Arthur Blythe

Arthur Blythe (July 5, 1940 – March 27, 2017) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer. His instrumental voice had a vibrato and was within the post-bop subgenre of jazz.

Born in Los Angeles, Blythe lived in San Diego, returning to Los Angeles when he was 19 years old. He took up the alto saxophone at the age of nine, playing R&B until his mid-teens when he discovered jazz. In the mid-1960s, Blythe was part of The Underground Musicians and Artists Association (UGMAA), founded by Horace Tapscott, on whose 1969 The Giant Is Awakened he made his recording debut.