The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis - Deface the Currency is the second collaboration between The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis. It captures the sound of what the forge of 150 shows in a year can do to a band. They have become a unit designed to destroy on stage. This record is expansive, ambitious, and spontaneous.
The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis - Deface The Currency / The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis announce their second collaborative album, Deface The Currency, on Impulse! Records. This new album preserves the tightness and variety of their critically-acclaimed self-titled debut album, but reveals new levels of confidence and risk over seven tracks. Deface The Currency - a statement of vigor, sensitivity and spontaneity- is a result of the band playing 150 shows together in one year. More than any earlier statement by the band, Deface The Currency seamlessly melds the sounds that make up it's collective DNA, from punk rock to free jazz and funk, balancing compositional precision with palpable improvisational fire.
Pharoah Sanders / Elevation (Verve Vault Series) The album is a spiritually resonant final Impulse! Studio statement that bridges the raw fire of earlier albums with a deeper, more spacious sound. Format: Vinyl Genre: JAZZ Release Date: March 2026
Gabor Szabo Spellbinder (Verve Vault Series) Recorded in May 1966 at Rudy Van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs studio - Spellbinder, released in 1966 on Impulse! Records, introduced Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo to a wider American audience with a set that blends modal jazz, Eastern European folk influences, and 1960s pop textures. Recorded in May 1966 at Rudy Van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs studio and produced by Bob Thiele, Spellbinder features Szabo in a quintet setting with pianist Chick Corea (in one of his earliest recorded sessions), bassist Albert Stinson, drummer Chico Hamilton, and percussionist Willie Bobo. The record's standout moment is a reimagining of Sonny Bono's "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)," which Szabo transforms into a darkly lyrical modal meditation. Elsewhere, the group blurs the lines between jazz improvisation and global rhythms, bridging bop vocabulary with the expanding musical frontiers of the mid-1960s. The Verve Vault Series is always mastered from analog tapes and pressed on 180grAm vinyl. Mastered from analog tapes.
Free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements return with their second Impulse! Recording, Future Present Past. Largely recorded at the historic Van Gelder Studio, the album sees the quintet meld atmospheric jazz, global music traditions and spoken word into our shared story of existence - futures full of possibility, the present with all it's uncertainties, and pasts as wellsprings of ancestral wisdom.
Easily one of the most important records ever made, John Coltrane's a Love Supreme was his pinnacle studio outing that at once compiled all of his innovations from his past, spoke of his current deep spirituality, and also gave a glimpse into the next two and a half years (sadly, those would be his last). Recorded at the end of 1964, Trane's classic quartet of Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, and Jimmy Garrison stepped into the studio and created one of the most thought-provoking, concise, and technically pleasing albums of their bountiful relationship (not to mention his best-selling to date). from the flowing (and classic) bass line at the intro to the last breathy notes, Trane is at the peak of his logical yet emotionally varied soloing while the rest of the group is remarkably in tune with Coltrane's spiritual vibe. Composed of four parts, each has a thematic progression leading to an understanding of spirituality through meditation.
2020 release. Diana Krall's self-produced album, This Dream Of You, was mixed by Al Schmitt, who worked closely with her to achieve the notable intimacy and immediacy. Performances from 2016-2017 sessions, on which she collaborated with late friend/longtime creative partner Tommy LiPuma. A record for right now but also feels like a movie you might share with someone you know will stay with it until the final reel. As she says, "If But Beautiful is the overture, then 'Singing In The Rain' is the end title.
Alice Coltrane - "The Carnegie Hall Concert" / Alice Coltrane's "The Carnegie Hall Concert" is a previously unreleased recording of a historic 1971 concert. The original multi-track recording was commissioned by Impulse but wasn't released at the time. Features an all-star group including Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Jimmy Garrison, Cecil McBee, Ed Blackwell and others. This was a triple bill placing her in the company of Laura Nyro and The Rascals. Concert produced by Sid Bernstein, who promoted the first Beatles concert in the US. CD Softpak.
Live archive release. In August of 1961, the John Coltrane Quintet played an engagement at the legendary Village Gate in Greenwich Village, New York. Eighty minutes of never-before-heard music from this group were recently discovered at the New York Public Library. In addition to some well-known Coltrane material ("Impressions"), there is a breathtaking feature for Dolphy's bass clarinet on "When Lights Are Low" and the only known non-studio recording of Coltrane's composition "Africa", from the Africa/Brass album.
Vinyl LP pressing. 2023 release. Brandee Younger is defying expectations. Over the past 15 years, she has worked relentlessly to stretch boundaries for harpists. In 2022, she broke new ground by becoming the first black woman nominated for a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition. An ever-expanding artist, the album builds on her already rich oeuvre, transcending genre. As the title suggests, Brand New Life is about forging new paths. It features originals by Brandee, reinterpretations of Dorothy Ashby classics, and more.
