Impulse! Records
Encyclopedia
Impulse! Records was an American jazz
record label
, originally established in 1960
by producer Creed Taylor
as a subsidiary of ABC-Paramount Records, based in New York City. John Coltrane
was among Impulse!'s first signings and thanks to the consistent sales and critical kudos generated by his recordings, the label came to be known in retrospect as "the house that Trane
built".
(ABC). ABC had benefitted from the US government antitrust
actions of the 1940s and 1950s, through which major broadcasters and film studios were forced to divest parts of their companies. In the early 1950s ABC acquired the Blue Network
of radio stations from NBC
and later merged with the newly independent Paramount Theaters chain, formerly owned by Paramount Pictures
.
The new recording division was originally headquartered at 1501 Broadway
, above the famous Paramount Theatre in Times Square
. Under the leadership of ex-Paramount Pictures executive Leonard Goldenson
, ABC "sought to establish itself as a cross-media force in television, theatres and sound recordings" (Kahn, p. 16) and it enjoyed early success in TV with The Mickey Mouse Club, its landmark joint venture with the Disney corporation.
In order to market music from the hugely successful TV show, ABC-Paramount established the Am-Par Record Corporation and the ABC-Paramount label in early 1955, appointing former Boston
record distributor Sam Clark
as president, with sales manager Larry Newton and A&R director Harry Levine, and the new recording company enjoyed Goldenson's full support. Producer-arranger Sid Feller, the company's first salaried employee, started work on 14 July 1955. The label scored some notable early successes in the pop field with acts such as Paul Anka
.
In 1960 Am-Par established a new jazz subsidiary and hired noted producer Creed Taylor
, who had previously worked with the New York-based Bethlehem Records
label, as its inaugural house producer and A&R manager. Taylor initially decided on the name "Pulse", but shortly before the label was launched it was discovered that there was already a label with that name, so Taylor added a prefix, becoming Impulse. In the mid-60s, Impulse headquarters were moved to 1130 Avenue of the Americas.
's are noted for their distinctive visual style. The label's trademark black, orange and white livery
was devised by original art director Fran Attaway (then known as Fran Scott), whom Taylor also credits with establishing Impulse's tradition of using cutting-edge photographers for its covers. The Impulse colour scheme was chosen for its brightness and because no other label used this combination.
Following the name change from Pulse to Impulse, the label's striking logo was designed by Attaway's successor Margo Guryan
. It featured the Impulse name in a heavy sans serif lower-case font, followed by an inverted exclamation mark that mirrors the lower-case "i" at the beginning. During the 1960s, Impulse! covers and disc labels featured variations on this colour scheme; for most of the 1960s the front cover of Impulse! albums typically featured the Impulse logo, usually (but not always) in orange letters in a white circle, with inverted black-and-orange exclamation marks above it and the album catalog number below it. The classic design of the disc label, used for most of the 1960s, featured alternations of the Impulse name and the "i-and-exclamation-mark" logo in white-and-orange, set in a black ring, which encircled the label details, most of which was printed in bold black lettering on an orange circle, with some details printed in white. Around 1968 the circular front-cover badge was replaced by a new one-colour design, featuring a simplified Impulse! logo and the ABC Records logo side by side, within a divided rectangular border.
Like its contemporaries Blue Note
and Verve
, the front covers of Impulse's LPs often featured stylish large-format photographs or paintings, usually in full colour, which were typically 'bled out' to the edges of the cover and printed on glossy laminated stock. Many of the best-known Impulse! covers were by designed by art director Robert Flynn and photographed by a small group that included Pete Turner
(who also shot many renowned covers for the Verve, A&M
and CTI
labels), Chuck Stewart
, famed portraitist Arnold Newman
, Ted Russell
and Joe Alper (also known for his early '60s photographs of Bob Dylan
). The distinctive, sparse B&W back cover designs bore the slogan "The New Wave of Jazz is on IMPULSE!"; most Impulse! LPs were issued in a gatefold
sleeve with photographs and liner notes or an essay inside or, in some cases, multi-page insert booklets.
