Yes, fair enough. It is simply a fact that most Impulse first gen masters no longer exist. I would have no problem with quality 2nd gen tapes - these are used more often that many realize despite the claim of AAA from original masters, as the new definition of master tape is whatever is the best tape left.
An Impulse box cannot be legitimate without representation from John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler, Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane, who were the cornerstones of the label. Their finest work was on Impulse.
Some artists were incidental to Impulse and never really fit the Impulse esthetic. Sonny only did 2 records (Alfie IMO is an outlier and not terribly interesting), Blakey was only because he was between contracts and never fit (and the album is nowhere near what came after on Blue Note), Oliver Nelson did a masterpiece but it has been done to death by now, and so on. Marion Brown was vital, and so was Chico Hamilton, but warhorses from late period Coleman Hawkins
But there are real gems that deserve to be unearthed. The ABC period was incredibly fertile. John Klemmer, Michael White, Gato Barbieri, Sam Rivers and Keith Jarrett did some of their most ground breaking work during the ABC period.
Another retread of Ellington/Coltrane, ALS, or some of the lamer early titles, would not be welcome.
Last point - there is STILL unreleased studio recordings of Coltrane with tapes available. Late period complete recordings. If they could get them, and wanted to put an Impulse box way over the top, doing an unreleased Coltrane record would be the way to do it.
