Black Lion Records was founded in 1968 by Alan Bates, initially based out of England. The label had two series of releases – one for British jazz musicians and one for international musicians – published under the two imprints, Black Lion and Freedom. For a limited time, the label was distributed by Polydor but was then acquired and marketed by DA Music in Germany since the early 80s.
The Black Lion Vault series is a release of forty-five previously unavailable Black Lion catalog recordings. The tapes, re-mastered around 2010, were cleaned and pops and clicks were removed as far as possible in a handcrafted studio process. Due to the age and decay of the original tapes, the production of this series was very tedious and expensive with quite a few challenges along the way for the producers. All compilations obtained a fresh new cheery cover design appealing to a younger audience.
