Label Guide: Impulse
Impulse! Records was an American jazz label, originally established in 1960 by producer Creed Taylor as a subsidiary of ABC-Paramount Records. Creed Taylor, who had previously worked with the New York-based Bethlehem Records label 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.
The classic design of the 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.
Creed Taylor's successor Bob Thiele produced nearly all of the albums released during Impulse's "classic" period in the 1960s. 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.
Impulse is recognised as a key outlet for free jazz and the broad musical movement 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.
Coltrane's classic 1965 LP A Love Supreme became one of the most successful jazz albums ever released, and with his premature death from liver cancer in 1967 Impulse lost its most prestigious, best-selling and productive artist. Impulse is now part of Universal Music Group and has been relegated to a reissue-only label.
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1. Label Variation
first Impulse label (1960 - 1963)
The first orange and black Impulse label, used until 1963, can be identified by the text 'A Product of Am-Par Record Corp' printed at the bottom centre.
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2. Label Variation
second Impulse label (1963 - 1966)
In 1963 this text changed to 'A Product of ABC-Paramount Records, Inc.'.
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3. Label Variation
third Impulse label (1966 - 1967)
For the final orange and black label with 1966/67 pressings the text changed again to 'A Product of ABC Records, Inc.' with a 'New York, N.Y. 10019' address.
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4. Label Variation
fourth Impulse label (1967 - 1972)
The first Impulse! ABC Records label is black with a wide orange rim. The bottom center text reads 'A Product of ABC Records, Inc. New York, N.Y. 10019 · Made in USA'. This is the last Impulse label that is recommended in audiophile circles for its quality sound. Impulse pressings are deteriorating from here on.
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5. Label Variation (I)
fifth Impulse label (1972)
With the second Impulse! ABC Records label the bottom center text has been shortened to just 'A Product of ABC Records, Inc. ⓟ [YEAR]'.
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5. Label Variation (II)
fifth Impulse label (1972 - 1974)
With the third Impulse! ABC Records label the bottom center text has been shortened to just 'ⓟ [YEAR] ABC Records, Inc.'.
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6. Label Variation
sixth Impulse label (1973 - 1974)
This neon style Impulse! ABC label was used in the early 1970s, as far as we can determine almost exclusively for back-catalogue reprints.
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7. Label Variation
seventh Impulse label (1974 - )
Pressings with this Green Bullseye label destroyed the reputation of Impulse Records in the mid-1970s. It was used mostly for re-issues, the vinyl was very thin and often warped, and the sound quality "atrocious" (London Jazz Collector).
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UK Label Variation
UK Impulse label (late 1960s)
This is a version of the Impulse label for the United Kingdom.