scored early success by signing Ray Charles
, who had just ended his contract with Atlantic Records
. Charles' debut for the label, Genius + Soul = Jazz
provided Impulse with its first major hit, and became the fourth-highest charting album of Charles' career. Other early successes included the album Out of the Cool
by composer-arranger Gil Evans
, who had risen to prominence through his work with Miles Davis
. Taylor also set the scene for the label's most successful period with his far-sighted signing of another former Atlantic artist, saxophonist and composer John Coltrane
, who had also risen to fame during his stint with Miles Davis in the 1950s. Another significant early Impulse release was The Blues and the Abstract Truth
by composer-arranger Oliver Nelson
, who led an all-star group that featured Freddie Hubbard
, Eric Dolphy
, Bill Evans
, Paul Chambers
and Roy Haynes
. Nelson played an important role in the label's early years before relocating to Los Angeles, where he became an in-demand arranger for film and television. Creed Taylor left Impulse in the summer of 1961 after being approached by MGM to take over the running of Verve Records
.
produced nearly all of the albums released during Impulse's 'classic' period in the 1960s. He had previously worked for Decca Records
and its subsidiaries Coral
and Brunswick
, where his production credits included Alan Dale
, The McGuire Sisters
, Pearl Bailey
and numerous hits for singer Theresa Brewer, whom he married. In the face of resistance from ABC-Paramount executives suspicious of the emerging rock 'n' roll trend, Thiele scored a major coup by signing singer-songwriter Buddy Holly
to Brunswick in 1957.
Although not initially familiar with the 'new jazz' movement, Thiele proved to be a relaxed, sympathetic and open-minded producer who backed the creative choices of his artists, afforded them unprecedented freedom in their choice of repertoire, and gave leading acts like Coltrane virtual carte blanche in the studio. During the period that Taylor and Thiele led the label, many Impulse! albums were recorded at the Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
studio owned and operated by engineer Rudy Van Gelder
, and this association lasted from the label's inception until around the time of Thiele's departure in the late 1960s.
Thiele's first Impulse! production was John Coltrane's Live! at the Village Vanguard
, released in March 1962. In terms of its catalogue, Impulse! during the Thiele years is recognised as a key outlet for free jazz
and the broad musical movement (sometimes referred to as "The New Thing") that was spearheaded by artists including John Coltrane
and his wife Alice
, Albert Ayler
, Freddie Hubbard
, Yusef Lateef
, Pharoah Sanders
, Archie Shepp
and McCoy Tyner
. Alongside Impulse's groundbreaking avant-garde releases, Thiele also facilitated and produced the recording of two classic collaborations between Coltrane and two of their mutual heroes, Duke Ellington
and Coleman Hawkins
. Other notable performers who recorded for Impulse! during this period included Charles Mingus
.
Aided by good promotion and ABC-Paramount's well-established distribution chain, Coltrane enjoyed the highest profile and the strongest and most consistent sales of any Impulse! artist. As well as its enormous artistic influence, Coltrane's classic 1965 LP A Love Supreme
became one of the most successful jazz albums ever released—it sold more than 100,000 copies on its first release, and by 1970 it had sold more than half a million. It is also widely acknowledged that the music Coltrane recorded between 1961 and 1967 exerted an enormous effect on both jazz and popular music. Roger McGuinn
of The Byrds
has repeatedly stated that he listened to Coltrane extensively in this period, and that Coltrane's saxophone playing was a direct influence on his own 12-string guitar playing on The Byrds' landmark 1965 hit "Eight Miles High
". By 1967, ABC-Paramount Records changed its name to ABC Records.
Coltrane's premature death from liver cancer in 1967 robbed Impulse! of its most prestigious, best-selling and productive artist, but Coltrane had recorded far more for the company than could be contemporaneously released and subsequent anthology collections were interspersed with new albums that featured previously unreleased recordings or alternate versions of previously issued tracks. Many of these recordings were co-produced by his widow Alice at the couple's home studio and issued through a distribution deal facilitated by Thiele.
Bob Thiele gradually severed his ties with Impulse! during 1969, setting up a short-lived deal to provide independently-produced recordings, before leaving the label entirely to establish his own imprint, Flying Dutchman. Thiele's departure was in part precipitated by the breakdown of his relationship with ABC Records sales manager Larry Newton. One of Thiele's last major productions before leaving Impulse! was the classic Louis Armstrong song "What A Wonderful World
", which Thiele co-wrote and produced for ABC's pop division shortly before Armstrong's death. Although the musicians were apparently unaware of the drama, the recording session is reported to have been the scene of a major clash between Thiele and Newton. When Newton arrived at the session he became upset when he discovered that Armstrong was recording a ballad rather than a 'Dixieland
'-style number like his earlier hit "Hello Dolly
". According to Thiele's own account, this led to a screaming match; Newton then had to be locked out of the studio and he stood outside throughout the session, banging on the door and yelling to be let in.
