April 10, 2014
On December 23, 1938, a German immigrant & jazz fan named Alfred Lion attended the celebrated Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall. It was a life-changing evening for Lion who was awe-struck by two boogie pianists – Albert Ammons & Meade Lux Lewis. Two weeks later on January 6, 1939, Lion brought Ammons & Lewis into a recording studio in New York City and produced the very first session for Blue Note Records. Blue Note has since gone on to represent The Finest In Jazz, tracing the entire history of the music from Boogie Woogie, Hot Jazz and Swing, through Bebop, Hard Bop, Post Bop, Soul Jazz, Avant-Garde, and Fusion, and into Jazz’s numerous modern day incarnations.
For Record Store Day on April 19 we’ll be reissuing those first sessions – Ammons’ “Boogie Woogie Stomp”/”Boogie Woogie Blues” & Lewis’ “Melancholy”/”Solitude” – as exclusive limited edition 12” vinyl in honor of Blue Note’s 75th Anniversary, right down to the original pink & black label (which was actually a printer’s error)! For more information please visit www.recordstoreday.com.
