Alfred Lion was a German-born American record executive who co-founded the Blue Note jazz record label in 1939. Lion was born near Berlin on April 21, 1908 and was raised in a Jewish family. His interest in jazz began at the age of 16 when he saw a concert by Sam Wooding’s Orchestra. In 1926, Lion emigrated to the United States, but while working on the New York docks he was attacked by an anti-immigrant worker. He returned to Germany to convalesce and between 1933 and 1938 Lion lived in South America. After returning to New York in 1938 he attended a John Hammond sponsored jazz concert at Carnegie Hall, Lion was inspired to start a record label.

Lion founded Blue Note Records in 1939. The label's first recording session on featured two musicians who had impressed Lion at the Carnegie Hall concert: the boogie-woogie pianists Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis. The company's first hit, recorded in the same year, was Sidney Bechet’s recording of Summertime.

At the persuading of saxophonist, Blue Note recording artist and label talent scout Ike Quebec, Lion began to explore more modern developments in jazz. Quebec introduced him to Thelonious Monk, the first “modern jazz” musician Blue Note was to record. What became known as the “hard bop” style would predominate in Blue Note's output during the 1950s and 1960s. Musicians such as Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Sonny Clark, Lee Morgan and Jackie McLean, among others epitomized this style. Blue Note Records were also known for the high-quality recordings made at Rudy Van Gelder’s New Jersey studio and the fact that the label paid musicians for rehearsal time prior to recording, ensuring a better musical product. Lion’s label was also noted for the cover art on their album sleeves, which was produced by Reid Miles starting in 1956.