Impulse Records gained renown in the 1960s for its progressive-vanguard and cutting-edge releases by artists such as John Coltrane and Archie Shepp, but the label also released a handful of albums by singers such as Johnny Hartman, Jackie Paris and Lorez Alexandria. Impulse had been started at the dawn of the 1960s by producer Creed Taylor, who was already on his way to becoming a legend in the music business.
Taylor left Impulse not long after starting it, going on to Verve Records and eventually founding another very successful label, CTI, in the 1970s. He was succeeded by Bob Thiele, a record producer who in his past work with other labels had favored bringing more singers aboard, and who would try to move in that direction with Impulse. Thiele’s jazz-vocal projects at Impulse produced one classic LP, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (a ballad collection and collaboration so iconic that singer Kurt Elling has recently done a tribute to it), as well as lesser-known but sparkling vocal dates from Paris, Alexandria, and Freda Payne, and further small-group sessions with Hartman.
Taylor left Impulse not long after starting it, going on to Verve Records and eventually founding another very successful label, CTI, in the 1970s. He was succeeded by Bob Thiele, a record producer who in his past work with other labels had favored bringing more singers aboard, and who would try to move in that direction with Impulse. Thiele’s jazz-vocal projects at Impulse produced one classic LP, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (a ballad collection and collaboration so iconic that singer Kurt Elling has recently done a tribute to it), as well as lesser-known but sparkling vocal dates from Paris, Alexandria, and Freda Payne, and further small-group sessions with Hartman.
