Q&A: Behind The Blue Note Brand And Rich Legacy Of Great Jazz

After his father, Danny Bensusan founded the first Blue Note club in 1981, Blue Note President Steven Bensusan grew up in the world of jazz legends, from Chick Corea to McCoyTyner.

So even as the brand has expanded globally, to having clubs in Milan, Rio, Napa, Japan, Hawaii and more, the core of the Blue Note brand remains the same — creating a community for artists and showcasing the rich legacy of jazz music.

That belief system is found throughout the lineup for the just announced Blue Note Jazz Festival in New York City this June. From headliners Grace Jones and Robert Glasper, with Lalah Hathaway and Bilal, to Ron Carter, Sergio Mendes, Manhattan Transfer and Buddy Guy and up and comers like Julius Rodriguez and Brandee Younger, the lineup is eclectic and represents generations of jazz and beyond.

Sage Bava and I spoke with Steven Bensusan and director of programming Alex Kurland about the history of Blue Note, expansion into L.A., the brand’s globalization, the festivals in New York and Napa and more.

Steve Baltin: I know that Blue Note extends well beyond New York. So I want to start with the overall arch and then we can hone in on the individual stuff, ’cause I know that you guys have a really strong presence in Napa as well.

Steven Bensusan: To start it off, The Blue Note, New York started in 1981, by my father, Danny Bensusan. And, over the years we’ve expanded into other markets, really the first jazz club to, for lack of a better word, franchise in Japan and other parts around the world where we have local partners. But we book all the talent for all the clubs here at our New York office. So that’s how we kind of started expanding and doing other things where we opened clubs in Japan, in Milan, this year’s our twentieth anniversary of being in Milan. Then opened a club in Hawaii, of course, like you said, the Blue Note Napa, which opened not too long ago. We also have two clubs in Brazil. What we try to do in each market is establish the club and then do other things in each market that can complement the club business. And Napa is a great example where we’re able to create a jazz festival. We are able to do a concert series in the summer and in addition to having our own big outdoor space there with Oxbow River Stage. So that’s kind of, in a nutshell everything we’re doing now. But we also have other brands and other clubs that we’ve opened over the years. We have BB Kings in New York for a very long time, the Highline Ballroom in New York for a very long time. Sony Hall now is our club in New York, a partnership with Sony Corporation which is 500 capacity seated or 1000 standing. We own the Howard Theater in DC, so we’ve branched from the small jazz club in New York and did many different things.

Baltin: Milan, Rio, Japan, Napa, Hawaii. I’m noticing a trend here. Are these just all the places that you want to visit?

Bensusan: Yes, exactly. [chuckle] We have a couple venues in the works now that we hope to announce soon. But we’re targeting another big city in the United States right now. But we’ll be able to announce it sooner than later.

Baltin: My first inclination, of course, is when you say that you’re targeting another city in the US, I have to ask being an LA guy, why no LA?

Bensusan: You’ve guessed nicely. [chuckle] We’re looking at spaces now in LA, so hopefully we’ll be able to announce a location soon.

Sage Bava: Blue Note in New York holds such a special place in my heart and fellow jazz musicians, and super exciting that you’re expanding more and I’m so excited to go to other locations. In an interview with Billboard, you spoke on how Robert Glasper is the future of jazz. I’d love to know more of, as you’re expanding what your vision of the future of jazz.

Alex Kurland: Interesting question. We’re in a position where we feel booking an iconic legendary jazz club gives us an opportunity to instigate jazz. And I think we’re not necessarily limiting our programming to “what the perception of jazz” may be. But we’re embracing jazz as a mindset and as a philosophical approach to music, approach to the artistry and jazz living and breathing through kind of everything we’re about and programming, but without us dictating that we’re specifically booking a single genre of music at the Blue Note Jazz Club. Right now and upcoming, we have artists Denzel Curry, Alex Isley, Glasper, BJ, the Chicago Kid, to Terrace Martin, extraordinary artists that are inspired by, and mostly are a result of the quality of jazz and their background. But we think of our responsibility, at the Blue Note from a programming standpoint, to give opportunities and let artists have a free expression, and jazz is kind of the cornerstone of that effort. It’s important. I think the jazz world is really interesting right now because we are seeing artists like Robert. He’s a source of inspiration for so much and that’s what I think maybe one of his biggest accomplishments may be, how much he’s inspired a sound, a style and then lifting artists up around him, which is very important. He is in a position to lift everyone up around him and I think we see that when he performs at the Blue Note on a regular basis, and that is really special for us and that motivates us. To a degree, Robert, in the work we do with him, inspires us to think creatively from a programming standpoint and from a business standpoint. And that’s led us to produce and present our Blue Note jazz festival in Napa Valley, which he’s the artist in residence of.

