The New Jazz Musings

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...

O n March 6 th 1963 the John Coltrane Quartet recorded a session at Van Gelder’s studio in Englewood Cliffs NJ. In 1966, Impulse released their third volume of previously unreleased tracks from various artists (The Definitive Jazz Scene Vol. 3, Impulse AS-9101). It included a version of Vilia recorded at that March 6 th session. Both Directions at Once : The Lost Album Some time after this LP release, the original master tapes of the March 6 th session were lost or discarded. However, as was the usual practice for Coltrane, Van Gelder recorded a ¼ inch, 7.5ips mono tape for him to listen to at home. It was this tape that was the source for Both Directions at Once : The Lost Album, issued earlier this year. In 1962 and 1963 Bob Thiele of Impulse persuaded Coltrane to issue albums with more accessible music, complementing his more adventurous material. Thiele had been concerned about the negative press Trane had been receiving from some critics, and wanted to prov...

For weeks Archie Shepp had been trying to get in touch with Bob Thiele at Impulse Records. A family man living on meagre cash in hand, he had harassed Impulse's offices with phone calls: "I phoned from the pharmacy at the bottom of my building and, with ten cents a call, I spent a dollar a day trying to reach Bob. Each time, Lillian his secretary answered that he had gone to lunch, or gone home". One night, Shepp sat in with John Coltrane at the Half Note and got up enough courage to ask if he would intercede with Thiele. After some hesitation and suggesting that "a lot of people think I'm easy", he agreed. The next day Bob Thiele is out again, but his secretary tells Shepp that her boss is waiting for his phone call. When they finally talk to each other, the producer sets his conditions. It will be an album of John Coltrane's compositions in tribute form. "I had a reputation for being a strong leader, with already very decided ideas, and he pro...

1965 was a stellar year for John Coltrane, only two years away from his untimely death from liver cancer. His spirituality found its voice the year before, recording A Love Supreme on December 9 th and 10 th at Van Gelder’s studio. ALS was released in February 1965 and garnered attention through Impulse’s ‘teaser’ advertising and disc-jockey promotions. By 1965 Bob Thiele was increasingly signing contemporary younger artists based on the word of John Coltrane. Initial sales would not be stellar for those artists, but Impulse had been a catalogue label, frequently re-issuing records. ALS started slowly but picked up through 1965 causing a re-pressing earlier than normal at Impulse. By the end of the year it was winning popularity polls. Through 1965 John Coltrane logged no less than thirteen studio sessions, including New Jersey, New York, San Francisco, and Washington (State). He was recorded live in Seattle, Los Angeles, Newport RI, Paris and Antibes, France. He would vary ...