Horace Silver, Jimmy Smith, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Grant Green, Hank Mobley, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, and Jackie McLean were among the label's leading artists.

During its heyday, the 1950s and 1960s, the photography and graphic art of Reid Miles created a series of iconic album covers, often incorporating session photos by Francis Wolff, which added to Blue Note's artistic reputation.

He settled in New York City in 1937, and shortly after the first From Spirituals to Swing concert, recorded pianists Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis in 1939 during a one-day session in a rented studio.

[2] Musicians were supplied with alcoholic refreshments, and recorded in the early hours of the morning after their evening's work in clubs and bars had finished.

Milt Gabler at the Commodore Music Store offered storage facilities and helped keep the catalog in print, with Wolff working for him.

Willing to record artists that most other labels would consider to be uncommercial, in December 1943 the label initiated more sessions with artists such as pianist Art Hodes, trumpeter Sidney De Paris, clarinetist Edmond Hall, and Harlem stride pianist James P. Johnson,[2] who was returning to a high degree of musical activity after having largely recovered from a stroke suffered in 1940.

J. J. Johnson and trumpeter Miles Davis both recorded several sessions for Blue Note between 1952 and 1954, but by then the musicians who had created bebop were starting to explore other styles.

The label was soon recording emerging talent such as Horace Silver (who would stay with Blue Note for a quarter of a century) and Clifford Brown.

John Coltrane's Blue Train, and Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' Else (featuring Miles Davis in one of his last supporting roles) were guest appearances on the label.

Horace Silver and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers continued to release a series of artistically and commercially successful recordings.

[2] Gordon was a saxophonist from the bebop era who had spent several years in prison for narcotic offences, and he made several albums for Blue Note over a five-year period, including several at the beginning of his sojourn in Europe.

One of the features of the label during this period was a "family" of musicians (Hubbard, Hancock, Carter, Grant Green, Joe Henderson, Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan, Blue Mitchell, Hank Mobley and many others) who would record as sidemen on each other's albums without necessarily being part of the leader's working group.

The early 1960s also saw three Blue Note recordings by pianist/composer Freddie Redd, one of which, The Connection, used music written for the play by Jack Gelber and its film version.

In 1963, Lee Morgan scored a significant hit with the title track of The Sidewinder album,[2] and Horace Silver did the same the following year with Song for My Father.

Pianist Cecil Taylor recorded a brace of albums for Blue Note, as did trombonist Grachan Moncur III, and saxophonist Sam Rivers, drummer Tony Williams, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson and organist Larry Young also recorded albums which diverged from the "hard bop" style usually associated with the label.

[12] Some of his most celebrated designs adorned the sleeves of albums such as Midnight Blue, Out to Lunch!, Unity, Somethin' Else, Let Freedom Ring, Hub-Tones, No Room for Squares, Cool Struttin', and The Sidewinder.

[2] Some of the original Blue Note's output has appeared in CD box sets issued by Mosaic Records (also involving Cuscuna).

Following the acquisition of EMI by Universal, Don Was became President of Blue Note in January 2012, after an appointment as CEO a few months earlier, in succession to Bruce Lundvall.

[21][22] Blue Note has seen a continuity in releases from older artists such as Shorter, Charles Lloyd, Louis Hayes, and Dr. Lonnie Smith.

[25] In 2020, Blue Note released the debut of South African artist Nduduzo Makhathini, called Modes of Communication: Letters from the Underworlds.

In 2004, Burning Vision Entertainment created the video for Helicopter Girl's "Angel City",[27] using the art from numerous Blue Note LP sleeves to startling effect.