POV: Impulse!

Pharoah Sanders - Tauhid
John Coltrane - Interstellar Space
Oliver Nelson - The Blues and the Abstract Truth
Archie Shepp - Live in San Francisco
Max Roach - Percussion Bitter Sweet

pharoah sanders - can't pick between "thembi" and "summun ummun bukmun"!

i want to pick "coltrane + johnny hartman" but i can't conscience leaving off charles mingus' "black saint + sinner lady"

one i'm curious about is the Lateef live at peps theophilus mentions. i know others rate this too...but i can't hear it. whats the fuss?

i can't drop any of these, so i'm picking seven.

Charlie Haden - Liberation Music Orchestra
Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda
Max Roach & Abbey Lincoln - It's Time
John Coltrane - Love Supreme
Gabor Szabo - Wind, Sky And Diamonds
Pharaoh Sanders - Wisdom Through Music
Archie Shepp - Attica Blues

i think if i had to drop any, it might be the gabor (i love it, and it's different, but i think i love the others more) and maybe the shepp. the rest are definite favorites.

Probably one of the best piano trio albums ever.

If I could add a #6 to my list, it would be the Coltrane & Hartman LP.

bunch of twofer impulse things coming out, some good stuff:

Ahmad Jamal "Poinciana Revisited/Freeflight"

Alice Coltrane "Universal Consciousness/Lord of Lords"

Coleman Hawkins "Today and Now/Desafinado"

McCoy Tyner Trio "Inception/Reaching Forth"

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers "Jazz Messengers/ A Jazz Message"

Pharaoh Sanders "Village of The Pharoahs/Wisdom Through Music"

Sonny Rollins "On Impulse!/There Will Never Be Another You"

Duke Ellington "Meets Coleman Hawkins/And John Coltrane"

Gabor Szabo "The Sorcerer/More Sorcery"

Shirley Scott Trio "For Members Only/Great Scott!!"

Elvin Jones "Illumination!/ Dear John C."

Albert Ayler "Love Cry/The Last Album"

Archie Shepp "For Losers/Kwanza"

Milt Jackson "Statements/ Jazz 'N' Samba"

Never heard Gabor Szabo - any good?

he's pretty great, though he succumbs to cheesiness on some records. Sorceror is awesome, though, probably my fave by him.

here's my fave track by him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1UeCtGGBuo

^^^something in his style kinda makes me think of tom verlaine, wonder if verlaine listened to this record? i know he was into jazzier stuff in the 60s.

tylerw, I really hope that upcoming Lord of Lords reissue has a better sound quality than the previously released one. Some beautiful stuff there, even her take on Stravinsky's Firebird (rocks!)

hmm, didn't know Lord of Lords was bad on CD...love that record though.

Damn tyler, that szabo track is great! Didn't expect such a fairport vibe.

god i love that LP. i think there are a few ILX threads on him in which ppl seem kinda underhelmed?, but it's a classic; side two is measured, spooky, hypnotic ensemble stuff (w/little handchimes & the close clink of the supper-club sounding audience), and side one a whole punchy shuffly fun guitar-bop thing.

I'm reading Ashley Kahn's book on Impulse! now and listening along (I do have the nagging sense that I might have read it in college, but if that's the case I wouldn't have been able to magically listen to all the records then).

I was familiar with all or mostly all of the 'cool' albums (Coltrane, Shepp, Sanders, Mingus, Roach, etc). But it's interesting how they also brought in the older generation (Benny Carter, Basie, Ellington, etc) and introduced them to the younger generation by association. Same sick packaging etc, and most of those records are new to me. Also funny how Thiele both was open to the new avant garde (and the artists loved him because he would leave them alone in the studio), but he also kept suggesting that everyone do an Ellington record or collab, or cover a musical. Sometimes they would ignore him, sometimes it would be a big crossover success (and maybe every now and then it would be a little schlocky and forgettable).

he also kept suggesting that everyone do an Ellington record or collab, or cover a musical. Sometimes they would ignore him, sometimes it would be a big crossover success (and maybe every now and then it would be a little schlocky and forgettable).

The Alfie movie soundtrack is secretly one of the best Sonny Rollins albums that nobody listens to anymore.

Charlie Haden - Liberation Music Orchestra
Pharoah Sanders - Black Unity
John Coltrane - Meditations
Archie Shepp - Things Have Gotta Change
Albert Ayler - Live In Greenwich Village
Charles Mingus - Black Saint & the Sinner Lady
Max Roach - It's Time
Yusef Lateef - Live At Pep's
Elvin Jones & Richard Davis - Heavy Sounds
Roy Haynes - Out Of The Afternoon

Okay that's ten with only one per artist -- throw in Alice's "World Galaxy" for an even 11.

Alternate, 5x:
Pharoah - Tauhid
Yusef - 1984
Shepp - Magic of Juju
John C - Kulu Se Mama
Mingus - Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus

OK, I'll take the challenge.

