US label.
Label Code: LC 0236 / LC LC 00236.
For unofficial releases/counterfeit/bootlegs, please Impulse! (2).
1960 The Impulse! label was started as a jazz subsidiary of Am-Par Record Corp. under the direction of Creed Taylor and soon after the label's creation, Bob Thiele.
In the 60s the Canadian versions of the label were manufactured by Sparton Of Canada Ltd. and wear the Sparton Impulse! Records label.
1962 The company names changed to ABC-Paramount Records, Inc. - The Sparton Impulse! Records remains to mention Am-Par Record Corp. after the company name changed.
1967 A new change to ABC Records, Inc. In this period sometimes a second ABC Records brand appears on the label.
1974 Versions on the concentric label design from the 70s commonly display the ABC Impulse! label brand.
It operated until 1979, though new recordings had stopped by 1977; it survived on with reissues.
1979 ABC was bought by MCA Records and Impulse! shut down along with all of the other ABC-affiliated labels.
Impulse is known as The House That Trane Built because of John Coltrane's 1961-67 association with the label.
MCA revived the label mainly as a reissue imprint with a few new releases in the 1980s. It was reactivated as part of MCA-owned GRP with new artist signings including Diana Krall in the 1990s. Following a series of major label buy-outs and mergers, Impulse! is now part of the The Verve Music Group unit of the larger multi-national Universal Music Group.
Some information I have on Impulse! original vinyl pressings:
1961 - 1962: AM-PAR Record Corp. (does anyone know which is the last AM-PAR issue? At least A(S)-32 Ballads 1st pressing have Am-Par on label). Orange + black label, laminated gatefold cover 1962 - 1968: abc Paramount Records (which is the last issue with Paramount text?) Orange + black label, laminated gatefold cover 1968 - 19xx: abc Records have orange + black label, laminated gatefold cover 1970's issues have black + red rim label, laminated gatefold cover
Does anyone have more detailled information, on which point the records company name is changed?
In addition to these releases there are some Capitol club releases with orange+black label, abc Paramount text. At least Coltrane: Love Supreme and Live at Birdland.
I love looking at my CD shelf seeing the orange and black spines. Something very aestheticly pleasing about it. From the 60's to the early 70's Impulse! was jazz's hottest label. They had a solid artist, who was Coltrane, but they also kept bringing in jazz's hottest artists at the time as well. Max Roach, McCoy Tyner, Duke Ellington, and Charles Mingus just to name a few. When Impulse! started, glossy gatefold records wasn't a common thing in jazz and this gave them an image that still stands up today. I think they also helped open the worlds eyes to free jazz as well. The reissues that Impulse! has been coming out with are great and often feature great notes about the release and bonus tracks. Defiantly one of my favorite jazz label's and I recommend people check out the book "Impulse!: The House That Trane Built" if they want to know the full history. They spill the beans on everything that went down!
Nick1979
December 2, 2021