David Wise

The sounds of some of today’s finest musicians will hit Ames this weekend in celebration of one of the leading record labels in jazz music.

A major label in the jazz scene, Blue Note Records, is celebrating its 70th anniversary with a 51-city tour consisting of a group of seven musicians that goes by the name Blue Note 7. Leading the group is Bill Charlap, recording artist and pianist for the group.

Charlap has been recording with Blue Note Records since 2001. He also has known and played with the group for the past 15 years. Charlap has played the piano since the age of three and has performed with many big musicians like Tony Bennett and Gerry Mulligan, just to name a few.

The rest of the group also consists of musicians who have been a part of the jazz scene for many years, like trumpeter Nicholas Payton, tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, alto saxophonist and flutist Steve Wilson, guitarist Peter Bernstein, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash. Charlap expressed his enthusiasm to be part of such a group.

“I love playing with these musicians, and I like playing the record tour that we’re playing — because it’s some of the best in terms of jazz compositions and jazz musicians, and it’s written by some of the best composers in history in this music — and so it’s great to play this music, and it’s great to play with these musicians who I admire a great deal,” Charlap said.

The idea for the 51-city tour was created by Jack Randall, a booking agent for the Ted Kurland & Associates. He then directed his idea to tour producer Danny Melnick, who brought the idea to Charlap. Randall’s vision was to celebrate the labels 70th anniversary with a performance made up of members who he thought were all-stars in the jazz scene.

Blue Note Records was originally founded by Alfred Lion in 1939 with the help of Lion’s childhood friend, Francis Wolf. The label gave many earlier musicians their first shot in the business. Some of these musician included Fats Navarro, Tadd Dameron and Thelonious Monk.

The label later was sold to Liberty Records in 1965, and was resurrected in 1984. Today, Blue Note Records has many successful artists on their label.

The tour is scheduled to run until mid-April and has already hit many cities so far. It started in Washington and will also play cities like New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia. In addition to touring, Blue Note 7 has put out a CD called “Mosaic: A Celebration of Blue Note Records.”