Arthur Blythe

Southern California alto saxman has managed to make avant-jazz listenable since the late '70s, often by incorporating Caribbean rhythms. Fun fact: "Lenox Avenue is a main street in Harlem, which is itself one of a series of neighborhoods, 'drum' towns and sections of America where the forces of tropic descent meet with concrete, glass, steel and the most efficient technology, some of which is used to make good time music." -- Stanley Crouch, 1979. Highly recommended: Lenox Avenue Breakdown