Blue Note Records: The Biography - Hardcover

Blue Note is a record label that stands for much more than just the extraordinary music in its catalogue. The label's story has hitherto been told only through collections of art and photography, foregrounding the label as an arbiter of style that continues to have an impact far beyond the music industry. Francis Wolff's amazing photography, coupled with Reid Miles' sleeve designs, set an unrepeatable standard which has become a classic design symbol. But of course it was not only style, elegance and finesse in design that set Blue Note apart, as its list of musicians and groups from its golden era in the fifties and sixties shows: Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins and - perhaps the archetypal Blue Note group - Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers all made their most significant early recordings under the auspices of the Blue Note genius.The body of this book is a detailed history of the label from its beginnings in 1939, its development, rise, fall and amazing rebirth under the EMI umbrella in the last fifteen years. Also included is a parallel analysis of all the major records released by the label throughout its astonishing history. Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Jackie McLean and Sonny Rollins, a few of the surviving figures central to the label's importance, have all been interviewed specifically for this book, a book which tells how and why Blue Note Rec

Richard Cook used to run Verve Records, Polygram's jazz label, and was one of NME's major feature writers in the 80s. Previously also editor of The Wire, he now writes a column for the Spectator and prepares each new edition of The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. He has an ambition, now nearly realised, of owning a copy of every jazz record ever produced.