued by

Koch Jazz Koch may refer to: People * Koch (surname), people with this surname * Koch dynasty, a dynasty in Assam and Bengal, north east India * Koch family * Koch people (or Koche), an ethnic group originally from the ancient Koch kingdom in north east In ...

in 1998. The album reached No. 35 on the ''Billboard'' Jazz Albums chart in 1979.

Reception

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

'' included ''Lenox Avenue Breakdown'' in its "Core Collection," and assigned its "crown" accolade to the album, along with a four-star rating (of a possible four stars). ''Penguin'' editors Richard Cook and Brian Morton called the album "one of the lost masterpieces of modern jazz," owing to its long period of unavailability before the 1998 CD release. Cook and Morton noted that " obStewart's long

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

solo on the title-piece is one of the few genuinely important tuba statements in jazz, a nimble sermon that promises storms and sunshine." Thom Jurek, writing for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, notes that "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."

Track listing

All compositions by Arthur Blythe. ;Original LP side one # "Down San Diego Way" – 7:44 # "Lenox Avenue Breakdown" – 13:11 ;Original LP side two # "Slidin' Through" – 9:33 # "Odessa" – 9:30

Personnel

* Arthur Blythe – alto saxophone, mixing *

James Newton James W. Newton (born May 1, 1953) is an American jazz and classical flutist. Biography He was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. From his earliest years, James Newton grew up immersed in the sounds of African-American music, inclu ...

– flute * Bob Stewart –

James "Blood" Ulmer James "Blood" Ulmer (born February 8, 1940) is an American jazz, free funk and blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer plays a Gibson Byrdland guitar. His guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging". His singing has been called "ragg ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

* Cecil McBee – bass * Jack DeJohnette – drums *

Guillermo Franco Guillermo "Guille" Luis Franco Farquarson (born 3 November 1976) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in Argentina, he represented the Mexico national team. Early life Guillermo Franco was born in Corrientes, th ...

–

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

Bob Thiele Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals * Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname ...

– producer, mixing * Doug Epstein –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

, mixing ** Carl Beatty and

Lincoln Clapp Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

– assistant engineers *

Vladimir Meller Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukr ...

– mastering *

Gene Greif Gene Greif (September 11, 1954 – November 27, 2004) was a graphic designer who specialized in creating album cover art. Greif attended LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Cooper Union where he first majored in architecture before g ...

– design * Mark Hess – illustration * Jim Houghton – photography *

Stanley Crouch Stanley Lawrence Crouch (December 14, 1945 – September 16, 2020) was an American poet, music and cultural critic, syndicated columnist, novelist, and biographer. He was known for his jazz criticism and his 2000 novel ''Don't the Moon Look ...

–

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desc ...

* Donald Elfman – reissue producer * Nicole Cavalluzzo – reissue design

Release history

References

{{Authority control Arthur Blythe albums 1979 albums Albums produced by Bob Thiele Columbia Records albums