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Various Artists: Impulse Records: Music, Message & The Moment

By Chris May
May 24, 2021
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Various Artists: Impulse Records: Music, Message & The Moment

Those of us for whom Impulse has been as important a part of our cultural lives as Blue Note, perhaps even a more important one, will not be satisfied until the label reissues its entire catalogue on remastered CDs and audiophile vinyl. In the meantime, it would be churlish to do anything other than applaud such signs of Impulse's rejuvenation as its signing of reed player

Shabaka Hutchings

woodwinds

" data-original-title="" title="">Shabaka Hutchings and welcome every tickle of its back catalogue such as this mostly well compiled, thoughtfully annotated 4xLP / 2xCD compilation marking the label's 60th Anniversary.

Some of the 25 tracks on Impulse Records: Music, Message & The Moment, such as

Pharoah Sanders

saxophone, tenor
1940 - 2022

" data-original-title="" title="">Pharoah Sanders' "The Creator Has A Master Plan" and

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane's "Alabama," are widely celebrated, but others deserve to be better known,

Max Roach

drums
1925 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Max Roach's "Garvey's Ghost" and

Marion Brown

saxophone, alto
1931 - 2010

" data-original-title="" title="">Marion Brown's "Bismillah 'Rrahmani Rrahim" being just two among them. There are a few curious, as in relatively lightweight, inclusions:

Quincy Jones

arranger
1933 - 2024

" data-original-title="" title="">Quincy Jones' "Hard Sock Dance" and

Elvin Jones

drums
1927 - 2004

" data-original-title="" title="">Elvin Jones &

Jimmy Garrison

bass, acoustic
1934 - 1976

" data-original-title="" title="">Jimmy Garrison's "Just Us Blues" are hardly wastes of space but neither is anywhere near the artists' best work for the label. Most of the selections stack up though.

The liner notes are more insightful than we have latterly become used to with Impulse, and put the music in its contemporary socio-political context while stressing its continuing relevance. The notes comprise two eight-page essays, one by A.B. Spellman, the other by Greg Tate. Spellman's is particularly valuable for he was there in the 1960s, deeply involved in and writing authoritatively about the new Black music that Impulse championed. Tate has been round the block as well, though not as often as Spellman, and his always enjoyable words also hit base.

It is about time, however, that Impulse improved the functionality of its packaging. It is difficult to extract CD1 without tearing the cardboard. The same weakness marred John Coltrane's A Love Supreme: The Complete Masters (2015), Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album (2018) and Blue World (2019). No one should need reminding that back in the day, Impulse's gatefold sleeves made other labels look cheap (and the premium price Impulse albums commanded met no sales resistance).

The selected tracks come from 25 albums released between 1961 and 1976, programmed in chronological order: John Coltrane's Africa/Brass (1961),

Max Roach

drums
1925 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Max Roach's Percussion Bitter Sweet (1961),

Quincy Jones

arranger
1933 - 2024

" data-original-title="" title="">Quincy Jones' The Quintessence (1962), Coltrane's Impressions (1963), Elvin Jones & Jimmy Garrison's Illumination! (1964), Coltrane's Live At Birdland (1964),

Charles Mingus

bass, acoustic
1922 - 1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Charles Mingus' Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus (1964),

Shirley Scott

organ, Hammond B3
1934 - 2002

" data-original-title="" title="">Shirley Scott's For Members Only (1964),

Yusef Lateef

woodwinds
1920 - 2013

" data-original-title="" title="">Yusef Lateef's Live At Pep's (1965),

Archie Shepp

saxophone, tenor
b.1937

" data-original-title="" title="">Archie Shepp's Fire Music (1965),

Stanley Turrentine

saxophone, tenor
1934 - 2000

" data-original-title="" title="">Stanley Turrentine's Let It Go (1966),

Earl Hines

piano
1903 - 1983

" data-original-title="" title="">Earl Hines' Once Upon A Time (1966),

Oliver Nelson

saxophone
1932 - 1975

" data-original-title="" title="">Oliver Nelson's The Kennedy Dream: A Musical Tribute to John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1967), Pharoah Sanders' Karma (1969), John Coltrane &

Alice Coltrane

piano
1937 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Alice Coltrane's Cosmic Music (1969),

Ahmad Jamal

piano
1930 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Ahmad Jamal's The Awakening (1970),

Albert Ayler

saxophone, tenor
1936 - 1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Albert Ayler's Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe (1970),

Charlie Haden

bass, acoustic
1937 - 2014

" data-original-title="" title="">Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra (1970), Alice Coltrane's Ptah, The El Daoud (1970), Pharoah Sanders' Thembi (1971), Archie Shepp's Attica Blues (1972),

Michael White

b.1954

" data-original-title="" title="">Michael White's The Land Of Spirit And Light (1973),

Dewey Redman

saxophone, tenor
b.1931

" data-original-title="" title="">Dewey Redman's The Ear Of The Behearer (1973), Marion Brown's Vista (1975) and

John Handy

saxophone
b.1933

" data-original-title="" title="">John Handy's Hard Work (1976).

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Track Listing

LP1: The John Coltrane Quartet/Africa; Max Roach/Garvey��s Ghost; Quincy Jones and his Orchestra: Hard Sock Dance; John Coltrane: Up ��Gainst The Wall; Elvin Jones & Jimmy Garrison Sextet: Just Us Blues. LP2: John Coltrane/Alabama; Charles Mingus/Better Get Hit In Yo�� Soul; Shirley Scott Trio: Freedom Dance; Yusef Lateef/Sister Mamie; Archie Shepp/Malcolm Malcom Semper Malcolm; Stanley Turrentine/Good Lookin�� Out; Earl Hines/Black And Tan Fantasy; Oliver Nelson/The Rights Of All. LP3: Pharoah Sanders: The Creator Has A Master Plan; John Coltrane & Alice Coltrane: Reverend King; The Ahmad Jamal Trio/The Awakening; Albert Ayler/Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe; Charlie Haden/We Shall Overcome. LP4: Alice Coltrane/Blue Nile; Pharoah Sanders/Astral Traveling; Archie Shepp/Blues For Brother George Jackson; Michael White: Lament (Mankind); Dewey Redman/Imani; Marion Brown/Bismillahi 'Rrahmani 'Rrahim; John Handy/Hard Work.

Album information

Title: Impulse Records: Music, Message & The Moment | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: Impulse! Records

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