Production · Other credits

Alfred Lion

real name Alfred Walter Lion

Alfred Lion is credited on 5,435 releases across 695 albums tracked on Gatefold, active 1952–2026 — the collector-built map of who actually made the music.

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5,435

Credits

695

Albums

Decades active

1,219

In collections

Biography

source

German-born American record executive and producer.
Co-Founder of the jazz label Blue Note with Max Margulis (briefly involved as a sleeping partner). His childhood friend Francis Wolff joined him later in 1939.
Born April 21, 1908 in Berlin, Germany
Died February 2, 1987 near San Diego, California
He first visited the United States in 1926, bought lots of records and settled in the New York area by 1938. Began recording traditional jazz in 1939 issuing records in the extended 12" 78 rpm format (usually reserved for classical music). From 1947, Lion began to record modern jazz with sessions led by Thelonious Monk. In the following twenty years, albums by artists such as Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Hank Mobley, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy were released.
Lion operated the company (with Francis Wolff) until he retired in 1967. It was sold to in 1966.