John Coltrane, Crescent
Charles Mingus, Mingus x 5
Alice Coltrane, Lord of Lords
Sonny Rollins, East Broadway Run Down
Pharoah Sanders, Thembi

Ok guys, now do it without any Coltranes/Mingi/Shepps/Sanderses

Okay well,
Charlie Haden - Liberation Music Orchestra
Pharoah Sanders - Black Unity
John Coltrane - Meditations
Archie Shepp - Things Have Gotta Change
Albert Ayler - Live In Greenwich Village
Charles Mingus - Black Saint & the Sinner Lady
Max Roach - It's Time
Yusef Lateef - Live At Pep's
Elvin Jones & Richard Davis - Heavy Sounds
Roy Haynes - Out Of The Afternoon
Dewey Redman - Ear Of The Behearer
Gil Evans - Into The Hot
McCoy Tyner - Nights Of Ballads & Blues
John Lee Hooker - It Serve You Right To Suffer

Five songs:

“Stolen Moments” Oliver Nelson The Blues and the Abstract Truth
"Everywhere" Roswell Rudd Everywhere
"The Intellect" Grachan Moncur III Dedication Series Vol. VIII: The New Breed
“For John Coltrane” Albert Ayler in Greenwich Village
“Stagnation” Genesis Trespass

Nice ty. :)

xp...Genesis??

ooh, yeah, the roswell rudd record on impulse is good too. I haven't played that in a minute.

Gil Evans, Into the Hot
Mel Brown, Chicken Fat
Michael White, The Land of Spirit and Light
Oliver Nelson, The Blues and the Abstract Truth
Ahmad Jamal, Outertimeinnerspace

Yes, Trespass was released as Impulse 9205.

Haven't heard either of the Ornette Impulse! records, a big gap for me.

John Coltrane Live at Birdland
Albert Ayler Love Cry
Charles Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus
Alice Coltrane Journey in Satchidananda
Sonny Rollins East Broadway Rundown

The Alfie movie soundtrack is secretly one of the best Sonny Rollins albums that nobody listens to anymore.

i listened to it yesterday!

Nice to see Michael White get a mention. Not top tier Impulse certainly, but I’ve owned Go With The Flow since high school and the head riff goes through my head (ha) often.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLgGx0mqdGw

Haven't heard either of the Ornette Impulse! records, a big gap for me.

underwhelming imo

Nice to see Michael White get a mention. Not top tier Impulse certainly

strongly disagree!

have you ever head "Land of Spirit and Light"? some of the best music made by anyone on any label ever

underwhelming imo

Ornette At 12 is just OK, but Crisis rips, and there's a rare non-LP single that's great, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwIF2OHQ3z8

I was referring to Go With The Flow specifically. I like it a lot but I don’t think it’s particularly highly regarded?

xpost
I was just coming to say Crisis is great

And actually I have not heard Land of Spirit and Light. Will do!

i also rank "pneuma" and "spirit dance," not familiar with the rest of his catalogue

haven't heard "crisis" in about a decade, will revisit

Some others as I'm going through chronologically:

Gil Evans - Out of the Cool has some really vibey sections, love hearing Elvin Jones in a big band.

Art Blakey - The Jazz Message - somehow this escaped my big Art Blakey deep dive from the last year or two, but it's great to hear him play with McCoy Tyner.

Freddie Hubbard - The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard - rips. John Gilmore sounding very Coltrane-y. Louis Hayes is just so tuned in here.

I had a great time reading & listening along to that book last year, two of my favorite discoveries were White’s Pneuma and The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard

Ok, some of you may think you're too cool for it, but I'm here to report that Everybody Knows Johnny Hodges rules.

ctrl+f the dealer
why u all hate fun :(

"La Nevada" off Gil Evans 'Out of the Cool' is a really cool piece of music.

'Today and Tomorrow' by McCoy Tyner got a bunch of listens by me at one point in my life as I got it 'Trident' and one of his solo records used on vinyl for nothing back when I lived in b-town.

'The Blues and the Abstract Truth' is a good record. Got to wonder if Oliver Nelson had not worked himself to death if he might have ended up a much bigger deal as he was doing so much soundtrack work into the 70s.

ctrl+f the dealer
why u all hate fun :(

― doe on a hill (Deflatormouse), Monday, April 7, 2025 4:43 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I had never listened to this before, I maybe dimly knew it as an early Coryell appearance, but yes I can confirm it is extremely fun

title track of "the dealer" is like proto "Waiting For The Man" — it rules

The John Lee Hooker album, wow. One chord blues >>>>>. Some of those feels are so 'simple' but the hardest thing in the world to play well.

Most of the credits I see have Milt Hinton on 'bass guitar', which would be notable, but it sounds like upright to me?

title track of "the dealer" is like proto "Waiting For The Man" — it rules

― tylerw, Tuesday, April 8, 2025 1:42 PM (forty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

"waiting for the man" was recorded first!

"Hey Chico get a load of this...the Velvet Underground!"

larry was just copping a riff to get even

Larry Coryell is shown here with his No. 1, a 1967 Gibson Super 400 he’s had since the late ’60s. He acquired it from Gibson after his first Super 400 was stolen. “I was told that it was stolen by members of the Velvet Underground,” Coryell says.

Isn't that Larry's take on like...every song that's ever existed?

Oh whoops, I thought he meant the riff got nicked not the actual guitar haha

oh lol you're right! post-VU

I love the "I was told..." bit. Wouldn't put it past them but also would be a convenient scapegoat.

The Coleman Hawkins album (Today and Now) is really nice too. Something about hearing these older players in perfect '60s Van Gelder sound makes it much easier to connect (I already was into Johnny Hodges, but I don't know that I ever really loved a Hawk album despite trying).

xp I think there's plausible deniability on both sides. but that's an amazing quote.

I want more west coast jazz that sounds like it was informed by Fun Rock (1986 4x LP), this is the only album on impulse that makes me wanna shout Tequila! over all the rests.

Gloria Coleman 'Soul Sisters' and Shirley Scott 'Queen of the Organ' sounding great today.

Couldn't get into Johnny Hartman's I Just Stopped by to Say Hello even though it's a great band (Jim Hall, Hank Jones, and I love that he has Elvin on drums).