Impulse! Web site

Today, I browsed around a little bit on the Web site of Impulse! Records, one of the premiere labels in the history of jazz, and one that specialized, at least during much of the 1960s, in somewhat “free” or “avant garde” jazz. Must say, I like their site! They don’t always have the most complete info on the records themselves (not even song lengths), but they have some good bios on the individual artists, a decent little synopsis of the label’s history, and overall the site is pretty attractive.

For those unfamiliar, Impulse! served as the home label for John Coltrane following his departure from Atlantic Records in the early ’60s. It was Impulse! that issued what’s widely regarded as Trane’s landmark achievement, the album A Love Supreme.

Trane served as Impulse!’s headliner until his death in ‘67, and a number of similar artists — many of whom worked under Trane at one time or another — called the label home during that decade, including McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane and Archie Shepp, among others. Impulse! also issued a few releases from cats like Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins and Yusef Lateef. It’s now a part of the Verve Music Group.

Also, the folks in charge of the Impulse! site have done a good job of synching up with The Traneumentary — which, if you haven’t checked out yet, please do, pronto. It’s a podcast featuring exclusive interviews in which individuals who either played with Trane, worked with him, studied him or followed in his footsteps offer recollections and insight about the man and his music. (It’s also my favorite podcast, in case you hadn’t already guessed.)

First Post: WordPress, Coltrane, etc.

Thanks to my good friend, Chris, for getting me started on my first WordPress blog. A few days ago, when I initially viewed the WordPress sites and a few sample WordPress blogs, I was so struck by their high aesthetic quality that I had what some might refer to as a “moment of Zen”. Having just spent the previous two weeks tinkering with Blogger, this was quite a change, indeed.

As I write this, I’m reminded of a conversation with Chris and I’s mutual good friend, E.J., with whom (along with our wives) I’d just seen the film Sunshine. E.J. and I were discussing a scene near the end of the film in which one of the main characters has his own “moment of Zen”, so to speak. As we veered onto the topic of such moments, E.J. asked if I’d ever had any of my own. I paused, and then recounted that yes, as a matter of fact, I had recently experienced a Zen-like moment — or closer to 10 minutes, actually — while listening to John Coltrane’s spellbinding rendition of “Afro-Blue” from the album Live at Birdland.

The entire album is truly one of my favorites, featuring Trane’s legendary quartet of McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and the seismic Elvin Jones on drums. But it is that opening number that truly takes my breath away. More so, even, than the first time I learned about WordPress.