Blue Note Records is the label synonymous with the best in jazz since 1939, and from its unique mystique around its sound and up and down history, we’ll learn how Blue Note is still relevant to jazz and non-jazz fans today. We’ll talk with veteran Blue Note man Michael Cuscuna about the label’s humble beginnings in a New York apartment, the rise of the so-called Blue Note sound in the 1950s, how commercial success ironically led to Blue Note’s undoing in the 1960s, and explore how the photography of Blue Note co-founder Francis Wolff shaped the Blue Note mystique.

Episode Transcript

Host: Jeff Haas

Guests: Michael Cuscuna, Ben Cawthra

Music

• Jackie McLean “Blue Condition”
• John Coltrane “Blue Train”
• Albert Ammons “Bass Goin’ Crazy”
• Ike Quebec “A Light Reprieve”
• Ike Quebec “Blue Monday”
• Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers “Nica’s Dream”
• Thelonious Monk “'Round Midnight”
• Horace Silver “Song For My Father”
• Horace Silver “Sanctimonious Sam”
• Milt Jackson “Lily”
• Wayne Shorter “Speak No Evil”
• Lee Morgan “The Sidewinder”
• Norah Jones “Chasing Pirates”
• Lionel Loueke “Ami O”
• Stanley Turrentine “Blues for Del”

Original Air Date: April 17, 2012

Radio broadcast produced by Lou Blouin and Jeff Haas

Radio broadcast audio engineering by Jack Conners and Brock Mormon

Podcast produced by Sam Boase-Miller and Erik Saras

Podcast audio remastering by Sam Boase-Miller

Transcripts and show notes by Erik Saras

Theme Song: Jeff Haas Trio & Friends “Giving In”

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The New Jazz Archive radio broadcasts originally sponsored by Chateau Chantal. The New Jazz Archive receives no revenue from podcast reissues of radio broadcasts.