Once a pretty good jazz label, it has become a battered prestige
nameplate for uncaring media conglomerates over the past 30+ years. It was founded by Creed Taylor for ABC Records, back in the late 1950s, but Taylor moved on, and the label's glory days in the 60s were with Bob Thiele at the helm; his tastes ran toward Count Basie, but Impulse's legend was forged by LPs by John Coltrane and the avant-gardes of the era. By the end of the decade, Thiele was ousted, and went on to form a succession of jazz labels, like Flying Dutchman Records. Through various spinoffs and mergers, Impulse is in the hands of Seagrams now, IIRC. Watch for the Ascension ride at the Universal Studios theme parks, right next to the Pharoah Sanders Meditation Dome.