Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by History of the Jews in Germany, German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it deriv ...

is a historic

New York, NY New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

jazz label founded in 1939.

7000 / 1200 series

7000 series

The "traditional series" of 10" LPs consisted of new recordings and reissues of material from the 78 era. Some of this material was repackaged in the short-lived 1200 series of 12" LPs.

1200 series

Modern Jazz Series

Modern Jazz 5000 series

The Blue Note Modern Jazz Series began late in 1951 with the following 10" monaural LPs. Some of these LPs were later

reissue In the music industry, a reissue (also re-release, repackage or re-edition) is the release of an album or single which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions. Reasons for reissue New audio formats Reco ...

d as part of the Blue Note 1500 Series of 12" LPs. At first, recordings were made in various

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

s in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

(Reeves Sound Studio, WOR Studios, Apex Studios, Audio Video Studios). Beginning in October 1953, however, most Blue Note sessions took place in

Rudy Van Gelder Rudolph Van Gelder (November 2, 1924 – August 25, 2016) was an American recording engineer who specialized in jazz. Over more than half a century, he recorded several thousand sessions, with musicians including Booker Ervin, John Coltrane, Mil ...

's home studio in

Hackensack, New Jersey Hackensack is the most populous municipality in and the county seat of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

. The sessions were produced by

Alfred Lion Alfred Lion (born Alfred Löw; April 21, 1908 – February 2, 1987) was a German-born American record executive who co-founded the jazz record label Blue Note in 1939. Lion retired in 1967, having sold the company, after producing recordings by le ...

and engineered by Van Gelder, and many LP covers featured photographs by Lion's partner in Blue Note

Francis Wolff Francis Wolff (April 5, 1907 – March 8, 1971) was a record company executive, photographer and record producer. Wolff's skills, as an executive and a photographer, were important contributions to the success of the Blue Note record label. Car ...

Modern Jazz 1500 series

Blue Note made the switch to 12" albums late in 1955. The Modern Jazz Series (see the 5000 series below) continued with the following 12" LPs. Many of these were issued in both monaural versions (BLP series) and stereo versions (BST 81500 series), sometimes in electronically rechanneled stereo. In certain cases, the stereo versions of recordings from 1957 onwards only appeared many years later. Beginning in 1956 with BLP 1509, Reid Miles designed most of the Blue Note LP covers. The 1500 series has been systematically reissued by Toshiba-EMI in Japan ("Blue Note Works 1500" series, 20-bit 88.2 kHz CDs); the catalog numbers are TOCJ-1501, etc. In addition, originally unissued material from these dates was made available of Toshiba's 1600 series (20-bit 88.2 kHz CDs).

Modern Jazz 4000 series

The Modern Jazz Series continued into the 1970s with the LPs listed below. Many were issued in both monaural versions (BLP series) and stereo versions (BST 84000 series). Beginning with 4258 all subsequent LPs (with three exceptions: 4263, 4264, and 4265) were issued only in stereo. Most of the first 300 numbers of the 4000 series have been reissued by Toshiba-EMI in Japan ("Blue Note Works 4000" series); the catalog numbers are TOCJ-4###.

4000 series

4100 series

4200 series

4300 series

4400 series

Modern Jazz New 4400 series

Modern Jazz New 89900 series

BN-LA / LT series

BN-LA series

12" LP's issued during the 1970s using the numbering sequence of parent company

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1958 ...

with an extra prefix. The suffix is a code for the list price of the album and whether it is a two-disc set. In this series there are many reissues from earlier series, "Best of" albums,

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

s and

compilation Compilation may refer to: *In computer programming, the translation of source code into object code by a compiler **Compilation error **Compilation unit *Product bundling, a marketing strategy used to sell multiple products, such as video game co ...

s, as well as new

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

LT series

After

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

acquired

, Blue Note LPs continued to appear with catalog numbers taken from the main numbering sequence of UA and its successor, the revived

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Alvin Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous rev ...

. This is effectively a continuation of the BN-LA series without UA's letter codes. Albums in this series appeared in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Manhattan 85100 series

Series of new studio albums as well as a few reissues released c. 1985–87, following Blue Note's reestablishment.

Other series

1600 series

These CDs make available originally unissued material from the sessions from the 1500 series. They were manufactured by

Toshiba-EMI , formerly , was one of Japan's leading music companies. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of British music company EMI Group Ltd. on June 30, 2007, after Toshiba sold off its previous 45% stake. Its CEO and president was Kazuhiko Koike. Wh ...

and use 20-bit, 88.2 kHz recording technology.

9000 series

An experimental and short-lived vocal jazz series; only two albums were released in this series:

King Records

GXF 3000 series

GP 3100 series

K18P-9200 series

King Records BONUS DY 5800 series

Other

References

Bibliography

* Cohen, Frederick. Blue Note Records: A Guide for Identifying Original Pressings. ISBN 978-0-692-00322-0. * Cook, Richard. ''Blue Note Records: A Biography''. . * Cuscuna, Michael & Michel Ruppli. ''The Blue Note Label: A Discography''. nd ed 2001* Marsh, Graham & Glyn Callingham. ''Blue Note: Album Cover Art''. . * Marsh, Graham ''Blue Note 2: The Album Cover Art: The Finest in Jazz Since 1939''.

S edition S, or s, is the nineteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and other latin alphabets worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. ...

* Wolff, Francis et al. ''Blue Note Jazz Photography of Francis Wolff''. . {{Jazz Jazz discographies Discographies of American record labels