BLUE NOTE RECORDS CELEBRATES 70 YEARS OF JAZZ AT GPAC
1/26/09
BLUE NOTE RECORDS CELEBRATES 70 YEARS OF JAZZ AT GPAC
To mark the 70th anniversary of premier jazz label, Blue Note Records, an all-star band featuring Ravi Coltrane, Peter Bernstein, Lewis Nash, Nicholas Payton, Peter Washington and Steve Wilson, will appear at the Germantown Performing Arts Centre on Sunday, March 1 at 7 p.m. Led by Blue Note Records' artist and pianist, Bill Charlap, the group will explore classic tunes by Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock, Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, and many others, showcasing Blue Note's rich catalog of jazz music.
WHO: Blue Note Records 70th Anniversary - On Tour
WHEN: Sunday, March 1, 7 p.m.
TICKETS: Single tickets range from $30, $35, and $45, plus handling fee, and are available now by calling (901) 751-7500 or online at www.GPACweb.com.
Box Office Hours: Monday through Friday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. and noon the day of performance. All major credit cards accepted.
WHERE: Germantown Performing Arts Centre
1801 Exeter Road
Germantown, TN 38138
CONTACT: For more information or to arrange an interview with the artist(s), please contact Carrie Corbett at (901) 751-7501 or carrie@gpacweb.com.
IMAGES: See attached
ARTIST WEB: www.bluenote.com/
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY:
In 1925, 16-year old Alfred Lion noticed a concert poster for Sam Wooding's orchestra near his favorite ice-skating arena in his native Berlin, Germany. He'd heard many of his mother's jazz records and began to take an interest in the music, but that night his life was changed.
The impact of what he heard live touched a deep passion within him. His thirst for the music temporarily brought him to New York in 1928 where he worked on the docks and slept in Central Park to get closer to the music.
On December 23, 1938, Lion attended the celebrated Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall. The power, soul and beauty with which boogie woogie piano masters Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis rocked the stage gripped him. Exactly two weeks later, on January 6 at 2 in the afternoon, he brought them into a New York studio to make some recordings. They took turns at the one piano, recording four solos each before relinquishing the bench to the other man. The long session ended with two stunning duets. Blue Note Records was finally a reality.
At the end of 1939, Lion's childhood friend Francis Wolff caught the last boat out of Nazi-controlled Germany bound for America. He found employment at a photographic studio and joined forces with Lion at night to continue Blue Note.
By 1956, and the cast that gave the label its sound and identity - Lion, Wolff, Van Gelder, Miles, Blakey, Silver, and Smith - was complete. For the next decade or so Blue Note dominated the artistic and commercial courses of the music. Album covers started to become a distinctive component in the Blue Note mix. Frank Wolff's extraordinarily sensitive and atmospheric photos and the advanced designs of Paul Bacon, Gil Melle and John Hermansader gave Blue Note a look that was both distinctive and beautiful.
The early '60s saw Blue Note move to a higher plateau in the record industry. When Liberty Records made them an offer to sell out of Blue Note in 1965, they took it. That program survived sporadically until 1981. In mid 1984 the label was re-launched with the "One Night With Blue Note" concert of all-star bands composed of new and old Blue Note artists at New York's Town Hall. Blue Note was reborn.
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