Blue Note at 75: Meet the Don

Don Was is a musical polymath: bassist and founding member of 1980s mutant disco outfit Was (Not Was), Grammy Award-winning producer of everyone from The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan to Elton John and Neil Diamond, documentary filmmaker, radio DJ... and now record label president.

In 2012 he was appointed to the top job at Blue Note, and is masterminding a major global campaign to mark the 75th anniversary of the jazz imprint.

Ahead of the publication of Uncompromising Expression, a 400-page, lavishly-illustrated history of the company, and a special concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall, BBC Arts spoke to Was in Washington DC – en route to a gig at the White House – about the past, present and future of the best known label in jazz.

You’ve previously spoken about hearing jazz for the first time when you stumbled across Joe Henderson’s Mode For Joe – a classic Blue Note recording – on your mum’s car radio in 1966. Was Blue Note a big force in your musical upbringing?

Ornette Coleman Trio, At the Golden Circle Stockholm (1965) © 2014 Universal Music Group

It was more than just a musical force – it was a sociological force. My friends and I wanted to dress like these cats and live like them, the whole vibe. There’s a cover for an Ornette Coleman live album, At the Golden Circle Stockholm – he’s wearing a top hat and a trench coat, and he looks so cool, man. I remember I got my mom to go out and get me a hat and a coat so I could try to pull off Ornette’s look. I don’t think I quite managed it.

You’ve had a long and varied career in music, but you’re not primarily known for your jazz background. Has that helped or hindered you in becoming Blue Note’s president, and did you meet with any backlash?

I understand the trepidation you might feel about my appointment if you’re a Blue Note devotee. But hopefully the music we’ve put out over the past three years would allay anyone’s fears that I was going to turn it into a Detroit punk rock label. Even without some of the more diverse artists who now record for us, the hardcore jazz roster is stronger and more robust than maybe it’s ever been. It’s an incredible list: we’ve signed Wayne Shorter again, Charles Lloyd, Bobby Hutcherson, Ravi Coltrane, Robert Glasper, Jose James… it makes me optimistic about the future for the music.

Are you still as enthusiastic and passionate about music now as you were when you started out, and do you still have time to perform?

Oh absolutely. I mean, I’m playing a gig today, at the White House – I’m backing Mary J Blige, Willie Nelson, John Fogerty and Common. So I still love to play, more than ever. There’s never enough time to do everything you want, but there’s still time to do a whole lot.

After so many years as a musician or producer, how do you find it being on the other side of the artist/label divide?

If you approach the business side the same way you approach the artistic side it’s not that wide a gulf. You just do what’s best for the music and the musicians. Although I will say, prior to starting at Blue Note I always regarded record companies with anything from suspicion to total distrust, and I’ve got a slightly more benevolent view about them now. When you get down to it, it’s really a bunch of people who love music. The dedication and devotion of the staff is incredible, and I may not have noticed that before. I love the job at Blue Note and I hope to have it for the rest of my life. I’m actually quite optimistic about the future of the music business.

You’ve embarked upon a major LP reissue series to mark the 75th anniversary. What’s your philosophy on remastering? Do you go for the best possible quality or the most authentic reproduction of the original release?

That’s a very good question, and we weighed all the philosophical approaches quite heavily before deciding that the best representation of the music was probably the first pressing of the vinyl, which is when the original artists, producers and engineers got excited and said: “Yeah, this is great.” The beauty these days is that you can get the feel and energy that’s in those records and also, at least in the hi-res digital formats, get a kind of transparency that makes the walls of the room go back a little bit and give you more depth. It’s pretty nice, but it’s a delicate balance – feel always comes first.

How important is vinyl to the future of Blue Note?

We release everything on vinyl – the new music as well as the reissues – and as long as people want it we’ll make it. It’s got a great sound and there’s just something about sitting in a room with a turntable spinning and seeing the movement. It’s the physicality of it that I think people find appealing. And there’s also something special about playing 15-minute sides. No one thinks in terms of these little 15-minute units any more, they’re thinking in terms of the 72-minute unit. I’m not certain that people often have 72 minutes to sit down and focus on something, so it’s tough for them to get through a CD.

Still on the subject of vinyl and 75th birthdays, the lavish new illustrated history of Blue Note released to mark the anniversary, Uncompromising Expression, is a great showcase for the famous sleeve artwork of the label’s heyday. What was the secret to its success?

It has a lot to do with one guy – Reid Miles – designing all the covers. So much of it was made by the same group – Alfred Lion releasing the records, Francis Wolff taking the pictures, Rudy Van Gelder recording the music, Reid doing all the graphics – so they gave it a unified vision that’s unparalleled. I don’t think any other labels have got the same kind of archive with such a consistent vibe.

There’s a long history of Blue Note records being sampled by hip hop and dance producers. What are your thoughts on the issue?

I think it’s a wonderful thing. I can’t find anything negative to say about it. It allows the music to stay alive. If someone takes a track I did 30 years ago and samples it and gives it new life – which has actually happened – I love it. It’s like the music lives on, or gets a facelift.

If you could sign any artist living or dead to Blue Note who would it be and why?

I wish we had something by Rahsaan Roland Kirk. And I would have loved to have some Charles Mingus in the catalogue, I can tell you that. And the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Which upcoming project are you most excited about?

It’s hard to single any one thing out but the Blue Note 75th anniversary band who are coming to London, with Robert Glasper, Marcus Strickland, Ambrose Akinmusire, Derrick Hodge, Kendrick Scott and Lionel Loueke, is pretty special. That’s the most amazing show I’ve been to in a long time. I hope they continue with it and then maybe we can get them in the studio to record something.

What do you think makes Blue Note unique?

Our founder Alfred Lion wrote a mission statement in 1939, and he talked about the pursuit of authentic music, and making sure that you allow the artist the freedom of uncompromising expression. I think by and large we’ve stuck to that over the years.

• Uncompromising Expression: 75 Years of the Finest in Jazz by Richard Havers is published by Thames & Hudson ahead of an anniversary concert at London's Royal Festival Hall on 22 November featuring Robert Glasper, Jason Moran and more. Havers talks to Don Was in a special pre-show event at 6pm.