Tapscott, Horace

TAPSCOTT, HORACE (1934-1999). Jazz musician, composer, comrade of the Los Angeles chapter of the Black Panther Party, Horace Tapscott founded a west coast school of revolutionary African American arts. Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, established in 1961, pre-dated similar organizations including New York’s Black Arts Movement, Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and St. Louis’ Black Artists Group.

Born in Houston, Texas, Tapscott moved to Los Angeles with his family when still a child. He studied of both trombone and piano. Tapscott became exposed to the area’s progressive sounds while attending music programs of groundbreaking African American teachers known for their tutelage of Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus and other future leaders of post-modern jazz. As a teen, Tapscott performed with his teachers and many of their associates, benefitting not only from advanced musical practice but also from the mentorship and community that would shape his actions to come.

Following several years in the US Army, Tapscott toured with Lionel Hampton’s band through 1961. Upon returning to Los Angeles, he founded cultural organization the Union of God's Musicians and Artists' Ascension (UGMAA). Influenced by the latest experiments in the music pioneered by Ornette Coleman and Sun Ra, Tapscott recognized the liberation inherent in “free jazz,” but as a composer/arranger, he also conceived of still newer forms. Leading the Pan-Afrikan People's Arkestra, Tapscott fused traditional African music into his compositional textures, along with unfettered free improvisation and overt statements of pride, protest and spirituality. Over years, he built larger and larger ensembles to realize more innovative visions. Various editions of this band ran for decades, and Tapscott, ever the teacher, remained a philosophic force to upcoming generations.

Will Connell, who worked under Tapscott as saxophonist, librarian and copyist (1964-75), spoke of the band’s radical political core in a 2014 interview: “Angela Davis was a frequent guest at Horace’s gatherings and through her, we had a close association with the Black Panthers. Their theme song, “Seize the Time,” was a regular part of our repertoire…Almost immediately after Angela Davis’s arrest, we were hired as the pit band of a new theatre work by Jack Wilson, Free Angela! At the premiere, the auditorium was filled, and the crowd was standing and chanting loudly while the actors were still in the wings. We thought they’d tear the place up, so Tapscott led the band in an unplanned set of our music. By the time the play began, the audience was dancing and cheering.”

Tapscott’s ongoing Black Liberation activism led to years of his being shut out of major media. Though already focused on community work, Tapscott was unable to secure either the funding for tours or the interest of major record labels; he all but gave up plans for the international travel his peers engaged in. “Tapscott was the victim of blacklisting”, Connell stated. “We all realized that.” Tapscott began independently releasing his music, carving out a vital space for awareness-raising compositions such as The Dark Tree within the pantheon of bold new music.

Isoardi, Steve. The Dark Tree: Jazz and the Community Arts in Los Angeles. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2006.

Pietaro, John. “Horace Tapscott Celebrated,” The Cultural Worker blog (April 2014).

Shteamer, Hank. “Songs You Need to Know: Horace Tapscott, ‘Why Don’t You Listen?’”. Rolling Stone (May 2019)

Tapscott, Horace. Song of the Unsung. Durham, NC: Duke University, 2001.

Interview with Horace Tapscott, 1993. Center for Oral History Research. UCLA Library. http://oralhistory.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz0008zr0t&title=Tapscott,%20Horace