Horace Tapscott


Horace Elva Tapscott was an American jazz pianist and composer. He formed the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in 1961 and led the ensemble through the 1990s.

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. Soon after, though, he quit playing trombone and focused on piano.
In 1961, Tapscott formed the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, 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, which later changed name to the Union of God's Musicians and Artists Ascension. 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. Tapscott and his work are the subjects of the University of [California, Los Angeles|UCLA] Horace Tapscott Jazz Collection.
Enthusiasts of his music formed two labels in the 1970s and 1980s, Interplay and Nimbus, for which he recorded.
From AllMusic:
"His pianistic technique was hard and percussive, likened by some to that of Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols and every bit as distinctive. In contexts ranging from freely improvised duos to highly arranged big bands, Tapscott exhibited a solo and compositional voice that was his own."

Death and legacy

Having been suffering from brain cancer, Tapscott died aged 64 on February 27, 1999, the day before a planned tribute concert in his honor took place at Los Angeles' Leimert Park.
An engraving in the sidewalk along Degnan Boulevard in the Leimert Park neighborhood reads: "Horace Tapscott, the local pianist and organizer whose ensemble, the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, gave many musicians their first gigs and helped heal a community impacted by racism."
His personal archive of manuscripts, arrangements and recordings was donated to UCLA Library in 2003 by his wife, Cecilia Tapscott.

Discography

As leader

With the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra

  • The Call
  • Flight 17
  • Live at I.U.C.C.
  • Why Don't You Listen? Live at LACMA, 1998
  • Ancestral Echoes: The Covina Sessions, 1976
  • ''Live at Century City Playhouse 9/9/79''

As sideman

With Lou Blackburn
  • Jazz Frontier
  • Two Note Samba
  • *Both titles compiled on Imperial Sessions">Imperial Records">Imperial Sessions
With Roberto Miranda's Home Music Ensemble
  • ''Live at Bing Theatre - Los Angeles, 1985''

As composer and arranger

With Sonny Criss