Blue Note

About Blue Note

Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. Blue Note Records is currently owned by the EMI Group and in 2006 has been expanded to fill the function of an umbrella label group bringing together a wide variety of EMI-owned labels and imprints specializing in the growing market segment of music for adults (see History-Resurrection, below).
Blue Note throughout its history has principally been associated with the "hard bop" style of jazz (mixing bebop with other forms of music including soul, blues, rhythm and blues and gospel). Horace Silver, Jimmy Smith, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey and Grant Green were among the label's leading artists, but almost all the important musicians in postwar jazz recorded for Blue Note on occasion.

Although many of the acts on Blue Note were recording commercial jazz for a wide audience, the label also made some attempt to document the emerging avant-garde and free jazz movement. Andrew Hill, a highly individual pianist, made several albums for the label, one featuring multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. Dolphy's Out to Lunch (featuring a famous cover by Reid Miles) is perhaps his most well-known album. Saxophonist Ornette Coleman released two albums recorded with a trio in a Stockholm club, and three studio albums (including The Empty Foxhole, with his ten-year-old son on drums). Pianist Cecil Taylor recorded a brace of albums for Blue Note during the early part of his career, and saxophonist Sam Rivers, drummer Tony Williams, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson and organist Larry Young also recorded albums which diverged from the "hard bop" style usually associated with the label. Saxophonist Jackie McLean, a stalwart of the label's hard bop output since the late 1950s, also crossed over into the avant garde in the early 1960s. He recorded a string of notable avant garde albums including One Step Beyond and Destination Out.
Though these avant garde records did not sell as well as some other Blue Note releases, Lion thought it was important to document new developments in jazz.

The musical legacy of Blue Note Records is arguably the most influential and important in the history of recorded popular music. Blue Note was one of the largest, most successful independent labels of its time. Comparatively, no genre-specific, independent label has ever had such a deep catalog with such well-regarded musicians.
In 2003, hip hop producer Madlib released "Shades of Blue: Madlib Invades Blue Note," a collection of his remixes and interpretations of classic Blue Note music. Pete Rock, J. Dilla, and DJ Spinna have likewise been involved in similar projects.
In 2004, Burning Vision Entertainment created the video for Helicopter Girl's 'Angel City' using the art from numerous Blue Note LP sleeves to startling effect.
In 2008, hip hop producer ?uestlove of The Roots compiled "Droppin' Science: Greatest Samples from the Blue Note Lab," a collection of original Blue Note recordings sampled by modern-day hip hop artists such as Dr. Dre and the supergroup, A Tribe Called Quest.

Website: www.bluenote.com