Blue Note Records moved to 47 West 63rd between Broadway and Central Park West in 1957 and stayed there until 1966. Prior to that, from 1951 to 1957, they were at 767 Lexington Avenue.

(47 West 63rd, according to the New York grid system, is Block 1116 and Lot 14. The official address of the building is 47-49 West 63rd Street. The builing is 25 feet wide and 5 stories high.)

In 1966, Blue Note was sold to the Liberty label based in Los Angeles.

The tall building in the middle is 47-49 West 63rd Street. It housed Blue Note Records at 47 West 63rd Street. The sign reads 1116 (block), 14 (lot), and M (Manhattan). The photo was taken in the 1930's when the city took a photo of every building in New York City. It is from the New York City Municipal Archives.

Here's a close-up.

Here's 47 West 63rd as seen from Broadway in a photo from 1926 from The Museum of the City of New York and sent in to PopSpots by Mike DeNunzio, a jazz enthusiast.

47 West 63rd is the first tall building on the left with the letters "KER" on it.

This is the building that was just east of 47 West 63rd Street, also from 1926, MCNY Collection). You can see part of 47 West 63rd on the left.

Here's that photo enlarged (and thus, a little fuzzy).

This is a picture of a sample label from the 47 West 63rd Street era.

The original Blue Note office was on the top floor of 767 Lexington Avenue between 60th and 61st Streets on the east side of the avenue. You can see the entrance here and also the top floor. This building still exists about a block from Bloomingdales.

About these offices: According to Ruth Mason*, then married to Alfred Lion, co-founder of Blue Note Records (in a NEA podcast) "We had this little office on the top floor of 767 Lexington Avenue and Lambert Brothers Jewelers was on the first floor. Well, we had two rooms. One was where we stocked the records...and Frank did the shipping and orders would come in. And then we did all the recordings with the musicians...at Broadway...the wonderful studio...we never did more than three takes."

*Ruth also served as a model for several Blue Note album covers including Moods by the Three Sounds and Soul Samba by Ike Quebec.

The Sidewalk in front of 767..

Entering the lobbby....

...and exiting the lobby.

767 Lexington was just of screen to the right in this picture from 1928. (NYPL).

This is a picture of a sample label from the 767 Lexington Avenue era.

The Blue Note Label was founded in 1939 in New York CIty. They had at least three addresses between 1939 and 1951:

1939-1951
- 300 West 23rd Street (Alfred Lion may have lived here in 1940)
- 235 Seventh Avenue
- 10 West 47th Street
- ?
1951-1957
- 767 Lexington Avenue
1957-1966
-47 West 63rd
1966+
- 43 West 61st Street

This address for Blue Note Records comes from a 1940 Manhattan phone book.

This is a picture of 300 West 23rd Street at Eighth Avenue. This is where Alfred Lion may have lived when he started the company and shipped records from his home.

This next label reads 235 Seventh Avenue.

Here's a modern day photo of 235 Seventh Avenue at 24th Street.

This is a picture of a sample label from the 10 West 47th Street era.

This is a photo of 10 West 47th Street, which is between Fifth Avenue and Sixth avenue in the "Diamond District."

Here's a present day photo of 43 West 61st Street between Columbus and Broadway on the Upper West Side.

I'd be interested to know where this photo of Lester Young was taken..

THE END___MORE TO COME___THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS