Small Talk at 125th and Lenox

Small Talk at 125th and Lenox
Live album by
Released1970
Venue125th & Lenox Nightclub (New York, New York)
GenreJazz poetry, proto-rap, spoken word
Length44:01
LabelFlying Dutchman/RCA
FD-10143
ProducerBob Thiele
Gil Scott-Heron chronology
Small Talk at 125th and Lenox
(1970)
Pieces of a Man
(1971)
Alternative cover
2001 reissue cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
Billboard(favorable)
Uncut7/10
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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.