Possibly because of this clash, the single was released with little promotion from ABC and it sold relatively poorly in the USA, although it fared extremely well in Europe, where it sold more than 1.5 million copies and went to #1 in the United Kingdom. Demand from ABC's European distributor EMI
for a What A Wonderful World album forced ABC to issue one but they did not promote the album either so it did not chart in the U.S. Ironically, twenty years later, it became the most successful recording of both Armstrong and Thiele's careers, thanks to its inclusion on the hit soundtrack to the Robin Williams
film Good Morning Vietnam.
, the first of four acclaimed collaborations between bassist Charlie Haden
and composer-arranger Carla Bley
. The company also acquired LPs that Sun Ra
had recorded for his private label, making them more widely available for the first time.
In the early 1970s ABC restructured its recording division, merging the ABC label with its other pop-rock subsidiary, Dunhill Records
-- whose roster included The Mamas & the Papas
, Steppenwolf
, Three Dog Night
and Steely Dan
-- and Impulse! was moved west to share headquarters with ABC-Dunhill in Los Angeles
. By this time pop-rock acts dominated the company's output, with Impulse! releases accounting for only 5 percent of total sales. It was also during this time that Impulse! became the first all-jazz label to release a rock album when they issued "Trespass", the second album by Genesis, in the U.S. in 1970, predating Norah Jones' signing to Blue Note by well over thirty years. ("Trespass" was reissued on ABC ca. 1974).
In 1974, ABC acquired the Famous Music
labels and catalog from Gulf+Western
, subsequently, that company's jazz recordings were incorporated into the Impulse! catalog.
New recordings from the label ceased in the late 1970s, but ABC kept reissuing classic titles until the company was sold to MCA Records
in 1979. The label name has since been revived for new recordings only for short periods. Impulse! has released new recordings by artists with historic ties to the label such as McCoy Tyner and Alice Coltrane, as well as more mainstream and commercial artists like Diana Krall
. Impulse! is now part of Universal Music Group
's jazz holdings, The Verve Music Group
and has been relegated to a reissue-only label.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, originally established in 1960
1960 in music
-Events:*January 14 – Elvis Presley is promoted to Sergeant in the U.S. Army*February 6 – Songwriter Jesse Belvin dies in an automobile accident in Los Angeles...
by producer Creed Taylor
Creed Taylor
Creed Taylor is an American record producer, best known for his work with CTI Records, which he founded in 1968. Taylor’s career also included work at Bethlehem Records, ABC-Paramount, Verve, and A&M Records...
as a subsidiary of ABC-Paramount Records, based in New York City. John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
was among Impulse!'s first signings and thanks to the consistent sales and critical kudos generated by his recordings, the label came to be known in retrospect as "the house that Trane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
built".
History
Impulse's parent company, ABC-Paramount Records, was established in 1955 as the recording division of the American Broadcasting CompanyAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
(ABC). ABC had benefitted from the US government antitrust
Antitrust
The United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
actions of the 1940s and 1950s, through which major broadcasters and film studios were forced to divest parts of their companies. In the early 1950s ABC acquired the Blue Network
Blue Network
The Blue Network, and its immediate predecessor, the NBC Blue Network, were the on-air names of an American radio production and distribution service from 1927 to 1945...
of radio stations from NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and later merged with the newly independent Paramount Theaters chain, formerly owned by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
.
The new recording division was originally headquartered at 1501 Broadway
1501 Broadway
1501 Broadway, also known as the Paramount Building, is a 33-story, 131.5 m office building located between West 43rd and 44th Streets in the Times Square neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It once housed the Paramount Theatre....
, above the famous Paramount Theatre in Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
. Under the leadership of ex-Paramount Pictures executive Leonard Goldenson
Leonard Goldenson
Leonard H. Goldenson was President of the U.S. television and radio broadcaster ABC.-Early life and career:...
, ABC "sought to establish itself as a cross-media force in television, theatres and sound recordings" (Kahn, p. 16) and it enjoyed early success in TV with The Mickey Mouse Club, its landmark joint venture with the Disney corporation.
