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For sixty years, the name Blue Note Records has been synonymous with the highest standards of excellence in jazz recording. Since its inception in 1939, this distinctive label has consistently reinforced its unique sound, recording some of the greatest breakthroughs in jazz while bringing out the best in the musicians it recorded. This edition of Jazz Profiles is a 60th birthday tribute to this legendary record label and its founders, Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff. From the beginning, the unique quality of Blue Note’s releases was fostered by Lion’s chemistry with musicians, as his wife Ruth Lion attests. Lion frequented the club scene, and decided whether to record artists based on his gut feelings at their performances. Blue Note also paid for rehearsals, helping the musicians get familiar with each other and the setting. In a 1959 interview, Lion described his approach to ensuring the proper conditions for a recording session, "You can’t rush [the musicians. If] they’re not ready, give them time to settle down, find a groove, you know. You feel it when it comes." Growing up in Berlin in the 1920s, a sixteen year old Alfred Lion saw a concert by pianist Sam Wooding and His Chocolate Dandies and was mesmerized. He began collecting jazz records, along with his friend, photographer Francis Wolff. Alfred’s fascination inspired him to move to New York at age 19. There he unloaded trucks and earned enough money to return to Germany with a trunk full of new jazz releases. But anti-Semitism forced Lion’s family to emigrate, first to Chile then to New York in 1938. Back in his jazz Mecca, Alfred saw another fateful concert featuring boogie-woogie pianists Albert Ammons and Mead Lux Lewis at Carnegie Hall. Lion saw an opportunity in the fact that the big record companies were uninterested in recording these performers. He found Lewis at his day job and exclaimed, "my God, you’re a genius. What are you doing parking cars?" On January 6th, 1939 Blue Note Records was born with 50 pressings of Boogie Woogie Stomp. Wolff, whose brilliant photos adorn many Blue Note covers, soon joined Lion in the enterprise. Like Lewis, many of Blue Note’s future artists were ignored by big record companies. Saxophonist Sidney Bechet gave Blue Note its first hit with "Summertime" after Victor had turned him down, as Lion recalls. In step with the bebop revolution of the 40s, the label recorded pianist Thelonious Monk. Blue Note reissues director Michael Cuscuna and Lion recall Alfred’s excitement about Monk. Saxophonist and composer Gil Melle elaborates on how Lion saw great potential in Monk while other labels shied away from his avant garde style. Blue Note would also harness the bebop piano pyrotechnics of Bud Powell. As Cuscuna describes, Lion’s direction of the recording process was also instrumental to the label’s signature sound. He wanted the rhythm section at the forefront, giving the drum kit the clarity and prominence it would have in a live performance. In 1952, Lion began collaborating with engineer Rudy van Gelder, who had his own "studio" in his parents living room in Hackensack, NJ. Van Gelder recalls, "[Lion] knew exactly what he wanted." In this setting, Gelder delivered in a lasting partnership that resulted in some of jazz’s most famous record dates. Gil Melle describes Lion's usual excitement before a recording session. Blue Note would consistently lead jazz in different directions. Drummer Art Blakey and pianist Horace Silver formed the core of the Jazz Messengers, who took jazz back to its blues and gospel roots with hits like "Moanin’" and "The Preacher". During the 50s and 60s, Blue Note’s streak of revolutionary recordings continued with artists like organist Jimmy Smith, guitarist Kenny Burrell, trumpeters Freddy Hubbard and Lee Morgan, pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonists Dexter Gordon, Cannonball Adderly and Stanley Turrentine and countless others Smith’s success eventually led him to a competing label with deeper pockets. A small label, Blue Note found it difficult to hold on to its successful artists and pursue others. John Coltrane signed a long-term contract with Prestige Records, but only after he had promised one session with Blue Note Records. His "Blue Train" remains one of his most important recordings and is still Blue Note’s top selling release. Ultimately, the growing popularity of rock and pop would bring about the demise of Blue Note as an independent label. In 1967, Lion was forced to sell the label to Liberty Records in order to keep it going, and retired soon after. A revived interest in jazz and Blue Note’s formidable archives from the 40s, 50s and 60s led to the rebirth of the label under its new owner, Capitol Records in the 80s. In 1985, a reunion concert of Blue Note artists took place at New York’s Town Hall, just two years before Lion’s death. Lion took this opportunity to reconnect with his flock, saying, "I joined Art Blakey…as one of his little messengers…to preach the good gospel of jazz all over the world for thirty years, and I hope he was satisfied." No doubt he was, just as Blue Note’s amazing recordings continue to satisfy artists and jazz lovers alike.
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