Baltin: You’re having all these people starting to really embrace this music from a much younger generation. So are you finding that for you guys, it’s giving you more flexibility because now you can do more traditional jazz as well as other genres?

Kurland: Yeah, that’s definitely true. I think the diversity of quality of the music also enables a lot of folks to access some of the traditional jazz stuff you’re speaking about, because of the discoverability through other qualities of the music. So we just had Tank and The Bangas with Keyon Harrold and Brandee at the Blue Note. It was beautiful. And maybe somebody who attended that show to see Tank with Keyon, really felt inspired by Keyon and maybe they’ll check out some Freddie Hubbard or Miles stuff. And I think we see that a lot. There’s a discoverability thing going on that is really important I think for the support of some of the more traditional jazz stuff that you’re speaking about. But also we’re seeing an amazing diversity of audience. I mean, it’s incredible. It’s just a totally young hip, very energized, very inspired audience that walks away moved. That’s the goal for us to create a memory and an experience and a happening, rather than just trying to fill a date and book a gig. And the motivation for us is that the artists that perform here have a meaningful experience. That is the number one objective. And that means having a relationship with the artists. Last week we just had Talib Kweli with Rakim featuring Bob James, and they performed the original tracks that Rakim sampled of Bob James from the ’90s, live with Bob actually playing the sample live on the keys with Rakim and Talib Kweli and his band. And that’s not normal. So everyone was inspired. I mean Bob James was in tears. And that was really meaningful for us.

Baltin: My two favorite venues in LA are The Forum and the Troubadour. And both because having grown up in LA, there’s such an incredible history in both. So do you find when the artists come into the Blue Note, they tap into that history as well?

Bensusan: Yeah, I think that is true of the Blue Note. I think the Blue Note, we’ve always tried to make the artist feel at home here and make people understand they can come here and just hang out, come here and rehearse during the day and do what they need to. It’s not just a place where they show up at night and do their gig. And if you look at some of the old pictures we have of Dizzy Gillespie and Milt Jackson playing cards in the back, they always used the dressing room, so the Blue Note is a place to hang. And yeah, I think the artists do feel the history when they get here. And especially the newer younger artists that are coming here and we try to inform them of what had happened here over the years because they don’t all know. So it’s an important part of our history for sure.

Kurland: There’s also a really special thing that we witness sometimes with artists that perform here, or even artists that the public wouldn’t perceive as a normal act of play here. They come in here in the name of memory of being here in the late ’80s and the ’90s. Coming in with a parent and they have that sentimental kind of moment where they reflect, “Oh, no, I was here when I was 12 years old,” or I was 20 years old on a date and now I’m playing at the Blue Note. Like Talib Kweli has a great story of him coming here at the age of 18 or 19 on a date, and now he’s on stage playing, that was meaningful for him. I think that’s a really interesting thing for us to hear and it means a lot to us.

Bava: When I think of Blue Note growing up with parents that loved jazz and gave that to me and my siblings, I just think of incredible live music and community. And it’s interesting the community aspect and I saw in an article that Ron Carter played over 450 shows. These musicians that keep coming back, can you speak more on your thoughts of live music and community in the new rapidly changing times in music?