In order to market music from the hugely successful TV show, ABC-Paramount established the Am-Par Record Corporation and the ABC-Paramount label in early 1955, appointing former Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
record distributor Sam Clark
Sam Clark
-Studio albums:-Singles:-Music videos:-Filmography:-Awards and nominations:-External links:* on SoundCloud...
as president, with sales manager Larry Newton and A&R director Harry Levine, and the new recording company enjoyed Goldenson's full support. Producer-arranger Sid Feller, the company's first salaried employee, started work on 14 July 1955. The label scored some notable early successes in the pop field with acts such as Paul Anka
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
.
In 1960 Am-Par established a new jazz subsidiary and hired noted producer Creed Taylor
Creed Taylor
Creed Taylor is an American record producer, best known for his work with CTI Records, which he founded in 1968. Taylor’s career also included work at Bethlehem Records, ABC-Paramount, Verve, and A&M Records...
, who had previously worked with the New York-based Bethlehem Records
Bethlehem Records
Bethlehem Records was a record label based in New York and Hollywood founded by Gus Wildi in 1953. It was bought by King Records in the early 1960s....
label, as its inaugural house producer and A&R manager. Taylor initially decided on the name "Pulse", but shortly before the label was launched it was discovered that there was already a label with that name, so Taylor added a prefix, becoming Impulse. In the mid-60s, Impulse headquarters were moved to 1130 Avenue of the Americas.
Design
Being almost exclusively an album-based label, Impulse! was able to exploit the new format to the fullest and its LPLP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
's are noted for their distinctive visual style. The label's trademark black, orange and white livery
Livery
A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
was devised by original art director Fran Attaway (then known as Fran Scott), whom Taylor also credits with establishing Impulse's tradition of using cutting-edge photographers for its covers. The Impulse colour scheme was chosen for its brightness and because no other label used this combination.
Following the name change from Pulse to Impulse, the label's striking logo was designed by Attaway's successor Margo Guryan
Margo Guryan
Margo Guryan is a singer/songwriter who blends elements of pop, folk, and jazz. She is best known for her 1968 album Take A Picture. Her songs were recorded by Cass Elliot, Glen Campbell and Astrud Gilberto, among others.-History:Margo Guryan grew up in the suburbs of New York City, and took an...
. It featured the Impulse name in a heavy sans serif lower-case font, followed by an inverted exclamation mark that mirrors the lower-case "i" at the beginning. During the 1960s, Impulse! covers and disc labels featured variations on this colour scheme; for most of the 1960s the front cover of Impulse! albums typically featured the Impulse logo, usually (but not always) in orange letters in a white circle, with inverted black-and-orange exclamation marks above it and the album catalog number below it. The classic design of the disc label, used for most of the 1960s, featured alternations of the Impulse name and the "i-and-exclamation-mark" logo in white-and-orange, set in a black ring, which encircled the label details, most of which was printed in bold black lettering on an orange circle, with some details printed in white. Around 1968 the circular front-cover badge was replaced by a new one-colour design, featuring a simplified Impulse! logo and the ABC Records logo side by side, within a divided rectangular border.
Like its contemporaries Blue Note
Blue note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
and Verve
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
, the front covers of Impulse's LPs often featured stylish large-format photographs or paintings, usually in full colour, which were typically 'bled out' to the edges of the cover and printed on glossy laminated stock. Many of the best-known Impulse! covers were by designed by art director Robert Flynn and photographed by a small group that included Pete Turner
Pete Turner (photographer)
Pete Turner is an American photographer. He is perhaps best known as one of the first masters of color photography. PDN voted him as one of the 20 most influential photographers of all time and in 1981 the A.S.M.P. awarded him the prestigious Outstanding Achievement in Photography honor.Noted...
(who also shot many renowned covers for the Verve, A&M
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
and CTI
CTI Records
CTI Records was a jazz record label founded in 1967 by producer/A&R manager Creed Taylor. Initially, CTI was a subsidiary of A&M Records, but the label went independent in 1970...
labels), Chuck Stewart
Chuck Stewart
Chuck Stewart is an African American photographer best known for his cover photos on as many as 2,000 albums featuring his portraits of such jazz, Rhythm and blues, bebop and salsa performers as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis among the hundreds of...
, famed portraitist Arnold Newman
Arnold Newman
Arnold Abner Newman was an American photographer, noted for his "environmental portraits" of artists and politicians...
