One of the most important jazz label of the 50s/60s. Actual production also stretches toward various electro/remix stuff.

Activity: 1939-1965 (independent) 1965-1979 (as a subsidiary), then revived 1985-today (as a subsidiary)
Production type: original (plus a few recent reissues of subsidiary labels)
Founded by: Alfred Lion & Francis Wolff
Has/had subsidiaries: Capitol Jazz, Pacific Jazz and Roulette Jazz (as Blue Note is now the flagship EMI Group's jazz label)
Current Status:

• Sold to: Liberty Records (1965), which was bought by United Artists (1969), which was bought by EMI Group (1979)
• Top parent company: EMI Group
• Distributed by: Capitol/EMI

Catalog reissued by: Some things appear on Mosaic Records
Additional:
The following detailed explanations are copied from Plosin:
"The Blue Note Modern Jazz Series began in late 1951 with the following 10" monaural LPs. Some of these LPs were later reissued as part of the Blue Note 1500 Series of 12" LPs. At first, recordings were made in various studios in New York (Reeves Sound Studio, WOR Studios, Apex Studios, Audio Video Studios). Beginning in October 1953, however, most Blue Note sessions took place in Rudy van Gelder's home studio in Hackensack, New Jersey. (Van Gelder moved the studio to Englewood Cliffs in early July 1959.) The sessions were produced by Alfred Lion and engineered by Van Gelder, and many LP covers featured photographs by Lion's childhood friend Francis Wolff.
Blue Note made the change to 12" LPs late in 1955. The Modern Jazz Series continued with the following 12" LPs. Most of these were issued in both monaural versions (BLP series) and artificial stereo versions (BST 81000 series). Beginning in 1956 with BLP 1509, Reid Miles designed most of the Blue Note LP covers. Together with Alfred Lion's production, Rudy van Gelder's engineering, and Frank Wolff's photography, Miles' designs defined the Blue Note look and sound. The Blue Note 4000 series began in the mid-1950s with many of the same artists. The 1500 series has been systematically reissued by Toshiba in Japan ("Blue Note Works 1500" series, 20-bit K2 CDs); the catalog numbers are TOCJ-1501, etc. In addition, originally unissued material from these late 50s dates was made available on Toshiba's 1600 series (20-bit K2 CDs).

Toshiba/Blue Note 1600 series
These CDs make available originally unissued material from the sessions which gave us the 1500 series of Blue Note LPs. They are manufactured by Toshiba and employ 20-bit, 88.2 KHz recording technology."

Catalog attempt at the remainder of http://wiki.musicbrainz.org/Jazz/Labels/BlueNote