Small Talk at 125th and Lenox
A New Black Poet – Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, also known simply as Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, is a live album and the first release of recording artist Gil Scott-Heron, released in 1970 on Flying Dutchman Records. Recording sessions for the album were originally said to have taken place live at a New York nightclub located on the corner of 125th Street and Lenox Avenue, but liner notes included in the 2012 box set The Revolution Begins: The Flying Dutchman Masters, Scott-Heron himself insists that a small audience was brought to "the studio" and seated on "folding chairs". By the time of the recordings, Scott-Heron had published a volume of poetry and his first novel, The Vulture. Well received by music critics, who found Scott-Heron's material imaginative, Small Talk at 125th and Lenox has been described as "a volcanic upheaval of intellectualism and social critique" by AllMusic editor John Bush.
Track listing
- "Who'll Pay Reparations on My Soul?" runs at 5:14 on CD reissue.
Personnel
- David Barnes – percussion, vocals
- Charlie Saunders, Eddie Knowles – congas
- Gil Scott-Heron – guitar, piano, vocals
- Charles Stewart – cover art
- Bob Thiele – producer
Legacy
"Comment #1" is prominently sampled in the songs "Lost in the World" and “Who Will Survive In America” from Kanye West’s fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.Leon Bridges performed a new rendition of "Whitey on the Moon" in the 2018 Damien Chazelle film First Man, which was also included on the film's soundtrack album.