Songs of the Unsung: The Musical and Social Journey of Horace Tapscott
Despite his importance and influence, jazz musician, educator, and community leader Horace Tapscott remains relatively unknown to most Americans. In Songs of the Unsung Tapscott shares his life story, recalling his childhood in Houston, moving with his family to Los Angeles in 1943, learning music, and his early professional career. He describes forming the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in 1961 and later the Union of God's Musicians and Artists Ascension to preserve African American music and serve the community. Tapscott also recounts his interactions with the Black Panthers and law enforcement, the Watts riots, his work in Hollywood movie studios, and stories about his famous musician-activist friends. Songs of the Unsung is the captivating story of one of America’s most unassuming heroes as well as the story of L.A.'s cultural and political evolution over the last half of the twentieth century.
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Songs of the Unsung: The Musical and Social Journey of Horace Tapscott
Despite his importance and influence, jazz musician, educator, and community leader Horace Tapscott remains relatively unknown to most Americans. In Songs of the Unsung Tapscott shares his life story, recalling his childhood in Houston, moving with his family to Los Angeles in 1943, learning music, and his early professional career. He describes forming the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in 1961 and later the Union of God's Musicians and Artists Ascension to preserve African American music and serve the community. Tapscott also recounts his interactions with the Black Panthers and law enforcement, the Watts riots, his work in Hollywood movie studios, and stories about his famous musician-activist friends. Songs of the Unsung is the captivating story of one of America’s most unassuming heroes as well as the story of L.A.'s cultural and political evolution over the last half of the twentieth century.
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Songs of the Unsung: The Musical and Social Journey of Horace Tapscott
Despite his importance and influence, jazz musician, educator, and community leader Horace Tapscott remains relatively unknown to most Americans. In Songs of the Unsung Tapscott shares his life story, recalling his childhood in Houston, moving with his family to Los Angeles in 1943, learning music, and his early professional career. He describes forming the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in 1961 and later the Union of God's Musicians and Artists Ascension to preserve African American music and serve the community. Tapscott also recounts his interactions with the Black Panthers and law enforcement, the Watts riots, his work in Hollywood movie studios, and stories about his famous musician-activist friends. Songs of the Unsung is the captivating story of one of America’s most unassuming heroes as well as the story of L.A.'s cultural and political evolution over the last half of the twentieth century.
Horace Tapscott (1934–1999) was a jazz pianist, trombonist, composer, educator, and community leader in Los Angeles. Appearing on dozens of albums as a leader or a sideman, Tapscott performed with the U.S. Air Force band and Lionel Hampton's big band, led the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, and taught and mentored hundreds of Los Angeles youths.
Steven Isoardi is the author of The Dark Tree: Jazz and the Community Arts in Los Angeles and coeditor of Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in Los Angeles.
Read an Excerpt
During those days the greatest thing happened to me. I got something I
needed when I was on the radio . . . . While I was being interviewed, the
telephone rang. It was a woman calling from almost her deathbed in the
hospital to tell me that my music had helped to heal her, someone with a
real soft voice, sobbing as she spoke, like she had been under some kind of
dark cloth, saying that finally some light came in because of the sounds.
‘Thank you so very much for playing and please don’t stop.’
I never knew her name, never met her. I don’t know if she’s still alive or
not. But what she said to me justified everything that I believed in. There
wasn’t anything happening moneywise and sometimes you’re down in the dumps,
but you have to pull your head up. When things like that happen, those
little small things, well, that was the idea of the sounds in the first
place.-—from Chapter Twelve
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix Foreword / Steven Isoardi xi Preface xiii 1. Early Years in Houston 1 2. California 17 3. Setting the Pace 31 4. Central Avenue 42 5. Military Service 51 6. On the Road with Lionel Hampton 70 7. To Preserve and Develop Black Culture 82 8. The Fire This Time 105 9. In the Middle of It 117 10. Stayin’ Alive 125 11. The Union of God’s Musicians and Artists Ascension 136 12. Settling into the Community 147 13. Movements to the Present 173 14. Reflections and Directions 187 Postscript: From the Funeral Service 213 Appendix: A Partial List of UGMAA Artists, 1961–1998 217 Discography I: Horace Tapscott 221 Discography II: Music from the Ark 236 Index 241
What People are Saying About This
Billy Higgins
"Songs of the Unsung—It’s about time! Horace Tapscott was one of the first guys doing it in the community. His life has been a big influence on me. He made sure younger and older people played music. He is one of the true giants of this music in the way he played it, wrote it, and lived it."
Dangerous Crossroads: Popular Music, Postmodernism, and the Poetics of Place - George Lipsitz
"This is a splendid book, a wonderfully accessible first person narrative by an important and unusual figure in the history of jazz and the history of Black Los Angeles. Tapscott has an important story to tell and he conveys his experiences, opinions, and philosophy clearly through an engaging and conversational style filled with rich descriptions and witty observations."
Dangerous Crossroads: Popular Music, Postmodernism, and the Poetics of Place - George Lipsitz
"This is a splendid book, a wonderfully accessible first person narrative by an important and unusual figure in the history of jazz and the history of Black Los Angeles. Tapscott has an important story to tell and he conveys his experiences, opinions, and philosophy clearly through an engaging and conversational style filled with rich descriptions and witty observations."
