The Phoenix jazz community descended on Roosevelt Row this past week for a four day celebration of the anniversary of the inception of influential jazz label, Blue Note Records.
Local arts advocates Nicole Underwood and Mike Pfister, in collaboration with The Nash Jazz Club and FilmBar, organized “Beyond Jazz: A Celebration of 80 Years of Blue Note Records.”
80 years ago, what would become arguably the most influential jazz label, was started by Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, two German-Jews who immigrated to the U.S. to escape Nazi Germany.
Lion and Wolff launched Blue Note Records with the recording of boogie-woogie pianists Meade “Lux” Lewis and Albert Ammons, in January of 1939. That same year, Blue Note had their first hit with soprano saxophonist Sidney Becket’s quintet recording of “Summertime”.
Blue Note went on to become one of the most praised record labels in jazz. The label recorded jazz giants such as Lee Morgan, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Herbie Hancock.
The music produced in Blue Note’s studio forever changed musical expression and American culture, unleashing the entirety of African American experience and virtuosity.
“The ears of this label’s founder of Lion and Wolff where already primed to think about jazz in this kind of way,” said Christy J. Wells, associate professor of musicology at ASU. “They were long thinking about jazz as one piece of music within a broader diaspora of black music in the United States.
This four day event on Roosevelt Row displayed Blue Note records through live music, art, film and community discussion.
The celebration kicked-off with a performance at the Nash by Zack Gillespie. The pianist and his quartet played music of contemporary Blue Note musicians such as Robert Glasper, Norah Jones, Aaron Parks and others, bringing the historical Blue Note Records into a modern context.
Then, on Friday, the former location of Revolver Records transformed into the gallery space for a vinyl art and sound exhibition titled “Sleevenotes”.
Record High, a Phoenix-based record store, provided Blue Note records for display and for purchase. There was also a turntable and headset for shoppers to listen to Blue Note tracks.
Outside of the exhibition, DJ Laud Byron had his turntables filling the air with classic and modern Blue Note tunes.
Six Phoenix-based artists were also on display at the exhibition. Phoenix artists Tato Caraveo, Joe Hunsaker, Danielle Hacche, Holly Pyle, Eunique Yazzie and Abe Zucca came together to demonstrate their interpretation and experience with jazz through art.
“It’s very much improvisational because every moment I don’t know what’s going to happen next in the drawing…and if I mess up I have to interact with that mistake…” said Holly Pyle, one of the featured artist and a local jazz singer. “There’s certain parallels with this type of drawing and doing improvisation inside of jazz.”
The documentary “Blue Note Records: Beyond The Notes,” was also screened by FilmBar, which chronicles the history of the record label as well as jazz musicians’ desires for freedom in a time of racial oppression.
Contemporary musicians in the film also described the indelible relationship between jazz and hip-hop music.
The screening followed by a panel discussion by local artists and music advocates from a variety of disciplines.
“When I hear a Blue Note Record I hear what jazz to me is supposed to sound like…as you move into the ‘40s and you get into the ‘50s, the Blue Note sound becomes this dominant expression,” said Adam Roberts, a tenor saxophonist and director of instrumental music at Chandler Gilbert Community College
The panel discussed the significance of the early Blue Note years as well as the impact of the label in today’s music. Discussion also spoke of the evolution of the local music industry.
“[W]e really wanted to honor the full eight decades of Blue Note,” said organizer Nicole Underwood. “There’s so much music to cover, so much history that Blue Note has…it was really important to us to celebrate the albums in their form,” said Underwood.
Contact the reporter at csserra1@asu.edu
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly named DJ Mitch Freedom as the DJ who performed at the Sleevenotes exhibit. The actual DJ performing that night was DJ Laud Byron.
