2009 is the 70th anniversary of the birth of Blue Note, the label founded in New York by German emigre Alfred Lion. During its mid-1950s to mid-1960s heyday, it was practically synonymous with hard bop, nurturing a great many of its leading artists and recording dozens upon dozens of classic albums.

To mark the occasion, Blue Note assembled the seven-piece band which recorded 'Mosaic: A Celebration of Blue Note'. The band's repertoire consists exclusively of standards from Blue Note's hardbop archive, while its line-up is composed not of surviving first-generation label veterans, but of relatively young musicians steeped in its legacy.

If you would like to win your own copy of this new CD, just answer this easy question: Upon leaving school, Nicholas Payton enrolled first at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and then at the University of New Orleans, where he studied with which renowned jazz pianist?!

Send me your answers and if you're correct you'll be in the running to win one of these wonderful new CDs. Just send us an e:mail here before March 15th with your answer and the subject title CONTEST: BLUE NOTE 7 CDs to:

exclusivemagazine@flash.net

www.thebluenote7.com