The Blues and the Abstract Truth is an album by American composer and jazz saxophonist Oliver Nelson recorded in February 1961 for the Impulse!

[12] The composition "Stolen Moments" has been recorded and performed by numerous musicians including Phil Woods, J. J. Johnson, Frank Zappa, Ahmad Jamal, Booker Ervin, the United Future Organization and the Turtle Island Quartet.

The first eight bars of Nelson's solo on the bridge of "Hoe-Down" were quoted by Ernie Watts and Lee Ritenour in the song "Bullet Train" from their 1979 album Friendship.

[14] In 2008 pianist Bill Cunliffe released the tribute album The Blues and the Abstract Truth, Take 2, featuring new arrangements of the original pieces.

Jews and the Abstract Truth was the debut album by experimental klezmer band Hasidic New Wave (whose members included improvisers trumpeter Frank London and saxophonist Greg Wall), released on Knitting Factory in 1996.