Blue Note. A Story of Modern Jazz (BBC) Page #2

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at his lips

whose jacket has a fine

one-button roll

does not know upon what riff

the music slips

its hypodermic needle to his soul,

but, softly, as the tune

comes from his throat,

trouble mellows in a golden note.

# Dee-bee di-bi

Bi-dee-dee-doo-dee.

Yes.

Baby, huh, what can happen?

I think Alfred started right when

he recorded Ammons and Lewis.

He was just sort of like going

with the trends

and he happened to discover two

really quintessential musicians

in the process and that led him into

a thing of capturing musicians

whose prime had been passed

but yet were still vibrant

and moving forward.

Bechet, George Lewis,

The Port of Harlem Jazzmen,

were sort of his first groups

that represented a kind of

modernist approach,

and the Meade Lux Lewis

Celeste Quartet.

It wasn't until he really, you know,

was able to develop a following

with the label that he could take

a chance on modern music.

This is the original recording,

original pressing,

Sidney Bechet, Summertime,

from 1940.

This was their first hit.

This is what created the cash flow

that allowed Blue Note to continue.

It was like blood, like water,

like air, you know? I mean...

'We'd like to do a brand-new thing

for you, at this time,

'from our most recent

Blue Note album.'

That's got it.

There was a whole thing...

That whole thing,

that funky piano thing

that went down there for a minute,

you know?

Freddie Hubbard. Clifford Brown.

Oh, Un Poco Loco. Bum-bum-ba!

I don't know that Alfred was an

everyday, garden-variety German.

Unadulterated. Undiluted. Pure.

The real deal is all Alfred Lion and

Frank Wolff were interested in.

Bu-dum-bu-dum-bu-dum da-da

Bu-dum-bu-dum-bu-dum da-da.

What? I mean,

every piano player I know,

sat down and tried to play that.

I know I did!

MUSIC:
Come On Everybody (Get Down)

by Us3

No problem. Thank you for calling.

Bye.

Hello, Vanguard. Can I help you?

Yes. Ron Carter will be here,

two shows, 9:
30 and 11:30.

Yes. You may, sir.

Hold on one moment, please.

Wait, wait, 9:
30 or 11:30?

11:
30, OK. Two people?

Monaco?

M-O-N-A-C-O? Spell.

That's what I said. Monaco.

Very good, sir.

So come at 11 o'clock.

Thank you.

When you come to the door,

they'll seat you.

They'll give you the best seat

in the house. OK?

Bye. Oh, my goodness.

Luckily, I don't seat people.

Anyway, there we are.

In New York, at our apartment,

which was kind of cute,

right down here in the Village.

Yes, I was young.

I was about 17 or 18

when I met Alfred

but I used to listen to his records

on the radio,

I didn't know who he was,

and Alfred had called me once

and he had an office

and he invited me up and I did go,

I brought a friend with me,

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