Horace Tapscott - 1978 - The Call

Horace Tapscott Conducting Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra

1978

The Call

01. The Call (8:22)

02. Quagmire Manor At Five A.M. (10:26)

03. Nakatini Suite (9:01)

04. Peyote Song No. III (10:07)

Alto Clarinet – Herbert Callies

Alto Saxophone – Michael Session

Bass – David Bryant, Kamonta Lawrence Polk

Cello, Bass – Louis Spears

Drums – Everett Brown Jr.

Flute, Soprano Saxophone – Kafi Larry Roberts

Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Flute – Jesse Sharps

Percussion, Drums – William Madison

Piano – Linda Hill

Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet – James Andrews

Trombone – Archie Johnson, Lester Robertson

Tuba, Bass – Red Callendar

Vocals, Flute – Adele Sebastian

Recorded April 8, 1978 Los Angeles, California.

One of the unsung giants of jazz music, the composer, bandleader, arranger, pianist and community activist Horace Tapscott was the undisputed keystone in the grassroots Los Angeles jazz scene. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, his radical community arts and music formations the UGMA (Underground Musicians Association, later changed to UGMAA - Union of God's Musicians and Artists Ascension), and his protean big band, the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, were at the epicentre of music, culture and politics in the Los Angeles area.

From their 1960s base at the Watt's Happening Coffee House on 103rd St, to their decade-plus- long 1970s residency at the Immanuel United Church of Christ on 85thE St and Holmes Ave, Tapscott's groups were the beating heart of underground music in LA. Hundreds of musicians passed through and played their part. Major figures in LA jazz such as Arthur Blythe, Azar Lawrence, Jimmy Woods, John Carter, Bobby Bradford, Sonny Criss, Ndugu Chancler and dozens of others all paid dues or just got down with Tapscott, not to mention the core Arkestra regulars who have since become celebrated names - Nate Morgan, Jesse Sharps, Adele Sebastian, Dadisi Komolafe, Gary Bias, to mention only a few.

Tapscott and the Arkestra were down on the ground - playing fundraisers in park and street, organising teach-ins and workshops for young and old, mixing it with radical theatre groups, firebrand poets, political radicals, Black separatists, community groups and churches. They lived communally, and built an ark for the Black arts in the heart of the city. But as a result of this grassroots community focus and Tapscott's antipathy to the music industry, the Arkestra didn't record for nearly two decades. That only changed when long-time jazz fan Tom Albach started Nimbus Records. The label was initiated specifically in order to document Tapscott and his circle, and the first three records showcased Horace and the Arkestra.

The Call was put together from two studio sessions in April 1978, one at Hollywood Sage and Sound, one at United Western - the latter session had the addition of a string section, who can be heard on the moody Cal Massey composition 'Nakatini Suite' and Jesse Sharps' swinging modal trip, 'Peyote Song No. III', with its swirling soprano solo. In keeping with the communal nature of the Arkestra, the other two compositions, 'The Call' and 'Quagmire Manor at Five A.M.' are also by Arkestra members. But at the centre of the music is the builder of the Ark, the visionary whose original call to action started a movement whose legacy continues to this day

The second LP by Horace Tapscott's Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (a 16-piece trumpet-less big band) has four lengthy selections; three originals by bandmembers plus Cal Massey's "Nakatini Suite." Best-known among the sidemen are veteran Red Callender (doubling on tuba and bass) and the powerful altoist Michael Session. Many of the other players (including the pianist-leader) have some space to stretch out and the ensembles (with their unusual voicings and free spots) are quite colorful.

The Call is unique in that, unlike other The Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra recordings, Horace Tapscott doesn't play piano at all. He only conducts this recording. But I think the reason that I love The Call so much is that it sounds like what a collaboration between Horace Taspcott and Charles Mingus would be like. It's really unique. Pianist Linda Hill fills in for Horace Tapscott very well, evoking Jaki Byard a little.