Alfred Lion
Alfred Lion (born Alfred Löw; April 21, 1908 – February 2, 1987), was a German-born American record executive who co-founded the jazz record label Blue Note in 1939. Lion retired in 1967, having sold the company, after producing recordings by leading musicians throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Early years Lion was born in Schöneberg, later a borough of Berlin, on April 21, 1908. His fascination with jazz began at the age of 16 when he saw a concert by Sam Wooding's Orchestra. In 1926, Lion emigrated to the United States, but while working on the New York docks he was attacked by an anti-immigrant worker; he returned to Germany to convalesce. From 1933, Lion lived in South America, working for German import-export companies, returning to New York in 1938. His presence at the From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall inspired him to start a record label. Career In partnership with communist writer Max Margulis, who supplied the start-up capital, Lion founded Blue Note in 1939. In the label's first record session on January 6, Lion recorded two musicians who had impressed him at the earlier concert: the boogie-woogie pianists Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis. The company's