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It was 70 years ago today, 6th January 1939, that a young German immigrant and passionate jazz fan named Alfred Lion held the very first recording session for what was to become Blue Note Records. Two weeks prior Lion had found his calling as he sat spellbound by two boogie-woogie pianists - Albert Ammons & Meade Lux Lewis - at the legendary ‘Spirituals to Swing’ concert at Carnegie Hall, and the world’s premiere and longest-running Jazz label was born.

As part of the year long celebrations, long time producer Michael Cuscuna, ‘new boy’ Eli Wolf and pianist Bill Charlap have produced The Blue Note 7’s Mosaic: A Celebration Of Blue Note, an eight track collection of covers of classic by an all-star septet featuring Nicholas ‘Into The Blue’ Payton (trumpet), Steve Wilson (alto/flute), Ravi Coltrane (tenor), Peter Bernstein (guitar), Peter Washington (bass), Lewis Nash (drums) and led by Charlap.

A bit of a joy and a task as the legendary catalog that includes such Jazz icons as Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Jimmy Smith, Grant Green, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Donald Byrd, Andrew Hill, Ornette Coleman and loads more.

So you’ve got the idea, seven jazz musicians steeped in the history of jazz that pick eight tracks Blue Note tracks on a Mosiac theme, so they have to start with the familiar Cedar Walton classic ‘Mosaic’. It’ll please traditionalist that there’s nothing ‘wild’ going on here and whilst it’s good to hear these new versions, I’d like to think that live that they are a touch more avant. That’s said all the musicians are top class and there’s some fine solos particularly Bernstein on ‘Idle Moments’.

So as it’s 70 years, respect to founders Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, the “moonlighting optometrist” from New Jersey who set the standard for recording engineers, Rudy Van Gelder and not least, the designer of all those classical covers, Reid Miles.

In fact 2009 marks two milestones for Blue Note, in addition to the 70th anniversary it’s also the 25th anniversary of the its re-launch in 1984 under current President Bruce Lundvall. And just to prove the label is still looking for artists and song is that the label’s current roster includes many of today’s most important voices such as Patricia Barber, Terence Blanchard, Robert Glasper, Lionel Loueke, Joe Lovano, Wynton Marsalis, Jason Moran, rising star Aaron Parks, Dianne Reeves, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Cassandra Wilson and a range of non-jazzers such as Priscilla Ahn, Anita Baker, Al Green, Norah Jones, Amos Lee and Willie Nelson. About time we had another Malib Blue Note remix compilation?

The Finest In Jazz Since 1939 will be featuring a range multi-media offerings, including live concerts, Something Else, special digital and physical re-issues and new releases and book releases. The Blue Note 7 are on tour from 7th January to mid-April with a six night run at Birdland in NYC with European tour dates to follow.

Reviewed: The Blue Note 7 - Mosaic: A Celebration Of Blue Note (Blue Note) Cat. No: 50999 2 43459 2 7 Release date: 12th January 2009
Tracklisting:
1 Mosaic featuring Nicholas Payton (8:31) (Cedar Walton)
2 Inner Urge featuring Steve Wilson (7:36) (Joe Henderson)
3 Search For Peace featuring Ravi Coltrane (7:57) (McCoy Tyner)
4 Little B’s Poem featuring Peter Bernstein (6:27) (Bobby Hutcherson)
5 Criss Cross featuring Bill Charlap (6:56) (Thelonious Monk)
6 Dolphin’s Dance featuring Peter Washington (7:07) (Herbie Hancock)
7 Idle Moments featuring Lewis Nash (6:36) (Duke Pearson)
8 The Outlaw (6:30) (Horace Silver)

Links:
www.bluenote.com “The label was born on January 6, 1939 when a young jazz fan named Alfred Lion recorded two of his favorite boogie-woogie pianists at a New York studio. That first session (Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis - The First Day) proved to be the start of an illustrious history that continues to this day”
www.bluenote.com/revisited
www.myspace.com/aparksmusic
BLUE NOTE 70/25
http://www.bluenote.com/MainNewsDetail.aspx?newsId=12047&promoId=690
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The Blue Note 7 - Mosaic (Advance)