Career
Wolff"s skills, as an executive and a photographer, were important contributions to the success of the Blue Note record label. After a career as a commercial photographer in Germany, Wolff emigrated to the United States. A Jew, he left Berlin for New York in the late 1930s.
During Lion"s war service, Wolff worked for Milt Gabler at the Commodore Music Store, and together they maintained the company"s catalogue until Lion was discharged.
Foreign the last four years of his life, when Blue Note was no longer an independent label, Wolff shared production responsibilities with pianist and arranger Duke Pearson. Francis Wolff took photographs during the recordings sessions, usually shot during session rehearsals, throughout the period of Lion"s involvement in Blue Note Records.
They were used on publicity material and LP album sleeves, and have continued to be used in Civil Defense reissue booklets. The two collections of photographs listed below contain entirely separate selections of the many thousands Wolff shot over a thirty-year period.