, Ted Russell
Ted Russell
Ted Russell was a Newfoundland and Labrador writer.Russell was born in Coley's Point, Conception Bay, Newfoundland. He started work as a teacher immediately after completing high school at the age of 16...
and Joe Alper (also known for his early '60s photographs of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
). The distinctive, sparse B&W back cover designs bore the slogan "The New Wave of Jazz is on IMPULSE!"; most Impulse! LPs were issued in a gatefold
Gatefold
A gatefold is a type of fold used for advertising around a magazine or section, and for packaging of media such as vinyl records.- LP covers :...
sleeve with photographs and liner notes or an essay inside or, in some cases, multi-page insert booklets.
Early success
impulse!'s founding house producer / A&R manager Creed TaylorCreed Taylor
Creed Taylor is an American record producer, best known for his work with CTI Records, which he founded in 1968. Taylor’s career also included work at Bethlehem Records, ABC-Paramount, Verve, and A&M Records...
scored early success by signing Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, who had just ended his contract with Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
. Charles' debut for the label, Genius + Soul = Jazz
Genius + Soul = Jazz
Genius + Soul = Jazz is a 1961 album by Ray Charles.Featuring arrangements by Quincy Jones and Ralph Burns, Charles is accompanied by members of The Count Basie Band...
provided Impulse with its first major hit, and became the fourth-highest charting album of Charles' career. Other early successes included the album Out of the Cool
Out of the Cool
-Reception:The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested "Core Collection" calling it "Evans' masterpiece under his own name and one of the best examples of jazz orchestration since the early Ellington bands".-Track listing:...
by composer-arranger Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
, who had risen to prominence through his work with Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
. Taylor also set the scene for the label's most successful period with his far-sighted signing of another former Atlantic artist, saxophonist and composer John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
, who had also risen to fame during his stint with Miles Davis in the 1950s. Another significant early Impulse release was The Blues and the Abstract Truth
The Blues and the Abstract Truth
The Blues and the Abstract Truth is a jazz album by Oliver Nelson recorded in February 1961. It remains Nelson's most acclaimed album. It features a lineup of notable musicians: Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy , Bill Evans , Paul Chambers and Roy Haynes...
by composer-arranger Oliver Nelson
Oliver Nelson
Oliver Edward Nelson was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger and composer.-Early life and career:...
, who led an all-star group that featured Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
, Eric Dolphy
Eric Dolphy
Eric Allan Dolphy was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions he also played the clarinet and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s...
, Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
, Paul Chambers
Paul Chambers
Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. was a jazz bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, his importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured not only by the length and breadth of his work in this short period but also his impeccable time, intonation, and virtuosic...
and Roy Haynes
Roy Haynes
Roy Owen Haynes is an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Haynes is among the most recorded drummers in jazz, and in a career lasting more than 60 years has played in a wide range of styles ranging from swing and bebop to jazz fusion and avant-garde jazz...
. Nelson played an important role in the label's early years before relocating to Los Angeles, where he became an in-demand arranger for film and television. Creed Taylor left Impulse in the summer of 1961 after being approached by MGM to take over the running of Verve Records
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
.
The Thiele Years: 1961-69
Creed Taylor's successor Bob ThieleBob Thiele
Bob Thiele was an American record producer who worked on countless classic jazz albums and record labels.-Biography:...
produced nearly all of the albums released during Impulse's 'classic' period in the 1960s. He had previously worked for Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
and its subsidiaries Coral
Coral Records
Coral Records was a Decca Records subsidiary formed in 1949. It recorded pop artists McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer, as well as rock and roller Buddy Holly....
and Brunswick
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
, where his production credits included Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Alan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale developed a love of theatre and also became a rugby player. After retiring from the sport he took on a number of professions to support his family, before deciding to become a professional actor at the age of 27. With work limited in New...
, The McGuire Sisters
The McGuire Sisters
The McGuire Sisters were a singing trio in American popular music. The group was composed of three sisters: Christine McGuire , Dorothy McGuire , and Phyllis McGuire...
, Pearl Bailey
Pearl Bailey
Pearl Mae Bailey was an American actress and singer. After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman in 1946. She won a Tony Award for the title role in the all-black production of Hello, Dolly! in 1968...
and numerous hits for singer Theresa Brewer, whom he married. In the face of resistance from ABC-Paramount executives suspicious of the emerging rock 'n' roll trend, Thiele scored a major coup by signing singer-songwriter Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
to Brunswick in 1957.
