Arthur Blythe

For a time in the late '70s and early '80s, it seemed as if jazz's avant-garde was on the verge of a popular breakthrough in the person and music of Arthur Blythe. Blythe was signed by Columbia Records; the label's hype-heavy promotion of the saxophonist almost made him a star. Blythe was 37 years old when his first records, The Grip and Metamorphosis, were released. By then, he was a fully developed, mature artist and a free-influenced player who was also capable of playing older styles in an utterly personal and borderline iconoclastic way. Blythe's style varied mostly in the form of his contexts. He possessed one of the most easily recognizable alto sax sounds in jazz: big and round, with a fast, wide vibrato and an aggressive, precise manner of phrasing. ~ Chris Kelsey