Thelonious Monk

Rocky Mount, US
Jazz
934.4m all-time streams (11 Apr '26)

Gerry Mulligan

New York, US
Jazz
1.8bn all-time streams (13 Apr '26)

Bud Powell

Harlem, US
Jazz
304.3m all-time streams (18 Apr '26)

J.J. Johnson

Indianapolis, US
Jazz
10.0bn all-time streams (9 Apr '26)

Clifford Brown

Wilmington, US
Jazz
929.5m all-time streams (16 Apr '26)

Jutta Hipp

Leipzig, DE
Jazz
23.6m all-time streams (10 Apr '26)

Horace Silver

Norwalk, US
R&B, Jazz
941.0m all-time streams (18 Apr '26)

Donald Byrd

Detroit, US
R&B, Jazz
572.6m all-time streams (14 Apr '26)

Sonny Rollins

New York, US
Jazz
1.6bn all-time streams (11 Apr '26)

Art Blakey

Pittsburgh, US
Jazz
1.6bn all-time streams (12 Apr '26)

Horace Silver Quintet

US
Jazz
209.7m all-time streams (17 Apr '26)

Lee Morgan

Philadelphia, US
R&B, Jazz
830.3m all-time streams (12 Apr '26)

Sonny Clark

Herminie, US
R&B, Jazz
557.6m all-time streams (14 Apr '26)

Jimmy Smith

Norristown, US
R&B, Jazz
12.0bn all-time streams (16 Apr '26)

Paul Chambers Quintet

US
Jazz
39.7m all-time streams (10 Apr '26)

Hank Mobley

Eastman, US
R&B, Jazz
504.5m all-time streams (14 Apr '26)

John Coltrane

Hamlet, US
Jazz
7.2bn all-time streams (13 Apr '26)

Cannonball Adderley

Tampa, US
Jazz
764.1m all-time streams (10 Apr '26)

The Three Sounds

Washington, US
Jazz
28.8m all-time streams (11 Apr '26)

Tina Brooks

Fayetteville, US
Jazz
58.1m all-time streams (16 Apr '26)

Gil Evans

Toronto, CA
Jazz
21.3m all-time streams (10 Apr '26)

Jackie McLean

New York, US
Jazz, Kids
666.8m all-time streams (9 Apr '26)

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

US
Jazz
152.3m all-time streams (15 Apr '26)

Randy Weston

Brooklyn, US
Jazz
10.6m all-time streams (11 Apr '26)

Freddie Hubbard

Indianapolis, US
R&B, Jazz, American
10.4bn all-time streams (7 Apr '26)

Dexter Gordon

Los Angeles, US
R&B, Jazz
691.3m all-time streams (12 Apr '26)

Grant Green

St. Louis, US
R&B, Jazz
423.1m all-time streams (14 Apr '26)

Herbie Hancock

US
R&B, Jazz
4.3bn all-time streams (8 Apr '26)

Gerry Mulligan Quartet

New York, US
Jazz
197.3m all-time streams (8 Apr '26)

Bill Evans

Plainfield, US
Pop, Jazz
3.1bn all-time streams (12 Apr '26)

Duke Ellington

Washington, US
Pop, Jazz, Classical
4.2bn all-time streams (13 Apr '26)

Eric Dolphy

Los Angeles, US
Jazz, American
653.1m all-time streams (9 Apr '26)

Blue Mitchell

Miami, US
R&B, Jazz
264.8m all-time streams (16 Apr '26)

Joe Pass

New Brunswick, US
Jazz
346.6m all-time streams (17 Apr '26)

Charles Mingus

Nogales, US
Jazz, Electro
1.3bn all-time streams (11 Apr '26)

Andrew Hill

Chicago, US
R&B, Jazz, American
20.5m all-time streams (13 Apr '26)

Cecil Taylor

Corona, US
Jazz, Others
11.6m all-time streams (9 Apr '26)

Don Cherry

Oklahoma City, US
Pop, R&B, Jazz, Others
84.9m all-time streams (8 Apr '26)

Ornette Coleman

Fort Worth, US
Jazz, American, Others
93.7m all-time streams (18 Apr '26)

McCoy Tyner

Philadelphia, US
R&B, Jazz, American
1.4bn all-time streams (13 Apr '26)

Elvin Jones

Pontiac, US
R&B, Jazz
1.9bn all-time streams (17 Apr '26)

Marlena Shaw

New Rochelle, US
R&B, Jazz
202.4m all-time streams (16 Apr '26)

War

Long Beach, US
R&B
482.8m all-time streams (17 Apr '26)

Wayne Shorter

Newark, US
R&B, Jazz, American
3.2bn all-time streams (6 Apr '26)

Pat Metheny

Lee's Summit, US
R&B, Jazz, Classical, American
1.1bn all-time streams (12 Apr '26)

Count Basie

Red Bank, US
Pop, Jazz, Classical
2.8bn all-time streams (14 Apr '26)

Lester Young

Woodville, US
Jazz
1.2bn all-time streams (12 Apr '26)

Joe Henderson

US
R&B, Jazz, American
493.9m all-time streams (10 Apr '26)