The Comet Is Coming - "Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam" - The Comet is Coming returns with their 2nd full length album on Impulse! Records. King Shabaka, Danalogue, and Betamax's newest effort finds the trio creating a musical landscape that is equally cerebral as it is physically enthralling. While containing elements of jazz throughout, this release leans further into heavy dance-hall themes, providing hypnotic, electronic soundscapes to dance to while keeping you intellectually stimulated.
Vinyl LP pressing. Impulse! Records proudly announces the signing of free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements with their label debut Protect Your Light. Fusing elements of jazz, hip-hop, global music traditions and spoken word, the new album sees the quintet (vocalist/poet Camae Ayewa, saxophonist Keir Neuringer, bassist Luke Stewart, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, drummer Tcheser Holmes) break molds with adventurous improvisation driven by poetry about the Black experience, love, power, community, liberation.
This rare and underappreciated 1973 Impulse! Title features a host of influential L.A. musicians and was an important element in the label's 'West Coast contingent' of the early 1970s. The album's distinct L.A. sound and energy continue to resonate in modern music circles, from the West Coast Get Down to Carlos Gabriel Nino to Mark de Clive-Lowe. Saracho became disillusioned and left the music business not long after this album was released. Now, his remarkable story and music are re-emerging, ripe for re-evaluation. 180-gram LP.
The Messthetics/James Brandon Lewis - "The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis" / On their Impulse! Debut album, Washington DC's experimental jazz punk trio the Messthetics (guitarist Anthony Pirog with drummer Brendan Canty and Joe Lally of iconic band Fugazi) join forces with acclaimed jazz tenor saxophonist, composer and bandleader James Brandon Lewis. Together, they widen the reach of decisive instrumental music through their overlapping of jazz, punk, funk, aggression and innovation.
On March 6, 1963, John Coltrane and his Classic Quartet - McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones - recorded an entire studio album at the legendary Van Gelder Studios. This music, which features unheard originals, was finally released 55 years later in June of 2018. To commemorate this event, we are releasing a very unique and collectable 12' Die Cut single on orange vinyl which features two very distinctive triangular die cuts directly into the vinyl.
2024 release. On their Impulse! Debut album, Washington DC's experimental jazz punk trio the Messthetics (guitarist Anthony Pirog with drummer Brendan Canty and Joe Lally of iconic band Fugazi) join forces with acclaimed jazz tenor saxophonist, composer and bandleader James Brandon Lewis. Together, they widen the reach of decisive instrumental music through their overlapping of jazz, punk, funk, aggression and innovation.
Vinyl LP pressing. 2024 release. After putting down the saxophone, the instrument he has become synonymous with, Shabaka returns with his first full length album under his own name. Expanding off the meditative 2022 EP Afrikan Culture, his new album Perceive it's beauty, Acknowledge it's Grace is a deeply moving suite of primarily instrumental music.
Alice Coltrane - "The Carnegie Hall Concert" / Alice Coltrane's "The Carnegie Hall Concert" is a previously unreleased recording of a historic 1971 concert. The original multi-track recording was commissioned by Impulse but wasn't released at the time. Features an all-star group including Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Jimmy Garrison, Cecil McBee, Ed Blackwell and others. This was a triple bill placing her in the company of Laura Nyro and The Rascals. Concert produced by Sid Bernstein, who promoted the first Beatles concert in the US. 2 LP.
Digitally remastered edition of this posthumous 1972 release from the Jazz great. Infinity is an album by Alice Coltrane, overdubbing recordings by her late husband. Alice Coltrane's controversial 're-imagining' of her husband's late works was criticized by both fans and critics, as she took his original performances and superimposed them over lush orchestral backgrounds and re-dubbed rhythm section parts, as well as recording new solos on piano, organ, harp and timpani.
John Coltrane -"Evenings At The Village Gate: John Coltrane With Eric Dolphy" / In August of 1961, the John Coltrane Quintet played an engagement at the legendary Village Gate in Greenwich Village, New York. Eighty minutes of never-before-heard music from this group were recently discovered at the New York Public Library. In addition to some well-known Coltrane material ("Impressions"), there is a breathtaking feature for Dolphy's bass clarinet on "When Lights Are Low" and the only known non-studio recording of Coltrane's composition "Africa", from the Africa/Brass album.
2021 archive release. Alice Coltrane is the undeniable godmother of spiritual jazz and an acknowledged influence on everyone from Flying Lotus and Kamasi Washington to Solange and Radiohead. Kirtan: Turiya Sings features Alice Coltrane at peak spirituality and is presented in this arrangement for the first time. Turyia Sings was originally released in 1982 on cassette as a collection of devotional songs including vocals, organ, strings, and synthesizers available only at Alice's Sai Anantam Ashram.
The Comet Is Coming returns with their 2nd full-length album on Impulse! Records. King Shabaka, Danalogue, and Betamax's newest effort finds the trio creating a musical landscape that is equally cerebral as it is physically enthralling. While containing elements of jazz throughout, this release leans further into heavy dancehall themes, providing hypnotic, electronic soundscapes to dance to while keeping you intellectually stimulated.
