An New York indie label started in 1939, to record the jazz of the day; since the late 60's, through various mergers, it has been reduced to a corporate brand name. Its heyday may have been the 50's. Blue Note catalogued the cutting-edge (from Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk in the 40's to Sam Rivers and Cecil Taylor in the 60's) and, sometimes, the unfairly neglected (Sidney Bechet, Herbie Nichols). Their back catalog is a giant textbook of jazz history.

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