horace tapscott conducting the pan-afrikan peoples arkestra: the call

Available on vinyl for the first time in 40 years, Outernational Sounds presents Horace Tapscott's burning, spiritualized 1978 set, The Call. One of the unsung giants of jazz music, the composer, bandleader, arranger, pianist and community activist Tapscott was the undisputed keystone of the grassroots Los Angeles jazz scene. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, his radical community arts and music formations the UGMA (Underground Musicians Association) and his protean big band, the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, were at the epicenter of music, culture, and politics in the Los Angeles area. Hundreds of musicians passed through these groups and played their part. Major figures 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, and Gary Bias, to mention only a few. Tapscott and the Arkestra were down on the ground -- playing fundraisers in parks and streets, organizing teach-ins and workshops for young and old, mixing it with radical theater groups, firebrand poets, political radicals, Black separatists, community groups, and churches. 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, and 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 Sharp's 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 center 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 -- Horace Tapscott. Vinyl-only release, 180 gram pressing by Pallas, fully licensed from Nimbus West founder Tom Albach.