Impulse vs Blue Note

[Fatback]

For the title of greatest jazz label evar.I been obsessing over this for about 15 years and I'm gonna have to give it to Impulse.sound: drawboth had van geldercovers: impulseclose, respect to reid miles and francis wolf, but those gatefolds and orange black spines.catalog: impulseColtrane. blue note focus was more hard bop and modal. impulse had a good amount of that (not as much) and that angry black shit. or spiritual. whatever you people call it now.

 

[leisurebandit]

i say Blue Note

despite Coltrane being my favorite artist ever

Blue Note was around so much longer and covered so much more ground

also, percentage wise, there are less Blue Notes that I don't care about than Impulse.

 

[CousinLarry]

i say Blue Note

despite Coltrane being my favorite artist ever

Blue Note was around so much longer and covered so much more ground

also, percentage wise, there are less Blue Notes that I don't care about than Impulse.

This was my initial thought too, but there are a high number of late era blue note terds out there too.

 

[Fatback]

Taylor did roll the dice on some terdly product. maybe 4 or 5? that's not enough to tip the balance imo.

 

[Reynaldo]

You should compare the best BN releases with best Impulse releases. The records that aren't great don't really matter and shouldn't figure in. The catalog with the greater amount of greatness is greater.

 

[pickwick33]

i'd have to go with Blue Note on a technicality (i have more Blue Notes than Impulses)

 

[Fatback]

You should compare the best BN releases with best Impulse releases. The records that aren't great don't really matter and shouldn't figure in. The catalog with the greater amount of greatness is greater.

ok. off the cuff...


my top five blue notes:

out to lunch
maiden voyage
soul station
sonnny rollins live at the VV
dialogue

impulse:

impressions
black saint and the sinner lady
blues and the abstract truth
four for trane
journey in satchidananda

(sampling will not work. even if i went top ten or tweenty.)

 

[Reynaldo]

Go to top 50 then. All it takes is the will.

http://www.jazzdisco.org/impulse-records/
http://www.jazzdisco.org/blue-note-records/

 

[Fatback]

i've already made my choice and i stand by it.

you?

 

[pickwick33]

covers: impulse
close, respect to reid miles and francis wolf, but those gatefolds and orange black spines.

and both labels' covers started looking more generic around 1968

(have you ever read that book about Impulse Records? i forget who it was, but somebody at Impulse, maybe Bob Thiele, had a shit fit when somebody at ABC's art department stopped doing the orange/black spines...note that when Thiele left ABC/Impulse and started Flying Dutchman, for the first few years, the cover art was in the old Impulse tradition, with Impulse-ish spines, gatefolds, and photos of the session musicians)

catalog: impulse

Coltrane.

wasn't coltrane on Blue Note as well?

 

[Fatback]

catalog: impulse

Coltrane.

wasn't coltrane on Blue Note as well?
not like that

 

[funky16corners]

For the title of greatest jazz label evar.

covers: impulse
close, respect to reid miles and francis wolf, but those gatefolds and orange black spines.

Madness....


Blue Note in all respects by a mile.

 

[Fatback]

For the title of greatest jazz label evar.

covers: impulse
close, respect to reid miles and francis wolf, but those gatefolds and orange black spines.

Madness....


Blue Note in all respects by a mile.
You don't dig the out stuff though, right?

 

[Reynaldo]

Impulse is more interesting to me because of the Coltrane and Mingus stuff but I can see why BN would be the most obvious choice.

 

[funky16corners]

For the title of greatest jazz label evar.

covers: impulse
close, respect to reid miles and francis wolf, but those gatefolds and orange black spines.

Madness....


Blue Note in all respects by a mile.
You don't dig the out stuff though, right?

Some of my favorite stuff is the inside/outside sound where they butt right up against the line without crossing over too far, but no, with rare exceptions I don't care too much for the really out stuff.

The madness comment was aimed at the design aspect. Reid Miles is by far one of the most influential designers of his time, evidenced in the countless imitations of his Blue Note designs. I can't remember ever seeing an Impulse pastiche. The orange/black spine is iconic, but compared to covers like Larry Young's 'Unity' or the Grachan Moncur with the blue and white cover (can't remember the title right now)?

 

[leisurebandit]

wasn't coltrane on Blue Note as well?

one album as a leader

 

[fishmongerfunk]

I'm going with impulse because they were generally more experimental and they covered a wider breadth of music (blues, free jazz). that plus ed michel is the man.

some of my favourite Impulse Lp's:
Bill Plummer - "Cosmic Brotherhood"
Mel Brown- Wizard
Alice Coltrane-Huntington Ashram
Cliff Coulter- East Side San Jose
Mingus-Black Saint
Gary Saracho- En Medio
Micheal White- Go with the flow
SOnny Rollins- Alfie

 

[youngEINSTEIN]

youngEINSTEIN Said:

blue note. no contest.

peace, stein. . .

 

[Fatback]

For the title of greatest jazz label evar.

covers: impulse
close, respect to reid miles and francis wolf, but those gatefolds and orange black spines.

Madness....


Blue Note in all respects by a mile.
You don't dig the out stuff though, right?

Some of my favorite stuff is the inside/outside sound where they butt right up against the line without crossing over too far, but no, with rare exceptions I don't care too much for the really out stuff.

The madness comment was aimed at the design aspect. Reid Miles is by far one of the most influential designers of his time, evidenced in the countless imitations of his Blue Note designs. I can't remember ever seeing an Impulse pastiche. The orange/black spine is iconic, but compared to covers like Larry Young's 'Unity' or the Grachan Moncur with the blue and white cover (can't remember the title right now)?
imitation is flattery, but not in itself, testimony of greatness. additionally,
if you put it all on reid miles, he also did covers for other labels.

b/w

what about Forlenza Venosa Associates?

 

[pickwick33]

Some of my favorite stuff is the inside/outside sound where they butt right up against the line without crossing over too far

Understanding by John Patton!

Reid Miles is by far one of the most influential designers of his time, evidenced in the countless imitations of his Blue Note designs. I can't remember ever seeing an Impulse pastiche.

Well, like I say, Flying Dutchman albums from 1969-72 looked a lot like Impulse, but then again the same man was behind them both.

Probably doesn't count, then, but it needed to be mentioned.