GIL SCOTT-HERON — Small Talk at 125th and Lenox (review)

GIL SCOTT-HERON — Small Talk at 125th and Lenox album cover Live album · 1970 · RnB Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Sean Trane


Indeed it is mandatory to listen to this album with the historical context of the times – I doubt that you will manage without doing so with all of the names mentioned. Nowadays this could be almost called reverse-racism, with some gratuitous accusations hurled, but the repressed civil right movement did have attenuating circumstances. Gil Scott-Heron comes a little late in the CRM debate, and some of it was a bit rear-guard in retrospect. Anyway, not that this debut album is very much related to jazz, but GSH’s vocal rebellion can be likened to the all-out musical rebellion of the Coltrane, Coleman, Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor, Pharoah Sanders and others against set rules imposed by the “white society” through the “classical mode”. The least we can say is that GSH’s propos are anything but “small talk”.

With minimal instrumentation behind him (percussion instruments and the odd piano), this debut album is recorded live, mostly spoken poetry (a big word for GSH’s prose) and features some all-time classics like the Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Whitey On The Moon and more, which does make this album an essential listen. However there are some tracks that are limit politically-correct nowadays in terms other than the CRM and the racial context, like the “Faggots” and other stuff in the genre. GSH also sings in few tracks, and later on will develop some real soul singer qualities, but that was never GSH’s main goal.

Quite an entertaining and educative listen to the open-minded people of all colors. A must-hear, at least once.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

6 Eclectic Fusion
KROKOFANT
Buy this album from MMA partners
Spring In Stockholm Live At Konserthuset, 1959 Cool Jazz
GERRY MULLIGAN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Mikolaj Trzaska, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Paal Nilssen-Love : The Last Temple vol.3 Avant-Garde Jazz
MIKOŁAJ TRZASKA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Mikolaj Trzaska, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Paal Nilssen-Love : The Last Temple, Vol.1 Avant-Garde Jazz
MIKOŁAJ TRZASKA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Mikołaj Trzaska / Ingebrigt Håker Flaten / Paal Nilssen-Love : The Last Temple Vol.2 Avant-Garde Jazz
MIKOŁAJ TRZASKA
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

FASCINATING RHYTHM - The Amazing Keystone Big Band feat. Neima Naouri
THE AMAZING KEYSTONE BIG BAND
snobb· 1 day ago
Alicante
RENAUD GARCIA-FONS
js· 1 day ago
She's Forty with Me
WILTON CRAWLEY
js· 1 day ago
Tall Tillie's Too Tight
WILTON CRAWLEY
js· 1 day ago
Rhoda Scott Ladies and Gentlemen - special guest : David Linx
RHODA SCOTT
snobb· 1 day ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed