A classic jazz label becomes the hippest thing on the internet
The Blue Note Records Spotify app
One of the nicest things about hosting a music show here at NCPR is that nearly every day there is at least one new CD waiting in the mailbox. Sometimes it’s a real gem, sometimes not, but the excitement of ripping open the package to see what’s inside is always there. It’s not unlike the feeling I got as a kid walking in to my local record shop with 15 bucks in my pocket. The anticipation of hearing music that I’ve never heard before is, thankfully, a feeling that has not diminished over the years.
If you take that thrill of musical discovery and feed it massive amounts of steroids, that might come close to explaining what I felt this past week. Let me explain.
Every month I pay ten dollars for a subscription to Spotify. It’s a Swedish software company that allows unlimited listening to music of all types. It’s somewhat similar to iTunes except you pay a flat monthly fee rather than paying per-song. And you’re only renting the Spotify songs until you end your subscription. After that, they disappear from all of your devices.
The jazz selection on Spotify has always been quite good. But this week Blue Note Records released a special app for Spotify that allows access to the label’s entire catalog dating back to 1939. We’re talking hundreds of hours of some of the best jazz ever recorded all in one place. Just extraordinary!
The catalog is searchable by date, artist, instrument and more. There’s a “Blue Note 101” section for people who are new to jazz and want a friendly introduction to it, and there’s even a way to listen to hundreds of examples of Blue Note songs that have been sampled in pop and hip-hop tunes.
The layout of this app is more like a finely-curated exhibit than a sterile software program. The biographies of each artist are brief and enlightening, and the way it points out similarities between artists tells you that it was put together by jazz experts, not software developers. Best of all, this app seems to be acknowledging that jazz is almost entirely ignored by young people and it’s time to really do something about it.
You may not use Spotify but your kids or grandkids probably do. If so, why don’t you encourage them to download the Blue Note app (it’s free for Spotify subscribers) and see if they don’t find themselves enjoying Lee Morgan or Gonzalo Rubalcaba or Bobby Hutcherson. Who knows? Maybe, like me, they’ll feel like it’s 1983 and they just walked in to the best record store on earth with a million bucks in their pocket.
I’ve just added it to Spotify (I didn’t even realize they have apps…), and it looks excellent! Thanks.
Ah, Joel — Blue Note! Lee Morgan, Blakey, Freddie, Herbie, early Elvin…(deep breath, sigh).
I can’t think of any other record label that represented their chosen genre so completely. If one wants bop/post-bop, one can live with Blue Note and nothing else and have a complete, well-rounded diet. Of what other label can that be said? Sun, for early rock-n-roll, perhaps? Deutsche Gramophone, maybe, for classical — that is, if you like Herbert von Karajan (no sigh, no deep breath:).
I didn’t know about that Blue Note Spotify app. What a great idea! I hope it brings people to jazz who otherwise wouldn’t bother. I do, however, ponder whether jazz hasn’t been shooting itself in foot by not really moving since, what, the early 70’s(?). Do the young folks actually see that and stay away, feeling that jazz is a museum? Wasn’t fusion the last real innovation to hit jazz, at least mainstream jazz? And some would argue that was not an innovation, but merely, um, a fusion of two existing styles.
Anyway, I personally still *love* hearing that good ol’ stuff. You got me going, Joel. I’ve gotta now find me some Jackie McLean (heads to the shelf, anticipates an encounter with Blue Note).
Bob,
You and I are almost entirely in agreement. But I think jazz has been moving a lot lately, and for the first time in a long time. Players like Eric Harland, Ambrose Akinmusire, Taylor Eigsti, Julian Lage, Christian Scott, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Gretchen Parlato, Sara Gazarek, Kneebody, Robert Glasper, Brian Blade and many others are making very interesting, fearless music that runs refreshingly counter to the rigidly-defined, exclusionary jazz that has been boring some of us for a long time now.
These musicians are young (most are under 40), accessible (both musically and personally), and unafraid to incorporate ANY type of music in to their jazz. I’m very encouraged and excited by their musical visions. I think the future of jazz looks brighter now than it has in several decades. It may not translate to a larger audience, but musically things haven’t been this healthy in a very long time…at least to my ears.
But is any of it as good as early Elvin? Gosh, I’m not sure anything is as good as that! I think I’ll go listen to some right now.
Your optimism is encouraging, Joel.
I guess you’re leaning back right now and diggin’ those Elvin sides with Joe Farrell and Jimmy Garrison. I had a chance to hang out with Elvin and Joe for a couple weeks back when they first formed that band. Jimmy had not yet joined them. Wilbur Little was covering bass and was no slouch.
Oysters. Lower east side oysters; Elvin getting his protein. Those were the days.