Actualité / News
Horace Tapscott

• Dennis Davis // Hi-Fi + (mars 2021)

Horace Tapscott

Vendredi 24 juillet 1998. Dans la chaleur étouffante de l’été californien, le pianiste Horace Tapscott convoque une pénultième fois son « Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra » et le chœur « Great Voice of UGMAA » (la Grande Voix de l’Union des Musiciens de Dieu et de l’Ascension des Artistes !) pour une performance dans un musée de L.A. [...]

Horace Tapscott

Luca Civelli // Musica Jazz

Horace Tapscott

During his lifetime, Horace Tapscott (1934-1999) was best-known to the wider jazz world as the pianist-composer-leader of allstar small group sessions from the ‘90s. On Dark Tree, Aiee! The Phantom and Thoughts of Dar Es Salaam, he was variously joined by clarinetist John Carter, bassists Cecil McBee, Reggie Workman and Ray Drummond and drummers Andrew Cyrille and Billy Hart. [...]

Horace Tapscott

Le pianiste-compositeur-arrangeur Horace Tapscott (1934-1999) reste sans doute l’un des musiciens afro-américains les moins connus et/donc les plus mésestimés par les amateurs français. Aussi, l’édition de ce disque offre une occasion unique et nécessaire de se (re)mettre à l’écoute de cet immense bonhomme. [...]

Horace Tapscott

Recent lauded efforts by Angel Bat Dawid and Damon Locks suggest that socially conscious spiritual jazz is sending a message that makes a lot of sense in 2019. If such music speaks to you, consider checking out the work of Horace Tapscott, and particularly this welcome archival find. [...]

Horace Tapscott

Preceding the AACM in Chicago, Strata East in New York, and Tribe in Detroit, the Watts-based black arts collective of Horace Tapscott (UGMAA) was set up in 1963 as a self help programme for local musicians, actors, dancers and visual artists. [...]

Horace Tapscott

Quelques mois avant son décès, la flamme d’Horace Tapscott et de son Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra répondait présent. Cela se passait au County Museum of Art (LACMA) de Los Angeles le 24 juillet 1998 et l’alto de Michael Session nous accueillait avec la profondeur et les convulsions d’usage. [...]

Horace Tapscott

HORACE TAPSCOTT [1934-99] was one of creative forces on the West Coast in much of the second half of the 20th century. In many areas he parallels Ellington, although Tapscott is more overtly Afro-centric and political but in his choral work there are similarities to Ellington’s Sacred Music Concerts. [...]

Horace Tapscott

Voici, en 1998, avec son Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, une heureuse surprise : le dernier concert d’un Américain rétif au show-business. [...]

Horace Tapscott

« aiee ! The Phantom ». En ouverture de l’album, un titre à propos de l’influence de la culture Noire, de la communauté , dans la musique d’Horace Tapscott, faite de présences et d’absences. De fait tout l’album déborde de cette influence. Il ne s’agit que de cela. Immédiatement, cette musique vient se lover aux creux de nos circonvolutions cérébrales. Un leitmotiv qu’on ne risque pas d’oublier, fait de tendresse, accompagne ce morceau plus de seize minutes durant. [...]

Horace Tapscott

Hur Horace Tapscott och hans Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra med ett enkelt upprepat spirituellt tema kan skapa ett sådant mästerverk som låten Aiee! The Phantom tillhör musikens underbara mysterier. Några få toner som sedan avspeglas och sedan upprepas dynamiskt under 16 minuter där inte minst saxofonisten Michael Session spelar ett makalöst solo. [...]

Horace Tapscott

On the title track, as the Great Voice choir begins Linda Hill’s litany of vital cultural clues to which whites have turned a deaf ear, the audience are not listening. The urgency shuts them up, though, as Tapscott’s Ark always has. [...]

Horace Tapscott

This previously unreleased concert recording by the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra of pianist-composer-bandleader Horace Tapscott and a chorus under the direction of vocalist Dwight Trible is a wonderful example of how Tapscott channeled the political and cultural aspirations of a community into music of deep beauty and lasting value. [...]

Horace Tapscott

Yes, Horace Tapscott’s work was largely a holdover from the days of the Black Consciousness movement. (Its resolute mix of modal, spiritual, avant-garde, and Afro-jazz might have fit well on Strata-East Records if Tapscott hadn’t been in L.A., about as westerly as it gets.) Yet if anything, the pianist, composer, and bandleader’s music and message—they’re inextricable—have only become more urgent in the 20 years since his death. Why Don’t You Listen?, a live performance at the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts from July 1998, is as fresh and vital as if it were made yesterday. [...]

Horace Tapscott

Daniel Spicer // The Wire (Septembre 2019)

Horace Tapscott

There are suggestions of spiritual singing from Pneuma and an equivalent instance of turning ecclesiastical words and music into a secular form on Why Don’t You Listen? (Dark Tree DT (RS) 11) by Horace Tapscott/Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra and the Great Voice of UGMAA. Los Angeles-based pianist Tapscott’s nonet expresses its characteristic message on this 73-minute concert, not only through his highly rhythmic arrangements utilizing three double basses and three percussionists, but through songs performed by the l2-member UGMAA. [...]

Horace Tapscott

Le label Dark Tree tire son nom d’une œuvre musicale phare du pianiste et chef d’orchestre Horace Tapscott. Enfin, la publication d’un très beau concert de ce dernier, superbement documenté au niveau prise de son et contenu du livret de pochette (photos, textes, paroles des chants…). Le Pan Afrikan Arkestra est essentiellement un groupe rythmique pulsatoire rassemblant un batteur, un joueur de conga, trois contrebassistes, un pianiste, un chanteur, Dwght Trible qui dirige aussi le chœur, et seulement deux souffleurs, le saxophoniste Michael Sessions et le tromboniste Phil Ranelin. [...]

