The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records is a four-disc set, compiled and annotated by author Ashley Kahn who wrote the book of the same name being published concurrently with its release. Impulse's great run was between 1961 and 1976 -- a period of 15 years that ushered in more changes in jazz than at any other point in the music's history. Impulse began recording in the last weeks of 1960, with Ray Charles, Kai Windig /J.J. Johnson, and Gil Evans. While Impulse experimented with 45s 33 1/3 EPs, cassettes, and reel to reel tapes later in its existence, it was--and this set focuses on-- it was the music on its LPs (with distinct orange and black packaging in gatefold sleeves containing copious notes) that helped to set them apart. Impulse was dedicated to ushering in the new and controversial, but also sought to showcase established artists from the tradition (maintaining the jazz lineage) who continued to work and develop. While the label is certainly associated more closely with John Coltrane than any other of its artists (Coltrane also acted as an ad hoc A&R man), it nonetheless established and forwarded the careers of dozens of jazzers.
