Alfred Lion

b. 1909 - Berlin, Germany
d. 1987

Alfred Lion is the founder of the legendary jazz label Blue Note. He first traveled to the United States in 1930 while employed by a company, bought lots of records and settled in the U.S. by 1938. Began recording swing & jazz by 1939 and pressing vinyl in extended 12" format - 78 rpm - (a format normally reserved for classical music). Blue Note Records soon established itself as the finest label in jazz and had reached its zenith by the mid fifties to the mid sixties, when records of such artists as Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Art Blakey, Hank Mobley and Sonny Rollins were released.