Editing Blue Note Records (section)

===Hard bop and beyond===
In 1951, Blue Note issued their first vinyl 10″ releases. The label was soon recording emerging talent such as Horace Silver (who would stay with Blue Note for a quarter of a century) and [[Clifford Brown]]. Meanwhile, [[Milt Jackson]] (as the leader of what became the [[Modern Jazz Quartet]]) and the [[Jazz Messengers]] (originally organised as a cooperative, but soon to become Art Blakey's group) recorded for Blue Note. The Milt Jackson Quartet session was a one-off, but Blakey's various groups recorded for the label extensively, if intermittently, for the next decade. [[Rudy Van Gelder]] recorded most Blue Note releases from 1953, after Lion and Van Gelder's mutual friend, saxophonist and composer [[Gil Melle]], introduced them.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> A difference between Blue Note and other independent labels (for example [[Prestige Records]], who also employed Van Gelder) was that musicians were paid for rehearsal time prior to the recording session: this helped ensure a better end result on the record. Producer [[Bob Porter (record producer)|Bob Porter]] of Prestige Records once said that "The difference between Blue Note and Prestige is two days' rehearsal."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.birdpages.co.uk/magazine/blueprintsofjazz2.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060617155919/http://www.birdpages.co.uk/magazine/blueprintsofjazz2.htm|url-status=usurped|title=Blueprints Of Jazz: part two|archive-date=June 17, 2006|website=Birdpages.co.uk|access-date=October 17, 2019}}</ref> When the recording industry switched to 12″ LP in the mid-1950s, Blue Note was in difficulties. Their catalog on the now outmoded 10″ LP now had to be recreated on the newer format. Lion contemplated selling out to [[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]] at this time, an option which was not acted upon. A musician who was to become one of the label's best sellers was discovered. [[Jimmy Smith (musician)|Jimmy Smith]], the [[Hammond organ]]ist was signed in 1956,<ref name="LarkinGE"/> and performed on the label's first 12″ LP album of new recordings.

The mid-to-late 1950s saw debut recordings for Blue Note by (among others) [[Hank Mobley]], [[Lee Morgan]], [[Herbie Nichols]], [[Sonny Clark]], [[Kenny Dorham]], [[Kenny Burrell]], [[Jackie McLean]], [[Donald Byrd]] and [[Lou Donaldson]]. [[Sonny Rollins]] recorded for the label in 1956 and 1957 and Bud Powell briefly returned. [[John Coltrane]]'s ''[[Blue Train (album)|Blue Train]]'', and [[Cannonball Adderley]]'s ''[[Somethin' Else (Cannonball Adderley album)|Somethin' Else]]'' (featuring [[Miles Davis]] in one of his last supporting roles) were guest appearances on the label. Blue Note was by then recording a mixture of established acts (Rollins, Adderley) and artists who in some cases had recorded before, but often produced performances for the label which by far exceeded earlier recordings in quality (''Blue Train'' is often considered to be the first significant recording by Coltrane as a leader). Horace Silver and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers continued to release a series of artistically and commercially successful recordings.

The early 1960s saw [[Dexter Gordon]] join the label.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> Gordon was a saxophonist from the bebop era who had spent several years in prison for narcotic offences, and he made several albums for Blue Note over a five-year period, including several at the beginning of his sojourn in Europe. Gordon also appeared on the debut album by [[Herbie Hancock]] - by the mid 1960s, all four of the younger members of the Miles Davis quintet (Hancock, [[Wayne Shorter]], [[Ron Carter]] and [[Tony Williams (drummer)|Tony Williams]]) were recording for the label, and Hancock and Shorter in particular produced a succession of superb albums in a mix of styles. Carter did not actually record under his own name until the label's revival in the 1980s, but played [[double bass]] on many other musicians' sessions. Many of these also included [[Freddie Hubbard]], a trumpeter who also recorded for the label as a leader. One of the features of the label during this period was a "family" of musicians (Hubbard, Hancock, Carter, Grant Green, [[Joe Henderson]], Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan, [[Blue Mitchell]], Hank Mobley and many others) who would record as sidemen on each other's albums without necessarily being part of the leader's [[working group]].

The early 1960s also saw three Blue Note recordings by pianist/composer [[Freddie Redd]], one of which, ''[[The Music From The Connection (Freddie Redd Quartet)|The Connection]]'', used music written for the play by [[Jack Gelber]] and its film version.

In 1963, Lee Morgan scored a significant hit with [[The Sidewinder (song)|the title track of]] ''[[The Sidewinder]]'' album,<ref name="LarkinGE"/> and Horace Silver did the same the following year with ''[[Song for My Father (album)|Song for My Father]]''. As a result, Lion was under pressure by independent distributors to come up with similar successes, with the result that many Blue Note albums of this era start with a catchy tune intended for heavy airplay in the United States.

At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters were located in [[New York City]], at West 61st Street,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://maps.google.com/maps?q=43+West+61st+Street,+New+York,+NY,+United+States&hl=en&ll=40.770306,-73.983452&spn=0.001379,0.003374&sll=40.876223,-73.952343&sspn=0.001377,0.002352&vpsrc=6&hnear=43+W+61st+St,+New+York,+10023&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=40.770263,-73.983348&panoid=bj6jyZU7Suy21vk6eOjSZw&cbp=12,31.24,,0,-14.17 |title=Google Maps |publisher=Google Maps |access-date=2015-05-20}}</ref><ref>Liner notes to ''[[Tender Feelin's]]'' by [[Leonard Feather]]</ref><ref>Liner notes to ''[[Feelin' Good (The Three Sounds album)|Feelin' Good]]''.</ref> and at 47 W 63rd Street.<ref>LP liner notes to ''[[Blues in Trinity]]''.</ref>