Dinah Washington

Tuscaloosa, US
Pop, R&B, Jazz
7.0bn all-time streams (16 Apr '26)

Stan Getz

US
Pop, Jazz
4.7bn all-time streams (15 Apr '26)

The Jazz Messengers

US
Jazz
149.9m all-time streams (16 Apr '26)

Dr. John

New Orleans, US
R&B, Jazz, Country, Rock, Blues, Folk
5.5bn all-time streams (6 Apr '26)

Charlie Parker

US
Jazz
936.5m all-time streams (12 Apr '26)

Nina Simone

Tryon, US
Pop, R&B, Jazz
19.6bn all-time streams (13 Apr '26)

Norah Jones

New York, US
Pop, Jazz
25.7bn all-time streams (13 Apr '26)

Madlib

US
R&B, Alternative, Hip Hop, Electro
9.9bn all-time streams (12 Apr '26)

Van Morrison

Belfast, GB
Rock, Folk
17.8bn all-time streams (14 Apr '26)

Al Green

Forrest City, US
R&B, Blues
3.2bn all-time streams (14 Apr '26)

Wynton Marsalis

New Orleans, US
Jazz, Classical
538.9m all-time streams (14 Apr '26)

Claude Nougaro

Toulouse, FR
Pop, Jazz
429.7m all-time streams (8 Apr '26)

Anita Baker

Toledo, US
R&B, Jazz
1.2bn all-time streams (9 Apr '26)

Suzanne Vega

Santa Monica, US
Pop, Rock, American, Folk
634.9m all-time streams (12 Apr '26)

Amos Lee

Philadelphia, US
Folk
1.3bn all-time streams (16 Apr '26)

Aaron Parks

Seattle, US
Jazz, American
83.0m all-time streams (11 Apr '26)

Gary Burton

Anderson, US
Jazz, American
334.7m all-time streams (17 Apr '26)

Miles Davis

Alton, US
R&B, Jazz
9.5bn all-time streams (13 Apr '26)

Willie Nelson

Abbott, US
Pop, Country, American, Folk
22.5bn all-time streams (13 Apr '26)

Aaron Neville

New Orleans, US
R&B
405.2m all-time streams (16 Apr '26)

Wynton Kelly Trio

JM
Jazz
101.0m all-time streams (13 Apr '26)

Ryan Adams

US
Pop, Rock, Alternative, American, Blues, Folk
2.2bn all-time streams (12 Apr '26)

Jamie Cullum

Rochford, GB
Pop, Jazz
1.6bn all-time streams (16 Apr '26)

Annie

Aberdeen, US
Pop, Rock, Folk
7.1bn all-time streams (6 Apr '26)

Tony Allen

Lagos, NG
Pop, R&B, Jazz, Electro, Others
1.4bn all-time streams (17 Apr '26)

Lucinda Williams

Lake Charles, US
Country, Rock, Alternative, American, Folk
1.5bn all-time streams (11 Apr '26)

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Label: Blue Note

Blue Note

Blue Note is a label that is mostly known for its releases in the jazz genre.

Label Code: LC 0133 / LC 00133

Founded by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis in 1939, the label was soon joined by Lion's childhood friend Francis Wolff (who took photographs during rehearsals used on LP sleeves). The early years saw BN issue 78rpm sides featuring traditional jazz artists and small-group swing, but from 1947 the company began to record the emerging bop movement with sides from Thelonious Monk and, in the next few years, Bud Powell and Fats Navarro. From the 1950s, Blue Note recorded musicians such as the Hammond organist Jimmy Smith and artists in the hard-bop idiom such as Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers. Albums by long-time artists Lee Morgan (The Sidewinder) and Horace Silver (Song For My Father) made a significant impact in the 1960s. Meanwhile, the label recorded more exploratory albums by Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor, among others

Lion sold the label to [l13531] in 1965 and retired in 1967. Wolff died in 1971. By now, more commercially-oriented music, including jazz-fusion, had started to be issued on the label, but in 1975, then-owners [l4898] launched a reissue program of Blue Note's back catalog which lasted until 1980. The previous year, Blue Note became a label of [l654].

Beginning in 1982, Blue Note sessions began appearing in box-sets from [l100901] (co-owned by Michael Cuscuna). The label itself was relaunched as part of Capitol subsidiary [l85486] in 1985 and began making new recordings, re-releasing albums and previously unissued material from the Lion-Wolff era found by Cuscuna.

In 1989, [l85486] was discontinued and Blue Note became the division under which all of Capitol-EMI's jazz activities were organized (two years later, [l85486] was revived for smooth jazz and pop-jazz releases).

A 2005 reorganization at both [l654] and parent company [l26126] put Blue Note along with sister labels [l85486], Angel, Virgin Classics and Metro Blue under the Blue Note Label Group umbrella covering jazz, classical and adult pop recordings.

In 2012, [a62920] succeeded [a1120514] as Blue Note's president, and the label's owner, [l26126], was purchased by the [l38404].

Please note, many Blue Note issues also carry an [l26126] logo. This is not a label and EMI should not be added as a label. Instead it indicates that Blue Note was part of the EMI Group.

Blue Note® is a registered trademark of [l87317]


Label and studio bios generated with thanks to Discogs.