Impulse!
The house that Trane built.

Large-scale arrangements1960 · released 1961 · Van Gelder Studio

Genius + Soul = Jazz places Ray Charles at the organ before arrangements shaped by Quincy Jones and Ralph Burns, with musicians drawn from the Count Basie orchestra.

Have a listen “From the Heart” – opens with Charles’s organ in clipped, blues-rooted phrases, answered by brass and reeds in short bursts.

Large-scale arrangementsreleased 1961 · Recorded by Van Gelder

Out of the Cool shows Gil Evans treating a large jazz ensemble as a living field of colour rather than a block of massed sound.

Have a listen “La Nevada” – grows across an extended span from a persistent rhythmic foundation.

Tenor voices1964 · Van Gelder Studio

An album connecting two recording dates Ben Webster’s See You At The Fair brings together nine selections from two sessions in March 1964.

Have a listen “In A Mellow Tone” – leads to Duke Ellington, whose orchestra was an important part of Webster’s career.

Tenor voices1965

On Impulse! places Sonny Rollins in a quartet setting that gives his rhythmic imagination room to roam.

Have a listen “On Green Dolphin Street” – begins with a spacious introduction before the tenor bends the tune’s expected path.

Large-scale arrangements

The Blues and the Abstract Truth is Oliver Nelson using the blues as a compositional foundation broad enough for sharply different personalities.

Have a listen “Stolen Moments” – a dark, patient horn line over a restrained pulse.

Tenor voices1966 · released 1967 · Van Gelder Studio

One side devoted to an open journey The title performance of East Broadway Run Down lasts more than twenty minutes and occupies the entire first side.

Have a listen “East Broadway Run Down” – the title track, written by Rollins; only here does Freddie Hubbard join in.

Spiritual jazzreleased 1969

Karma is a spiritual-jazz landmark built not as a collection of separate songs but as an extended ascent.

Have a listen “The Creator Has a Master Plan” – fills most of the album: a serene motif first, then voices, percussion and horns broaden the field.

Large-scale arrangements1963

Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus revisits several Charles Mingus compositions through fresh large-ensemble designs.

Have a listen “II B.S.” – reworks material from “Haitian Fight Song”; the bass comes first, then the band enters in waves.

Large-scale arrangements1963

The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady is Charles Mingus thinking on an orchestral scale without losing the physical urgency of a working jazz band.

Have a listen Side A from the start – Mingus conceived the album as one continuous suite; the opening sets up a tense, processional figure.

Spiritual jazz1970 · released 1971

Journey in Satchidananda creates a musical space in which spiritual searching, modal jazz and sustained rhythm become inseparable.

Have a listen “Shiva-Loka” – a more urgent pulse, its theme rising from the repeated rhythmic ground.

The classic quartet1965 · Van Gelder Studio

Four pieces at a turning point A song from Mary Poppins , a composition made famous by Nat King Cole and two originals form the programme of The John Coltrane Quartet Plays .

Have a listen “Nature Boy” – with Art Davis as a second bassist alongside Jimmy Garrison.

The classic quartet1964 · released 1965

A Love Supreme is John Coltrane’s four-part suite of gratitude, discipline and spiritual commitment.

Have a listen “Acknowledgement” – grows from Jimmy Garrison’s four-note bass figure.

The classic quartet1961 · released 1963 · Van Gelder Studio

Ballads presents the John Coltrane Quartet in a deliberately song-centred frame. Recorded across sessions in 1961 and 1962, the album arrived while Coltrane was also pursuing increasingly extended and demanding work.

Have a listen “Say It (Over and Over Again)” – Coltrane gives the theme a warm, measured line while Tyner places luminous chords beneath it.

Encounters1961 · released 1962 · Recorded by Van Gelder

“Live” at the Village Vanguard documents John Coltrane at a turning point, extending the language of his quartet while opening the door to new instruments, longer forms and more elemental intensity.

Have a listen “Chasin’ the Trane” – without piano altogether: just tenor, bass and drums.

The classic quartet1964 · Recorded by Van Gelder

Crescent occupies a special place in John Coltrane’s work: searching and devotional, but still grounded in the concentrated language of his classic quartet.

Have a listen “Lonnie’s Lament” – a broad, singing theme for the whole group.

Encounters1962

Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins brings together two architects of jazz whose authority never needs announcing.

Have a listen “Self Portrait (of the Bean)” – an Ellington feature shaped around Hawkins’s famous nickname.

Tenor voices1962

Out of the Afternoon presents Roy Haynes as a drummer whose leadership is expressed through colour, alertness and the way he shapes other musicians’ freedom.

Have a listen “Snap Crackle” – Roy Haynes’s own piece; his crisp drumming becomes part of the composition.

Encounters1962 · Van Gelder Studio

Duke Ellington & John Coltrane brings together two musical languages without asking either leader to surrender his identity.

Have a listen “In a Sentimental Mood” – begins with Ellington’s descending piano figure before Coltrane enters.

Encounters1963 · Van Gelder Studio

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman is a meeting of two profoundly vocal ways of shaping melody.

Have a listen “Lush Life” – Johnny Hartman sustains the song’s long lines and worldly melancholy.