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Blue Note
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Editor's note: The following was sent to me via eMail after the author visited Berigan's Records & CDs in March 2000. I asked his permission to reprint, which he granted. Neither he nor I vouch for the document's absolute accuracy. He wrote it (and I reprint it here) as a general reference in answer to FAQ regarding Blue Note label issues /re-issues/reprints. I have made a few changes for style, a later update by the author and some of my comments here & there. I myself have some unanswered questions (some of which are noted as "editors' note"), but rather than wait for the definitive listing which may never come, I've posted this now. I should also add that the opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the editor. Any comments or useful corrections/additions may be sent to me, and/or forwarded to the author. Reprinted & Edited by Berigan Taylor - April 2000

REPRINTED FROM PRIMYL VINYL EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER, Vol. 2, No.6, Nov - Dec, 1997

(Plus author's revision not included in original Primyl Vinyl article)

Blue Note.
Unquestionably, the most famous and most collectible jazz records, Blue Notes are the grail of jazz aficionados. What was remarkable about Blue Note is that from the dawn of the LP era through the mid-1960s, Blue Note released approximately 350 albums of consistently high quality, both musically and sonically, including some of the landmark albums of modern jazz. Blue Note releases defined at least two of the most creative schools in modern jazz, hard-bop through albums by Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Sonny Clark, Hank Mobley and others, and Miles Davis modernism, as found on albums by Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Tony Williams, etc. Blue Note recording sessions were typically of small jazz groups, quartets and quintets by far the most favored, with one or two horns. There are lesser numbers of piano trios, some sextets, a smattering of large ensembles, along with some dates with oddball instrumentation. There are no solo or duet recordings, and only two albums of vocalists (see below). Sonically, there was a consistency of sound of Blue Notes which, while perhaps never of a "super disk's" status, [rarely if ever] detracted from the music, and often enhanced its impact and cogency. The Blue Note Sound is often attributed to the engineering of Rudy Van Gelder, and this is certainly true to an extent. But if one compares Van Gelder recordings on other labels (i.e. Impulse!), it becomes apparent that the main sonic sensibility is that of Alfred Lion, the founder of Blue Note, its owner, and guiding force for most of what one thinks of as the Blue Note years. Clearly Van Gelder bent to the sound Lion wanted in a way that he did not for other producers, and the results show.

There have been many, many issues of Blue Note recordings on LP, and my purpose here is to survey as many as I have been able to discern on the basis of my own collection of Blue Notes. My LP collection currently numbers about 200 titles, out of about 350 titles of interest. (After about 1966, Blue Note releases became very spotty, with releases of little musical worth interspersed with superlative recordings. This reflected the waning influence of Alfred Lion, who sold the label around this time.) There is a bias in my collection, which I freely admit - I have virtually none of the "funk" Blue Note releases, by artist such as Stanley Turrentine, Jimmy Smith, Lou Donaldson, etc. With this caveat, my collection represents, I think, a pretty good sampling the golden era of Blue Note.
[Editor's note: While I'm sure we all applaud the author's honesty here, in all fairness to the label, some additional remarks can be made. Faint praise aside there is some cornerstones. The Father of Modern Organ in Jimmy Smith was among Blue Note's stable of modern foundation artists. Who, along with Horace Silver and Lou Donaldson, was also a prime mover in the so-called "jazz/funk/soul" sound of post-bop jazz. One should also note that the modern jazz guitar, much as we know it now, was as much of an invention of two Blue Note artists, Kenny Burrell and Grant Green, as anyone in jazz. It would also not be nit picking to point out that the earliest modern Blue Note recordings document some of the most fully grown and exemplary pure bebop on record in that of Fats Navarro, J.J. Johnson and Bud Powell, among others.]

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Blue Note.
Unquestionably, the most famous and most collectible jazz records, Blue Notes are the grail of jazz aficionados. What was remarkable about Blue Note is that from the dawn of the LP era through the mid-1960s, Blue Note released approximately 350 albums of consistently high quality, both musically and sonically, including some of the landmark albums of modern jazz. Blue Note releases defined at least two of the most creative schools in modern jazz, hard-bop through albums by Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Sonny Clark, Hank Mobley and others, and Miles Davis modernism, as found on albums by Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Tony Williams, etc. Blue Note recording sessions were typically of small jazz groups, quartets and quintets by far the most favored, with one or two horns. There are lesser numbers of piano trios, some sextets, a smattering of large ensembles, along with some dates with oddball instrumentation. There are no solo or duet recordings, and only two albums of vocalists (see below). Sonically, there was a consistency of sound of Blue Notes which, while perhaps never of a "super disk's" status, [rarely if ever] detracted from the music, and often enhanced its impact and cogency. The Blue Note Sound is often attributed to the engineering of Rudy Van Gelder, and this is certainly true to an extent. But if one compares Van Gelder recordings on other labels (i.e. Impulse!), it becomes apparent that the main sonic sensibility is that of Alfred Lion, the founder of Blue Note, its owner, and guiding force for most of what one thinks of as the Blue Note years. Clearly Van Gelder bent to the sound Lion wanted in a way that he did not for other producers, and the results show.

There have been many, many issues of Blue Note recordings on LP, and my purpose here is to survey as many as I have been able to discern on the basis of my own collection of Blue Notes. My LP collection currently numbers about 200 titles, out of about 350 titles of interest. (After about 1966, Blue Note releases became very spotty, with releases of little musical worth interspersed with superlative recordings. This reflected the waning influence of Alfred Lion, who sold the label around this time.) There is a bias in my collection, which I freely admit - I have virtually none of the "funk" Blue Note releases, by artist such as Stanley Turrentine, Jimmy Smith, Lou Donaldson, etc. With this caveat, my collection represents, I think, a pretty good sampling the golden era of Blue Note.

[Editor's note: While I'm sure we all applaud the author's honesty here, in all fairness to the label, some additional remarks can be made. Faint praise aside there is some cornerstones. The Father of Modern Organ in Jimmy Smith was among Blue Note's stable of modern foundation artists. Who, along with Horace Silver and Lou Donaldson, was also a prime mover in the so-called "jazz/funk/soul" sound of post-bop jazz. One should also note that the modern jazz guitar, much as we know it now, was as much of an invention of two Blue Note artists, Kenny Burrell and Grant Green, as anyone in jazz. It would also not be nit picking to point out that the earliest modern Blue Note recordings document some of the most fully grown and exemplary pure bebop on record in that of Fats Navarro, J.J. Johnson and Bud Powell, among others.]