Alfred Lion (1909-1987) was a Jewish German-born American record executive who co-founded Blue Note Records in 1939 Blue Note recorded many of the biggest names in jazz throughout the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.
Alfred Lion began his lifelong fascination with jazz at the age of 16 when he saw a jazz concert given by Sam Wooding's Orchestra in his native Berlin. In 1929 Alfred Lion migrated to the United States, but a physical attack necessitated hospita...
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Alfred Lion (1909-1987) was a Jewish German-born American record executive who co-founded Blue Note Records in 1939 Blue Note recorded many of the biggest names in jazz throughout the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.
Alfred Lion began his lifelong fascination with jazz at the age of 16 when he saw a jazz concert given by Sam Wooding's Orchestra in his native Berlin. In 1929 Alfred Lion migrated to the United States, but a physical attack necessitated hospital treatment, and he was forced to return to Germany. From 1933 Lion was based in South America, working for German import-export companies, only returning to New York in 1938. Lion's presence at one of the concerts given under the From Spirituals to Swing banner at Carnegie Hall inspired him to start his own record label.
In partnership with communist writer Max Margulis (he supplied the start-up capital) Lion founded Blue Note in 1939. In the label's first record session on January 6, Lion recorded two musicians who had impressed him at the...
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