Blue Note Records - A Tale of Two Cities
Curation, Production, Direction
Bringing Blue Note Back to Berlin
As part of Berlin, Berlin 3, I brought Blue Note's long-standing legacy back to the city where it all began.
Blue Note Records is arguably one of the 20th century's most impactful labels. Since 1939, they have trailblazed the jazz scene, recording and capturing some of the genre's most defining and defying bodies of work - from Coltrane, to Davis, Hancock, and Mobley.
Although unknown to most, the story of Blue Note begins at a two-room apartment in Berlin where Alfred Lion was born. Lion's early affinity for jazz started in the Roaring 20s of Berlin, before the war-mongering fascist government forced him, and many others, to relocated to the US. It was here that he and co-founder Francis Wolf began the now-infamous recordings that led to the formation of Blue Note.
Blue Note is the story of free artistic expression, of some of the 20th century's most talented musician, and of empathy and allyship forming in the light of a shared lived experience of societal oppression.
The story was told through an exhibition of exclusive imagery from Blue Note's private archive of photos shot by Francis Wolf during recording sessions.
Immanuel Wilkins, one of Blue Note's most exciting new artists, flew in for an intimate and memorable performance.