Bob Thiele Loved Getting His Photo On Impulse Gatefolds For the May 1968 issue of Canada’s CODA Magazine, Frank Kofsky sat down with Bob Thiele of ABC/Impulse Records to talk about John Coltrane. This May ’68 issue became a Memorial for Coltrane featuring the Kofsky interview (eight pages), a Late Trane retrospective, a discography and an extensive Visual Essay from photographer Joe Alper. The editorial mentioned the desire to present a visual rather than a literary viewpoint of ‘the man and his music, for the camera caught much of the strength and passions of the man’. Frank Kofsky was a writer and an academic, penning several books, many articles and record liner notes. An avowed Marxist, he became a champion of Avant-Garde black music in the 1960s. In late 1966 Kofsky held, what is likely, the most insightful interview with Trane. Insights from the interview with Thiele have already been quoted elsewhere. What’s interesting is the new information it contains (for me), plus the corre...
Jamo Spingal