The Blue Note Label

This discography consists of a complete listing of all the sessions recorded by the Blue Note label, starting in 1939 and extending through the label's temporary demise in 1981 and subsequent revitalization in 1985. Founded by Alfred Lion, who was joined in 1941 by his childhood friend Frank Wolff, Blue Note was characterized by the founders' love of jazz and by their attempts to ensure the highest quality recordings through paid rehearsals and an optimal environment in the recording studio. Sessions are listed with all available information on personnel recording locations and dates and master and issue numbers. The work lists single series, lists album series and both provide lists of foreign issues along with a table of equivalent U.S. singles or albums, but foreign reissues that are identical to U.S. issues are not listed. It then provides compact disc and cassette tape listings and concludes with an artist index. The index contains all the names appearing in the session listings and indicates cases where the artists appeared as sidemen.