(Foto - Alfred Lion com o saxofonista Dexter Gordon)O judeu alemão, naturalizado americano, executivo e co-fundador da Gravadora Blue Note, Alfred Lion, nasceu no 21 de abril de 1909, em Berlim e foi o responsável direto pelas gravações realizadas com os gigantes do jazz nos anos 40,50 e 60.
Alfred tornou-se aficionado pelo jazz ainda adolescente aos 16 anos, quando esteve na platéia de um concerto de jazz da Orquestra de Sam Wooding, na sua cidade natal. Em 1929 ele migrou para os Estados Unidos, mas devido a um problema fisico, retornou para Alemanha em busca de tratamento hospitalar. Em 1933 estava na America do Sul onde trabalhava para empresas de exportação/importação e somente retornou para Nova York em 1938.
Ao assistir um dos concertos da série "From Spirituals to Swing" no Carnegie Hall, foi inspirado a criar a sua própria gravadora. Contando com o apoio financeiro do escritor comunista Max Margulis, Lion fundou a gravadora Blue Note em 1939. Para primeira sessão de gravações do novo empreendimento, Lion escalou dois músicos que o haviam impressionado: o pianista de boogie woogie Albert Ammos e Meade Lux Woods. Mas, o primeiro sucesso de público só veio com a gravação de "Summertime" pelo saxofonista Sidney Bechet, naquele mesmo ano.
Nesse meio tempo foi convocado para servir o exército e deixou no comando dos negócios o conterrâneo e amigo de infância Francis Wolff, que recebeu na sua ausência, o total apoio de Milt Gabler (tio do comediante Billy Crystal), proprietário em Nova York da então famosa loja de discos Commodore. Nesse periodo, Margulis deixou a sociedade.
Lion foi levado a se convencer pelo saxofonista Ike Quebec, a investir nas manifestações jazzisticas mais modernas. Ike apresentou-o ao fabuloso pianista Thelonious Monk e este veio a se tornar no primeiro jazzista da nova era do jazz, a gravar na Blue Note.
Três ingredientes tornavam destacadas as gravações da Blue Note: os trabalhos de gravação do engenheiro Rudy Van Gelder, as fotografias de Francis Wolff e a arte das capas dos discos, realizada por Reid Miles. Lion e Wolff eram muito respeitados pelos músicos de jazz, principalmente, por frequentarem sistematicamente, os ambientes onde o jazz florecia.
As gravações com músicos "avant-garde" como Andrew Hill (que ele lançou) e Cecil Taylor e o envolvimento no inicio de tudo com Thelonious Monk e Herbie Nichols, foram, segundo Lion, os grandes prazeres de sua carreira.
O estilo que ficou conhecido como "hard bop" foi predominante nos lançamentos da gravadora nos anos 50 e 60. O baterista Art Blakey e o pianista-compositor Horace Silver foram pioneiros deste estilo. Em meados dos anos 50 a gravadora enfrentou problemas financeiros causados pela mudança para o formato LP ( discos long playing), mas a gravadora foi salva pelo movimento orgão/soul jazz liderado pelo organista e jazz master Jimmy Smith.
"Existe um toque de ironia no fato de que a Gravadora Blue Note, sinônimo do jazz e da forma seminal da música americana, ter sido fundada por dois imigrantes alemães" ( Richard Cook no livro "The Biography of Blue Note Records")
Alfred Lion, faleceu em fevereiro de 1987 em San Diego, na Califórnia.
Tradução de Humberto Amorim
Translated by Humberto Amorim
Thelonious Monk toca "Blue Monk"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmhP1RgbrrY
Jewish-German born American record executive and co-founder of Blue Note Records in 1939, Alfred Lion, was born on April 21 1909 in Berlin, and recoprded many of the biggest names in jazz throughtout the 1940s,50,s 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 town. 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 earlier concert: the boogie-woogie pianists Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis. The company's first hit, recorded in the same year, was Sidney Bechet's recording of "Summertime". It was notable for being issued on a 12" 78rpm record instead of the then standard 10" owing to its length.
By the time Lion was drafted into the army, his Berlin childhood friend Francis Wolff had joined him, and under the wing of Milt Gabler and his Commodore Music Store, Wolff sustained the business in Lion's absence. (Margulis had by now permanently dropped out of any involvement with Blue Note.)
At the persuading of Ike Quebec, Lion began to explore more modern developments in jazz, and Quebec introduced Lion to Thelonious Monk, the first 'modern' jazz musician Blue Note was to record. Blue Note's involvement with modern jazz was not total for several years, and Lion continued his label's association with Bechet and clarinetist George Lewis into the 1950s. Wolff himself would supervise few sessions himself until after Lion's retirement, concentrating on the company's business affairs.
What became known as the "hard bop" style would predominate in Blue Note's output during the 1950s and 1960's. Musicians like Art Blakey and Horace Silver among others epitomised this style. In the mid-fifties though, Blue Note was a struggling label, hit by the record industry's changeover to the 12" LP format, but the popularity of the organ/soul jazz craze, epitomized by the work of Jimmy Smith, ensured that the label survived.
Three significant elements make Blue Note releases stand out: the work of recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder, the photographs of Francis Wolff and the cover designs principally by Reid Miles. Lion and Wolff were also respected by musicians for their straight dealing and for 'hanging out' in the jazz scene.
Blue Note also recorded avant-garde musicians like Andrew Hill and Cecil Taylor. Indeed it was Lion's discovery of Hill, which he would later cite, along with his earlier involvement with Thelonious Monk and their fellow pianist Herbie Nichols, as having given him particular pleasure during his career.
Duke Pearson, who Lion appointed after Quebec's death in 1963, helped to ensure that the label's roster remained fresh as a whole. In fact the popularity that Horace Silver's "Song for my Fathar" and Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder" resulted in Lion being pressurised by his distributors into producing more hits.
Having suffered from heart problems for some years, Lion retired in 1967 having sold the Blue Note label and catalogue to Liberty Records in 1965. Wolff stayed with the label until his death in 1971. Liberty Records in turn was acquired by United Artists, and the Blue Note imprint went dormant until it was revived by record executive Bruce Lundvall under the ownership of EMI.
Lion himself retired to Mexico with his second wife, the former Ruth Mason and dropped out of any direct connection with his former life, though he remained in contact with Horace Silver, who respected his privacy. Lion contacted the co-founder of Mosaic Records, Michael Cuscuna, around 1984 having noticed that label's early box-sets of Blue Note recordings. At the end of his life, Lion gained the recognition he had often been denied, including visiting several Blue Note festivals in Japan.
There has been an extensive reissue campaign under Lundvall's direction of Blue Note recordings, many of which have been spearheaded by Michael Cuscuna.
Alfred passed away in February, 1987 in San Diego, California..
References: Michael Cuscuna, Michel Ruppli: The Blue Note label. A discography. Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut 2001.
Donald Clarke (Ed.): The Penguin encyclopedia of popular music. Viking, London 1989.
Donald Clarke (Ed.): The Penguin encyclopedia of popular music. Viking, London 1989.
"It's a bit of an irony that the Blue Note label — synonymous with jazz, the seminal American music form — was created by two German immigrants"
In Blue Note Records, The Biography, author Richard Cook tells the story of Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, who formed the label in 1939."
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