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Flying Dutchman Records

Bob Thiele was already an industry veteran when he joined Am-Par/Impulse in 1961. He was mainly an A&R man, but had also been a small record label owner and a jazz magazine publisher. Later on in his Impulse career, towards the end of the 1960s he saw major labels like his own ABC Paramount fundamentally change. Due to the growth of performers who wrote their own music and used independent producers, traditional A&R men like Bob Thiele were becoming obsolete. 

Oliver Nelson, Bob Thiele, Ron Carter and Thad Jones at an FD Recording Session (Photo: Chuck Stewart)

Whilst at Impulse Thiele had created his own production company called Flying Dutchman, producing Impulse records such as 'Karma' by Pharoah Sanders. When a dispute surfaced with label boss Larry Newton during a recording session with Louis Armstrong, Thiele realised he would have to resign before being pushed from Impulse.

He subsequently resigned and created Flying Dutchman Records, developing distribution arrangements with RCA for North America and Philips for the Rest of the World. On 26th April 1969 he announced three labels, Flying Dutchman, Blues Time focused on further pushing Blues artists (he had created Bluesway for ABC Paramount), and Amsterdam (mainly to promote his wife, singer Teresa Brewer). Continuing the eclectic vibe into Flying Dutchman, Thiele also hardened his social conscience, a set of values that had already delivered a significant output at Impulse (think 'Attica Blues' by Archie Shepp and Charlie Haden's 'Liberation Music Orchestra').

During its first run from 1969 to 1973, Flying Dutchman issued records featuring activists Angela Davis and H.Rap Brown. It produced hard-hitting vocal essays by columnist Peter Hamill, heavily critical of the

One of the Hard-Hitting FD Releases

Nixon administration on the Vietnam War. A record of a speech by Vice President Spiro Agnew with laughter substituted for applause and the Stanley Crouch record 'Ain't no Ambulances for no Nigguhs Tonight'. It is fair to say that Bob Thiele was committed and brave. He also discovered the poet Gil Scott-Heron, signed him to the label and suggested percussion backing for his first album 'Small Talk at 125th and Lenox'. His belief was that Gil could develop as a songwriter.

Gil Scott-Heron's 3rd album for FD

Flying Dutchman's discography highlights its wide remit across jazz genres, new discoveries, previous Impulse artists/musicians and political activism. RCA assumed the production and distribution under its own catalogue in 1974. Swallowed in the major label mergers, the catalogue has been independently owned since 2011 with some CD and vinyl reissues since then.

FDS-115 by Leon Thomas


References : What a Wonderful World by Bob Thiele, Both Sides Now: Flying Dutchman Label Discography, other sources





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