Who founded Blue Note Records?

Blue Note Records was founded in New York City in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, two German-Jewish refugees who had fled Nazi Germany. Lion, from Berlin, had first heard jazz at a Sam Wooding concert in 1925 and emigrated in 1937. Wolff, a photographer, followed after Kristallnacht in 1938. Both men channeled their love for Black American music into building what became the most important jazz label in history.

Why is Blue Note Records considered the greatest jazz label?

Between the late 1950s and mid-1960s, Blue Note released what many consider the essential modern jazz canon: Miles Davis's early recordings, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Herbie Hancock's Empyrean Isles, and Andrew Hill's Point of Departure — among hundreds of others. The label also established the visual template for jazz record covers through Francis Wolff's photography and Reid Miles's graphic design.

What does 'it must swing' mean in jazz?

The phrase is attributed to Alfred Lion, who insisted every recording on Blue Note had to 'schwing' — the German word for swing. For Lion, this meant the music had to have rhythmic momentum, emotional authenticity, and physical impact. It was his rejection of safe, commercial jazz in favour of hard bop that pushed musicians technically and spiritually. The phrase became the unofficial philosophy of the label: technique without feeling was worthless.

It Must Schwing

Genre: jazz, hard bop, Blue Note, 1950s, 1960s

February 21, 2026

Two German-Jewish refugees escaped the Nazis and built jazz's greatest label out of love for Black American music

Tracks

1. Moanin' — Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
2. The Sidewinder — Lee Morgan
3. Song For My Father — Horace Silver
4. Cantaloupe Island — Herbie Hancock
5. Blue Train — John Coltrane
6. Maiden Voyage — Herbie Hancock
7. A Love Supreme, Pt. I – Acknowledgement — John Coltrane
8. Speak No Evil — Wayne Shorter
9. Watermelon Man — Herbie Hancock
10. Juju — Wayne Shorter

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