Although not initially familiar with the 'new jazz' movement, Thiele proved to be a relaxed, sympathetic and open-minded producer who backed the creative choices of his artists, afforded them unprecedented freedom in their choice of repertoire, and gave leading acts like Coltrane virtual carte blanche in the studio. During the period that Taylor and Thiele led the label, many Impulse! albums were recorded at the Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Englewood Cliffs is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 5,281. The borough houses the world headquarters of CNBC and the American headquarters of Unilever, and is home to both Ferrari and Maserati North America.Englewood Cliffs...
studio owned and operated by engineer Rudy Van Gelder
Rudy Van Gelder
Rudy Van Gelder is an American recording engineer specializing in jazz.Often regarded as one of the most important recording engineers in music history, Van Gelder has recorded several thousand jazz sessions, including many widely recognized as classics, in a career spanning more than half a century...
, and this association lasted from the label's inception until around the time of Thiele's departure in the late 1960s.
Thiele's first Impulse! production was John Coltrane's Live! at the Village Vanguard
Live! at the Village Vanguard
Live at the Village Vanguard is the tenth album by jazz musician John Coltrane and his first live album, released in 1962 on Impulse Records, catalogue A-10. It is the first album to feature the members of the classic quartet of himself with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones...
, released in March 1962. In terms of its catalogue, Impulse! during the Thiele years is recognised as a key outlet for free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
and the broad musical movement (sometimes referred to as "The New Thing") that was spearheaded by artists including John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
and his wife Alice
Alice Coltrane
Alice Coltrane, née McLeod was an American jazz pianist, organist, harpist, and composer.-Biography:...
, Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved...
, Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
, Yusef Lateef
Yusef Lateef
Dr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...
, Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
, Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
and McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
. Alongside Impulse's groundbreaking avant-garde releases, Thiele also facilitated and produced the recording of two classic collaborations between Coltrane and two of their mutual heroes, Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
and Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
. Other notable performers who recorded for Impulse! during this period included Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
.
Aided by good promotion and ABC-Paramount's well-established distribution chain, Coltrane enjoyed the highest profile and the strongest and most consistent sales of any Impulse! artist. As well as its enormous artistic influence, Coltrane's classic 1965 LP A Love Supreme
A Love Supreme
A Love Supreme is a studio album recorded by John Coltrane's quartet in December 1964 and released by Impulse! Records in February 1965...
became one of the most successful jazz albums ever released—it sold more than 100,000 copies on its first release, and by 1970 it had sold more than half a million. It is also widely acknowledged that the music Coltrane recorded between 1961 and 1967 exerted an enormous effect on both jazz and popular music. Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
of The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
has repeatedly stated that he listened to Coltrane extensively in this period, and that Coltrane's saxophone playing was a direct influence on his own 12-string guitar playing on The Byrds' landmark 1965 hit "Eight Miles High
Eight Miles High
"Eight Miles High" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn, and David Crosby and first released as a single on March 14, 1966 . The single managed to reach the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 30 of the UK Singles Chart...
". By 1967, ABC-Paramount Records changed its name to ABC Records.
Coltrane's premature death from liver cancer in 1967 robbed Impulse! of its most prestigious, best-selling and productive artist, but Coltrane had recorded far more for the company than could be contemporaneously released and subsequent anthology collections were interspersed with new albums that featured previously unreleased recordings or alternate versions of previously issued tracks. Many of these recordings were co-produced by his widow Alice at the couple's home studio and issued through a distribution deal facilitated by Thiele.
Bob Thiele gradually severed his ties with Impulse! during 1969, setting up a short-lived deal to provide independently-produced recordings, before leaving the label entirely to establish his own imprint, Flying Dutchman. Thiele's departure was in part precipitated by the breakdown of his relationship with ABC Records sales manager Larry Newton. One of Thiele's last major productions before leaving Impulse! was the classic Louis Armstrong song "What A Wonderful World
What a Wonderful World
"What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in 1968. Thiele and Weiss were both prominent in the music world . Armstrong's recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999...
