Impulse! Records

infobox record label


parent = Universal Music Group
founded = 1960
founder = Creed Taylor
distributor = Verve Records (In the US)
genre = Jazz
country = US
url = [http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/ Impulse!]

Impulse! Records was an American based jazz record label, originally launched in 1960 by Creed Taylor as a subsidiary of ABC-Paramount Records in New York City. John Coltrane was Impulse!'s first major signing and the label came to be known in retrospect as "the house that Trane built". [Ashley Kahn (2006) "The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records", W.W. Norton, ISBN 0-393-05879-4]

Most Impulse! albums were produced by Bob Thiele who joined the company after Taylor left to head Verve Records, assisted by the sound engineer, Rudy Van Gelder.

Impulse! releases are known for their distinctive design, dominated by black and orange on the sleeve spine and record label. Impulse! LPs had a distinctive, sparse back cover design with the slogan, "The New Wave of Jazz is on IMPULSE!". The company is perhaps best remembered as a free jazz label. New recordings from the label ceased in the late 1970s, but ABC-Paramount Records kept putting out reissues of classic albums 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 from those who had historic ties to the label, such as (McCoy Tyner and Alice Coltrane), but also 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. [ [http://www.discogs.com/label/Impulse! Impulse! ] ]

Discography

ee also

*
*ESP-Disk

External links

* [http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/impulse/ Verve music site]
* [http://www.discogs.com/label/Impulse! Discogs entry]

References