ARTHUR BLYTHE
Genres: Post Bop, Avant-Garde Jazz, Classic Fusion • United States

American jazz saxophonist (alto, soprano), born 5 July 1940, Los Angeles, California, USA; died 27 March 2017. from discogs Arthur Blythe was born on July 5, 1940 in Los Angeles, one of three brothers. He had a formative experience in that city’s jazz scene: He studied the saxophone with Kirtland Bradford, who had played in Jimmy Lunceford’s band, and later spent a decade under the wing of pianist and composer Horace Tapscott. Blythe made his recording debut on The Giant Is Awakened, an album by the Horace Tapscott Quintet recorded in 1969. Blythe was a commanding figure whose music connected jazz’s root system with its freer outgrowths, seemingly without a second thought. It was implicit in his broad-shouldered tone — “round as Benny Carter, ardent as John Coltrane,” in the words of Gary Giddins — and through the vibrato that often amplified the sensation of fervency. It was also expressed in Blythe’s read more...