", which Thiele co-wrote and produced for ABC's pop division shortly before Armstrong's death. Although the musicians were apparently unaware of the drama, the recording session is reported to have been the scene of a major clash between Thiele and Newton. When Newton arrived at the session he became upset when he discovered that Armstrong was recording a ballad rather than a 'Dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
'-style number like his earlier hit "Hello Dolly
Hello, Dolly! (song)
"Hello, Dolly!" is the title song of the popular 1964 musical of the same name. Louis Armstrong's version was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001....
". According to Thiele's own account, this led to a screaming match; Newton then had to be locked out of the studio and he stood outside throughout the session, banging on the door and yelling to be let in.
Possibly because of this clash, the single was released with little promotion from ABC and it sold relatively poorly in the USA, although it fared extremely well in Europe, where it sold more than 1.5 million copies and went to #1 in the United Kingdom. Demand from ABC's European distributor EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
for a What A Wonderful World album forced ABC to issue one but they did not promote the album either so it did not chart in the U.S. Ironically, twenty years later, it became the most successful recording of both Armstrong and Thiele's careers, thanks to its inclusion on the hit soundtrack to the Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
film Good Morning Vietnam.
The 1970s
Under the guidance of Thiele's successor Ed Michel, Impulse! continued to issue notable recordings, including the debut album by the Liberation Music OrchestraLiberation Music Orchestra
Liberation Music Orchestra is a jazz album by Charlie Haden, released in 1969 . It was Haden's first album as leader.The inspiration for the album came when Haden heard songs from the Spanish Civil War...
, the first of four acclaimed collaborations between bassist Charlie Haden
Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...
and composer-arranger Carla Bley
Carla Bley
Carla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...
. The company also acquired LPs that Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
had recorded for his private label, making them more widely available for the first time.
In the early 1970s ABC restructured its recording division, merging the ABC label with its other pop-rock subsidiary, Dunhill Records
Dunhill Records
Dunhill Records was started by Lou Adler, Al Bennett, Pierre Cossette and Bobby Roberts in 1964 as Dunhill Productions, originally for the purpose of releasing Johnny Rivers recordings on Imperial Records. It became a record label in 1965 and was distributed by ABC Records...
-- whose roster included The Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas were a Canadian/American vocal group of the 1960s . The group recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968 with a short reunion in 1971, releasing five albums and 11 Top 40 hit singles...
, Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf (band)
Steppenwolf are a Canadian-American rock group that was prominent in the late 1960s. The group was formed in 1967 in Los Angeles by vocalist John Kay, guitarist Michael Monarch, bassist Rushton Moreve, keyboardist Goldy McJohn and drummer Jerry Edmonton after the dissolution of Toronto group The...
, Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night is an American rock band best known for their music from 1968 to 1975. During that time the band charted 21 Billboard top 40 hits in America, three of which reached Number One...
and Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
-- and Impulse! was moved west to share headquarters with ABC-Dunhill in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. By this time pop-rock acts dominated the company's output, with Impulse! releases accounting for only 5 percent of total sales. It was also during this time that Impulse! became the first all-jazz label to release a rock album when they issued "Trespass", the second album by Genesis, in the U.S. in 1970, predating Norah Jones' signing to Blue Note by well over thirty years. ("Trespass" was reissued on ABC ca. 1974).
In 1974, ABC acquired the Famous Music
Famous Music
Famous Music was the worldwide music publishing division of Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom since 1994. Its copyright holdings span several decades and includes music from such Academy Award-winning motion pictures as The Godfather and Forrest Gump...
labels and catalog from Gulf+Western
Gulf+Western
Gulf and Western Industries, Inc., for a number of years known as Gulf+Western, was an American conglomerate.- History :Gulf and Western's prosaic origins date to a manufacturer named Michigan Bumper Co. founded in 1934, though Charles Bluhdorn treated his 1958 takeover of what was then Michigan...
, subsequently, that company's jazz recordings were incorporated into the Impulse! catalog.
New recordings from the label ceased in the late 1970s, but ABC kept reissuing classic titles until the company was sold to MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
in 1979. The label name has since been revived for new recordings only for short periods. Impulse! has released new recordings by artists with historic ties to the label such as McCoy Tyner and Alice Coltrane, as well as more mainstream and commercial artists like Diana Krall
Diana Krall
Diana Jean Krall, OC, OBC is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer, known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 6 million albums in the US and over 15 million worldwide; altogether, she has sold more albums than any other female jazz artist during the 1990s and 2000s...
. Impulse! is now part of Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
's jazz holdings, The Verve Music Group
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
and has been relegated to a reissue-only label.