This Jazz Label's Abstract Covers Changed Album Art Forever

Across its 30 albums, Impulse! Records changed the face of the record sleeve.

In the ’60s, jazz changed how people played and listened to music. Less documented but just as important, though, is the effect the sound had on album art. For a better understand, look no further than Impulse! Records. Founded in 1960, the label became a home for some of jazz’s greatest figures, like Pharoah Sanders, John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and more.

To compliment the cutting edge music, Impulse!’s sleeves combined striking, modernist splashes of color with dark and shadowy backgrounds. The label called on famous photographers like Peter Turner, Roy DeCarava and Arnold Newman to capture the musical masterminds in their most revealing moments of thought and performance. Alongside Blue Note Records, Impulse! definitely changed the game. We have put some of our favorites below, but you can check out all 30 over at The Vinyl Factory here.

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