Horace Tapscott

Horace Elva Tapscott (April 6, 1934 – February 27, 1999) was an American jazz pianist and composer.[1] He formed the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (also known as P.A.P.A., or The Ark) in 1961 and led the ensemble through the 1990s.[2]

Horace Tapscott
Background information
Birth nameHorace Elva Tapscott
Born(1934-04-06)April 6, 1934
Houston, Texas, U.S.
DiedFebruary 27, 1999(1999-02-27) (aged 64)
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Musician, composer
InstrumentsPiano, trombone
Years active1950s–1990s
LabelsArabesque

Early life

Tapscott was born in Houston, Texas, and moved to Los Angeles, California, at the age of nine. By this time he had begun to study piano and trombone. He played with Frank Morgan, Don Cherry, and Billy Higgins as a teenager.

Later life and career

After service in the Air Force in Wyoming, he returned to Los Angeles and played trombone with various bands, notably Lionel Hampton (1959–61). Soon after, though, he quit playing trombone and focused on piano.[3]

In 1961 Tapscott formed the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra,[4] with the aim of preserving, developing and performing African-American music. As his vision grew, this became just one part of a larger organization in 1963, the Underground Musicians Association (UGMA), which later changed name to the Union of God's Musicians and Artists Ascension (UGMAA).[3] Arthur Blythe, Stanley Crouch, Butch Morris, Wilber Morris, David Murray, Jimmy Woods, Nate Morgan and Guido Sinclair all performed in Tapscott's Arkestra at one time or another.[2] Tapscott and his work are the subjects of the UCLA Horace Tapscott Jazz Collection.[5]

Enthusiasts of his music formed two labels in the 1970s and 1980s, Interplay and Nimbus, for which he recorded.[3]

Discography

As leader

With the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra
  • The Call, (Nimbus, 1978)
  • Flight 17, (Nimbus, 1978)
  • Horace Tapscott with the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra - Live at I.U.C.C., (Nimbus, 1979)
  • Horace Tapscott with the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra and the Great Voice of UGMAA - Why Don't You Listen?, Live at LACMA, 1998, (Dark Tree, 2019)
  • Horace Tapscott with the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra - Ancestral Echoes, The Covina Sessions, 1976, (Dark Tree, 2020)

As sideman

With Lou Blackburn

As composer and arranger

With Sonny Criss

References
  1. Horace Tapscott at AllMusic
  2. "Horace Tapscott Jazz Collection". Jazz Archival Collections. University of California, Los Angeles. Archived from the original on 2008-05-06. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
  3. Steven L. Isoardi. "Horace Tapscott". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press.
  4. Litweiler, John (1984). The Freedom Principle. Da Capo. p. 297. ISBN 0306803771.
  5. "Finding Aid for the Horace Tapscott Jazz Collection 1960-2002". Online Archive of California. Retrieved 2008-04-13.

Bibliography
  • Dailey, Raleigh. "The Dark Tree: Jazz and the Community Arts in Los Angeles" (review). Notes Volume 63, Number 3, March 2007, pp. 632–634.
  • Isoardi, Steven L. The Dark Tree: Jazz and the Community Arts in Los Angeles. April 2006. 394p. illus. index. University of California, $34.95 (0-520-24591-1).
  • Isoardi, Steven L. Songs of the Unsung: The Musical and Social Journey of Horace Tapscott. Duke University Press, 2001.
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