Horace Tapscott

Horace Tapscott aurait pu devenir un de ces « grands noms du jazz ». Mais non. Dès le début des années 1960, entouré de quelques rebelles allergiques aux diktats du jazz business, ce formidable pianiste-compositeur-chef d’orchestre fonde au sein de la communauté noire de Los Angeles l’UGMA (l’Underground Musicians Association, qui deviendra ensuite l’UGMAA, Union of God’s Musicians and Artists Ascension) avec pour objectif de jouer, enseigner et transmettre aux nouvelles générations de cette même communauté, dont il ne s’éloignera jamais, la plus haute tradition musicale et spirituelle de son peuple. [...]

Horace Tapscott

“Why Don’t You Listen?” is a posthumous recording released in May 2019 on Dark Tree Records by the Los Angeles pianist and community artist Horace Tapscott. Though Tapscott died in 1999, his legacy burns brighter than ever because of the rising popularity of contemporary jazz artists like Kamasi Washington. The new release was recorded live at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on July 24th, 1998, and it was one of Tapscott’s last performances before he passed. [...]

Horace Tapscott

«Je suis bénie de pouvoir jouer la musique d’Horace Tapscott, l’un de mes héros», se félicitait récemment la clarinettiste de Chicago Angel Bat Dawid en prévision d’un concert le 11 août à Los Angeles. «J’aime sa musique, sa philosophie et tout ce qu’il a fait pour la communauté dans laquelle j’ai grandi», confiait en 2015 le saxophoniste Kamasi Washington. Ces hommages par deux personnalités du jazz actuel confirment le retour en grâce du pianiste Horace Tapscott, longtemps demeuré un secret de happy fews. [...]

Horace Tapscott

Laurence Donohue-Greene // New York City Jazz Record (Août 2019)

Horace Tapscott

Magnus Nygren // Europe Jazz Media Chart (August 2019)

Horace Tapscott

In every decade since the 1960s, dedicated listeners have called for the world to get hip to the music of Horace Tapscott. In 1963 he formed the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in Los Angeles. Like Chicago’s Association For The Advancement Of Creative Musicians (AACM) and St. Louis’ Black Artists Group (BAG), Tapscott’s collective was formed to serve his local scene. Also, and this is probably more significant, his efforts were focused on community organizing and the empowerment of his people. [...]

Horace Tapscott

La Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra di Horace Tapscott con The Great Voice of UGMAA in un emozionante live del 1998
La storia del jazz è ricca di dischi e progetti che vedono l’utilizzo di un coro: da It’s Time di Max Roach ai Sacred Concerts di Duke Ellington, passando per il Donald Byrd di A New Perspective, gli inni cosmici di Sun Ra e le più recenti uscite di Kamasi Washington, l’utilizzo di più voci ha raccontato di volta in volta l’afflato di una comunità, la forza della voce umana quando si unisce a altre, il legame con l’espressione più diretta del sentimento musicale. [...]

Horace Tapscott

Andrey Henkin // New York City Jazz Record (Juillet 2019)

Horace Tapscott

… Le label Dark Tree – baptisé du nom d’une des compositions emblématiques du pianiste – marque un grand coup en publiant un live brûlant capté au Los Angeles County Museum of Art un an avant la disparition du maître. Cinq plages d’un quart d’heure chacune en guise de porte d’entrée paradoxalement idéale pour être la synthèse parfaite d’un art unique, mêlant ferveur, poésie et communion. Ce que la musique devrait toujours être.

Horace Tapscott

Il y a vingt ans disparaissait Horace Tapscott, figure charismatique de la scène musicale afro-américaine de Los Angeles, dont il était l’un des plus généreux agitateurs, et plus encore brasseurs d’énergie positive. Cet inespéré album live enregistré in situ est un émouvant message d’adieu posthume. [...]

Horace Tapscott

Det franske plateselskapet DarkTree, har i lengre tid utgitt en rekke tidligere uutgitt plater med musikk fra det, noen av oss, kaller jazzens gullalder. Det vil si musikk med klare røtter i den afrikanske tradisjonen, spilt og utgitt på 60-tallet, eller et par tiår senere.Tidligere har vi fått tilsendt både Vinny Golia Quartets «Live at the Centrum City Playhouse» og Bobby Bradford og John Carters utmerkede «NoUTurn» [...]

Horace Tapscott

Pianist, arranger and composer Horace Tapscott is one of the great unsung figures in jazz history. A bandleader and community activist in Los Angeles with a career that spanned the late fifties to the late nineties he founded the large ensemble The Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra which featured future legends like Arthur Blythe, David Murray and Butch Morris. This particular album shows the group in performance with a vocal chorus, The Great Voice of UGMAA. [...]

Horace Tapscott

Pouca justiça a história do jazz tem feito a Horace Tapscott, pianista, compositor (regra geral para a sua Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra, que neste registo ao vivo ouvimos um ano antes da sua morte em 1999, com o acrescento do coro Great Voice of Ugmaa) e activista (foi o mentor da Union of God’s Musicians and Artists Ascension). [...]

Horace Tapscott

Newly issued live recording from 1998 sheds light on a crucial L.A. jazz figure who inspired Kamasi Washington and other future stars
Unless you’re a hardcore jazz aficionado, you might not know the name Horace Tapscott. But to several generations of L.A. musicians — including breakout saxophone star Kamasi Washington— the late pianist and composer is a near-legendary figure. [...]

© 2024 DarkTreeRecords Mano