Which record label did Alfred Lion found in New York in 1939?

Alfred Lion founded Blue Note Records in New York in 1939.

Lion, a German-born jazz enthusiast, established the label with its first release, a pair of boogie-woogie performances by pianists Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis. Francis Wolff, Lion’s lifelong business partner and a talented photographer, soon became central to the label’s recording and visual identity.

Blue Note became especially influential during the bebop and hard-bop eras. Its catalogue included recordings by Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, and many other major jazz artists. Engineer Rudy Van Gelder recorded numerous classic Blue Note sessions.

Blue Note is sometimes confused with Prestige, another important New York jazz label founded in the 1940s. The labels shared artists and recording personnel, but they were separate companies. Blue Note’s distinctive album covers, often designed by Reid Miles, also became highly recognizable in modern graphic design.