{"id":2755,"date":"2021-05-15T22:21:32","date_gmt":"2021-05-16T03:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=2755"},"modified":"2021-06-21T20:27:27","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T01:27:27","slug":"impulse-60-black-to-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/impulse-60-black-to-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: ‘Impulse! Records: Music, Message & The Moment’ and Sons of Kemet’s ‘Black to the Future’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 1960, Creed Taylor founded Impulse! Records, which he dubbed “The New Wave in Jazz.” While over time, Impulse! established itself as one of the premier labels in the genre, it was always happiest around categorical edges. Ray Charles\u2019 Genius + Soul = Jazz <\/em>(Impulse!, 1960) blurred lines between the two styles. Later, Yusef Lateef – as he did throughout his career – borrowed ideas from across the globe. On Journey in Satchidananda <\/em>(Impulse!, 1971), Alice Coltrane explored sounds born in North Africa, the Middle East, and India. With Interstellar Space <\/em> (Impulse!, 1974), her husband pushed beyond the earth\u2019s gravitational pull entirely. It is this transcendence that primarily guides the public perception of the label\u2019s output. This view is understandable as some of Impulse\u2019s most iconic recordings address spiritual matters. John Coltrane\u2019s dedication to God, A Love Supreme <\/em>(Impulse!, 1965), or Pharoah Sanders\u2019 announcement of the Creator\u2019s Master Plan (Impulse!, 1969), to name two. But it is a mistake to ignore the importance of worldly concerns as there is also a deep legacy of works that examine the political issues of the era. Impulse Records: Music, Message, & The Moment <\/em>(Impulse!, 2021) and Sons of Kemet\u2019s Black to the Future<\/em> (Impulse!, 2021) both tap directly into this source. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former is a thorough four-part thesis on Impulse\u2019s socially conscious works over the past six decades. Several of the pieces are well known yet remain powerfully relevant years later. Trane\u2019s mournful meditation on innocent lives lost on \u201cAlabama.\u201d The striving folkiness of Charlie Haden\u2019s \u201cWe Shall Overcome.\u201d The ebullience of Mingus\u2019 \u201cBetter Get Hit in Yo\u2019 Soul.\u201d But the set also admirably presents some lesser recognized tracks from Impulse\u2019s discography. Although a legendary figure, many often overlook Albert Ayler\u2019s final album, Music is the Healing Force of the Universe, <\/em>here represented by its title track\u2019s raw emotional depths. There is also the sensitive beauty of Marion Brown\u2019s Bismillahi \u2018Rrahmani \u2018Rrahim. Or the funkiness of John Handy\u2019s \u201cHard Work.\u201d And while Impressions <\/em>(Impulse!, 1963) is one of Coltrane\u2019s better-known albums, the blues of \u201cUp \u2018Gainst the Wall\u201d generally is not listed among his most popular songs. <\/p>\n\n\n

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