blue note

American  

noun

Jazz.

1. a flatted note, especially the third or the seventh degree of the scale, recurring frequently in blues and jazz as a characteristic feature.

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blue note British  

noun

1. jazz a flattened third or seventh, used frequently in the blues

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Etymology

Origin of blue note

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

blue note

“We always allow room for each player to have their say — to play the uncharted note, the blue note, the unscheduled thing,” Chess says.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 28, 2021

“I can’t wait to wear the blue note for another nine years,” Parayko said.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 1, 2021

On a day usually brimming with optimism, this was a blue note — as in Harold Melvin’s band from the 1970s, the one that sang, “If You Don’t Know Me by Now.”

From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2019

The past is a blue note inside me,

From Slate ● Dec. 18, 2014

I then felt my shirt pocket for my blue note pad.

From "The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child" by Francisco Jiménez