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First Take
By Jason Koransky
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‘What Would Alfred Have Done?’
Bruce Lundvall
For 25 years, Bruce Lundvall has
had a thought running through the
back of his mind while he has served
at the helm of Blue Note Records:
“What would Alfred have done?”
Alfred, of course, is Alfred Lion,
who in 1939 launched Blue Note
with Francis Wolff, and proceeded
to build one of the most influential
labels in jazz history.
Lion fostered a creative environment
in which artists had freedom to
create. Lundvall has done that. Lion
built long-term relationships with
artists that led to them recording
expansive, influential catalogs. Ditto
for Lundvall. Lion did not have
much of a taste for signing vocalists,
save for Babs Gonzales, Dodo
Greene and Sheila Jordan. Lundvall,
well, he went another direction, having
signed the likes of Cassandra
Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Kurt Elling,
Patricia Barber, Bobby McFerrin, Rachelle
Ferrell, Lena Horne and Norah Jones.
Lundvall recalled a time when this question
was put to a huge test. The label had a demo
from the British group Us3, which had sampled
a number of Blue Note tracks, including Herbie
Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island.” To decide if
this was Blue Note material, Lundvall and Tom
Everett, who was the label’s head of marketing
at the time, drove around Hollywood in a convertible
for two hours listening to the music.
“Tom said, ‘We should do it,’” Lundvall
remembered. “I said, ‘Tom, you’re right. We
should put it on Blue Note.’ We went to
England, and told them that they could sample
the entire Blue Note catalog.”
The resulting album, Hand On The Torch
(1993), which featured the “Cantaloupe Island”
remix “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia),” sold about 3
million copies, according to Lundvall.
Maybe Lion would not have released the Us3
album, but this was one of many projects that
show that Lundvall has more than simply served
as a curator of Blue Note’s older catalog: He has
charted his own path at the helm of the label.
From Joe Lovano, Greg Osby and Gonzalo
Rubalcaba to Bill Charlap, Don Byron, and
Medeski Martin and Wood, recent Blue Note
artists have recorded some of the most significant
jazz discographies of the past two decades.
“The idea is to find artists who can add to the
legacy,” he said. “I’m proud of the roster we
have. I know it’s expanded beyond the borders
of jazz. That’s not an issue for me. How could
you not allow Al Green to be on your label? Or
Norah Jones or Anita Baker?”
Lundvall has succeeded in the delicate balancing
act of building a vibrant label and promoting
the catalog while not leaning too heavily
on that catalog. For instance, when asked the
question that Dan Ouellette and Ted Panken presented
to about three dozen musicians for our
cover feature on Page 26—“What is your
favorite Blue Note album?”—Lundvall had the
same difficulty that many of the artists had: narrowing
his pick to one album.
“First and foremost, [Art Blakey and the Jazz
Messengers’] A Night At Birdland,” he responded.
“It encompasses the essence of this music.
Extraordinary performances, an exciting live
recording, spontaneous, introducing Clifford
Brown and Lou Donaldson, with Horace Silver
new on the scene. Then, Bud Powell, The
Genius Of Bud Powell. He’s my favorite pianist
of all time. He invented modern jazz piano. Of
course, I’d pick Dexter Gordon’s Go, and I love
[Gordon’s] Our Man In Paris.”
Lundvall then turned his attention to the past
25 years. “Gonzalo Rubalcaba is one of the
greatest artists alive,” he said. “His latest album,
Supernova, is one of the great records that we
have put out. Jason Moran’s Modernistic. Joe
Lovano’s 52nd Street Themes, or any of those
nonet records. Everything Bill Charlap does is
extraordinary.”
Even with the downturn in the music industry
(the label has been profitable every year
under Lundvall, except in 2008), Lundvall is still
looking to expand the roster, to write the next
chapter in Blue Note’s history.
“I look for originality and a sense of adventure;
the artists need a vision and a clearly identifiable
sound,” said Lundvall, 73. “I want to keep
working. We don’t sign acts; we sign artists.” DB
JIMMY KATZ
8 DOWNBEAT March 2009