Impulse Reissues

A Brief Look At The History Of Impulse Records


The aesthetic of Impulse Records – that unforgettable orange and black – stands far above any other label, all genres included. But the real record lovers appreciate Impulse mostly for the ever-bit-as-distinct sound.

Impulse was launched in 1960 by Creed Taylor as a subsidiary to the ABC Paramount Corporation. With the backing of a major corporation, the label enjoyed immediate access to name artists as well as superior distribution right from the beginning. While Taylor was only with Impulse for one year before leaving to run the Verve label, he did one single thing that had the biggest impact on cementing Impulse's legacy forever: He signed John Coltrane. And forevermore, the face of Impulse Records was John Coltrane; not just because he recorded more than 25 titles for the company, but also because he directly influenced so much of the Impulse output.

When Taylor left Impulse, Bob Thiele took over as producer and held the job for the next seven years, overseeing around 200 LPs. Thiele's most important quality as it pertained to the growth of Impulse was his allowance for artistic freedom, and nobody was afforded more freedom than Coltrane, rightfully so. Coltrane opened Thiele's mind to a range of musical ideas and also recommended to Thiele several future Impulse artists.

Coltrane, Thiele and the roster of Impulse artists collectively created an Impulse style that was largely aggressive, sometimes angry and often protest-inspired. It was music reflective of the societal shift going on in America in the 1960s.

Coltrane died of liver cancer in 1968, his health descending very rapidly. The following year, Thiele left Impulse and founded Flying Dutchman Records. Impulse, under the guidance of a revolving cast of producers, became a smaller and smaller entity in the increasingly larger ABC Paramount corporation. In its later years, the label turned less attention to new projects and focused more on mining their classics for successful reissues. In 1979, Impulse was sold to MCA Records. It's now part of the Verve Record Group, owned by Universal Music. Since '79, there have been sparse periods of revival for Impulse with new titles by artists like Tyner and Alice Coltrane and, more recently, Diana Krall.

Most of the titles chosen for the upcoming Analogue Productions reissue series were engineered by the great Rudy Van Gelder. These are records renowned for both their sonic and aesthetic excellence, and now Analogue Productions attempts to take these historic titles to a new level, cut by Kevin Gray at 45 RPM and packaged in extra-thick cardboard stock gatefold jackets. These jackets are even better than the awesome originals, more durable and with thicker spines. These are by far the most durable jackets that Analogue Productions has ever released.
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