Blue Note is a label that is mostly known for its releases in the jazz genre.
Label Code: LC 0133 / LC 00133
Founded by [a=Alfred Lion] and [a=Max Margulis] in 1939, the label was soon joined by Lion's childhood friend [a=Francis Wolff] (who took photographs during rehearsals used on LP sleeves). The early years saw BN issue 78rpm sides featuring traditional jazz artists and small-group swing, but from 1947 the company began to record the emerging bop movement with sides from [a=Thelonious Monk] and, in the next few years, [a=Bud Powell] and [a=Fats Navarro]. From the 1950s, Blue Note recorded musicians such as the Hammond organist [a=Jimmy Smith] and artists in the hard-bop idiom such as [a=Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers]. Albums by long-time artists [a=Lee Morgan] (The Sidewinder) and [a=Horace Silver] (Song For My Father) made a significant impact in the 1960s. Meanwhile, the label recorded more exploratory albums by [a=Ornette Coleman] and [a=Cecil Taylor], among others
Lion sold the label to [l13531] in 1965 and retired in 1967. Wolff died in 1971. By now, more commercially-oriented music, including jazz-fusion, had started to be issued on the label, but in 1975, then-owners [l4898] launched a reissue program of Blue Note's back catalog which lasted until 1980. The previous year, Blue Note became a label of [l654].
Beginning in 1982, Blue Note sessions began appearing in box-sets from [l100901] (co-owned by [a=Michael Cuscuna]). The label itself was relaunched as part of Capitol subsidiary [l85486] in 1985 and began making new recordings, re-releasing albums and previously unissued material from the Lion-Wolff era found by Cuscuna.
In 1989, [l85486] was discontinued and Blue Note became the division under which all of Capitol-EMI's jazz activities were organized (two years later, [l85486] was revived for smooth jazz and pop-jazz releases).
A 2005 reorganization at both [l654] and parent company [l26126] put Blue Note along with sister labels [l85486], Angel, Virgin Classics and Metro Blue under the Blue Note Label Group umbrella covering jazz, classical and adult pop recordings.
In 2012, [a62920] succeeded [a1120514] as Blue Note's president, and the label's owner, [l26126], was purchased by the [l38404].
Please note, many Blue Note issues also carry an [l26126] logo. This is not a label and [l=EMI] should not be added as a label. Instead it indicates that Blue Note was part of the EMI Group.