Bensusan: Yeah, I think we’ll start way back. When we first opened, that was the most important thing, to create the community of musicians that want to be here all the time. And it was really one or two musicians that really helped us build that here. It was Ray Brown, legendary bass player who really started bringing in some of the legends into the Blue Note and created that community of musicians where they can find a place to play that’s not smokey, that treats them well, that have proper dressing rooms and a place to feel like they have a home in New York. And that resulted in gigs with Dizzy and Oscar Peterson and Betty Carter and Sarah Vaughn and Carmen McRae, the list goes on, Dave Brubeck. All the legends that played here over the years really is because of the family relationship that we created, between not just the musicians but us and me as a kid growing up here and meeting these legendary musicians. And that translating into artists that continue to play here, the late Chick Corea played here more than anybody and he was part of the family. And next week we have a duo of Michel Camilo with Hiromi here, both of which have been playing here since they were very, very young. For us, vibe is really important because when the vibe is on and it really feels good, there’s something that’s really special about that. It’s hard to describe. It’s hard to capture. It’s hard to create. But I think the artists lead that. And that’s a philosophy of ours too. Really the artists lead. And we’re here to just kind of give an opportunity for it to blossom. We’re really just grateful for being in the position that we’re in for the artists to represent that. That’s really an important quality for us that we try to work by.

Bava: What are you most excited about for the festival in 2023?

Bensusan: We have two of them. We have one in New York, which is in the month of June, which is amazing. And then we have Napa, which is, a really special project for us. Last year was the first year of that. Robert was the artist and residence of the festival last year and this year as well. That came together very last minute. It was booked in literally seven to 10 days, because we decided in I think February to put it together. And then it was 24 hours of just going full-blown booking, and came together. It was beautiful. There was something unique about that experience from a booking standpoint, because we had to book and confirm things in real time as it was happening. Napa is really extraordinary, the lineup is phenomenal and it’s very intimate. Like the Blue Note, it’s a 200 capacity seated jazz club. The festival capacity mirrors that intimacy. So it’s an intimate low capacity festival to have a very up-close and personal intimate experience with our artists.

Baltin: Who’s the dream artist that you guys have yet to book that you need in the club and then the one to headline the festival?

Kurland: At the Blue Note in New York, it would be really cool to have Kendrick with the right band. We love when Herbie [Hancock] plays here. Herbie has a history of playing at Blue Note dating back to the ’80s.

Bensusan: I would’ve wished Sonny Rollins would have had the opportunity to play at the Blue Note New York and he’s not performing anymore. And that was a dream of mine for a very long time that just didn’t come to fruition.

Bava: Steven, growing up there, I am sure you’ve seen so many magical moments. What is the first that comes to mind, a magic moment that just lives in your mind, rent free as they say, and then Alex, you as well?

Bensusan: I would say one of the Oscar Peterson shows that I’ve seen over the years, every single one of his shows were amazing. We did a week of Keith Jarrett here, which was crazy in the ’90s. That was a very special week. But a lot of the pianists stand out the most to me for some reason. Maybe the Horace Silver shows, Oscar Peterson. I mean, Chick Corea, watching Chick play with Roy Haynes at the Blue Note. I remember Chick in the 2000s, and then Chick in the nineties, so like 20 years apart, almost playing with the same band. I saw Ray Charles a number of times here,

Bava: I didn’t even think about the relationships that you have with the artists over lifetimes. What is one surprising story about an artist that you’ve known for 20 plus years, that maybe surprised you about them?

Bensusan: I was thinking about that, like McCoy Tyner, for example, is someone who I knew for a very long time. We were looking at pictures the other day and found pictures of me when I was in my early twenties just seated at a table with McCoy and George Benson watching I think Nancy Wilson on stage. And so I have a lot of those stories ’cause I did grow up around a lot of these guys and spent a lot of time with jazz musicians, with all the legends throughout the years. But, there wasn’t something that sticks out like that. We just became, friendly with everyone. And like I said, Blue Note has become almost like a part of the family for a lot of the musicians.The ones that are still around today instead have played here for 20 plus years, we still keep in touch and hang out outside of the clubs, and that’s an important thing for us. Making everybody feel comfortable and being part of the Blue Note family and playing in New York, but then also going to Tokyo and then also going to our other clubs around the world. And hopefully we’ll give them more of an opportunity to play in other cities like LA and wherever else we want to open soon, because there is a lack of opportunity right now I feel for a lot of the musicians that are out there and I think the Blue Note environment is a lot more conducive and better atmosphere than some of the places that they’re playing now in some of these cities. So we hope to open more clubs and soon.