THETΛ

… or the story of impulse! records.

Within this roughly 280 pages Ashley Khan gives a comprehensive overview of one of the finest jazz labels around (during the ’60s). Starting with the foundation of the label in 1960/61 and ending in 1975/76 when impulse! was basically not functioning any longer. And yes, the first 140 pages or so are mainly about John Coltrane, who was THE dominating artist on the label until his death in ’67. The book has quite a lot of features on the key albums of the label, which include stories about the making of and, where possible, also interviews with the artists. Unfortunately Ashley Khan has at no point a critical opinion on the label (e.g. this and that album sucks), basically praising it to heaven all the time, which is sometimes a little bit tiring. Further it is written a lot from an executive perspective (quoting frequently of CEOs, marketing guys and even lawyers of the label) explaining the management decisions of the label and telling which albums sold in which quantity. For a music connoisseur this is not really of relevance, however can be entertaining at some occasions, e.g. when Sun Ra negotiates about a paragraph in his contract which regulates the distribution rights of his works on planets other than earth.

With all ups and downs this is probably the best, and possibly the only, book dealing exclusively with the history of the label and is a good entrance point for everybody who is interested in the more spiritual side of jazz.