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21
Album Review

Horace Tapscott Quintet: Legacies for Our Grandchildren: Live in Hollywood 1995

Read "Legacies for Our Grandchildren: Live in Hollywood 1995" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Since its founding in 2011, the French record label Dark Tree has been issuing a “Roots Series" documenting previously unreleased performances of the Los Angeles jazz avant-garde from the 1970s through the '90s. Among the best of those releases have been several from Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra led by pianist/composer/conductor Horace Tapscott. Legacies for Our Grandchildren: Live in Hollywood 1995 is one of only two quintet albums led by the pianist. A community activist in South Central LA, Tapscott often ...

18
Album Review

Vinny Golia / Bernard Santacruz / Cristiano Calcagnile: To Live and Breathe…

Read "To Live and Breathe…" reviewed by Mark Corroto


None of the three musicians heard on To Live and Breathe... had ever performed together before this set of live music recorded in Piacenza, Italy, on Sunday, February 5, 2017. Would they gel? Could they come together in the land of free improvised music? The most recognizable name here is American multi—instrumentalist Vinny Golia with a discography well in excess of 200 recordings. Golia is joined by French bassist Bernard Santacruz, who can be heard on Nothing But Love (The ...

20
Album Review

Roberto Miranda's Home Music Ensemble: Live at the Bing Theater; Los Angeles, 1985

Read "Live at the Bing Theater; Los Angeles, 1985" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Roberto Miranda has appeared on almost one-hundred albums but has been lightly recorded as a leader, and inexplicably struggled to generate interest among labels. Dark Tree Records has released some great Horace Tapscott performances from the '70s and '80s. The label resurrected a Miranda-led session on Live at the Bing Theater; Los Angeles, 1985. Recorded at the USC campus auditorium, the sound is pristine, and the ambiance, eclectic and dynamic. Miranda studied bass with Ray Brown and Red ...

32
Album Review

Horace Tapscott with the Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra: Ancestral Echoes – The Covina Sessions, 1976

Read "Ancestral Echoes – The Covina Sessions, 1976" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


When pianist/composer/conductor Horace Tapscott founded the Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra (PAPA) in 1961, it was by design a support collective for all arts, bringing pride to the black community, specifically that of South-Central Los Angeles. PAPA signified social activism, teaching empowerment, and advocating Tapscott's belief that channeling African ancestral roots was a key to succeeding. Tapscott, who died in 1999, had forsaken wider recognition to bring music and teaching to his community, but his catalog has seen a revived interest ...

18
Album Review

Horace Tapscott with the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra and the Great Voice of UGMAA: Why Don't You Listen? - Live at LACMA, 1998

Read "Why Don't You Listen? - Live at LACMA, 1998" reviewed by Mark Corroto


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. His ...

13
Album Review

Vinny Golia Wind Quartet: Live At The Century City Playhouse – Los Angeles, 1979

Read "Live At The  Century City Playhouse – Los Angeles, 1979" reviewed by Mark Corroto


If you were born yesterday, you can be forgiven for believing the West Coast jazz scene begins with Kamasi Washington. As with most things related to jazz, New York is the focus, with slight consideration of Chicago. The rich history of Los Angeles' creative community, including the early Ornette Coleman ensembles, Dexter Gordon, Horace Tapscott, Frank Morgan, Art Pepper, and modern players like Alex and Nels Cline, are rarely recognized by their geographic origins. Maybe this collective cluelessness ...

13
Album Review

Eve Risser / Benjamin Duboc / Edward Perraud: En Corps Generation

Read "En Corps Generation" reviewed by John Sharpe


The eponymous debut En Corps (Dark Tree, 2012) by the French triumvirate of pianist Eve Risser, bassist Benjamin Duboc and drummer Edward Perraud made several year-end lists, and Génération belongs in the same category. Les Deux Versants Se Regardent (Clean Feed, 2016) by Risser's White Desert Orchestra revealed her as a composer of note, as well as an innovative pianist, who resides in a line of explorers who have furthered John Cage's preparations for piano, such as Benoit Delbecq and ...

13
Album Review

Benjamin Duboc/Julien Desprez/Julien Loutelier: Tournesol

Read "Tournesol" reviewed by Mark Corroto


The free improvisations by Benjamin Duboc, Julien Desprez, and Julien Loutelier on Tournesol or “Sunflower" bring to mind the lyrics to “Love Dance," a minor crossover hit for George Benson in 1980: “From too much talk to loving touches/Love touches when pure emotion takes the moment/We take the chance/Turn up the quiet, love wants to dance." It's not so much the music that makes you want to cuddle up with your loved one, it's the hushed tone (unless, of course, ...

13
Album Review

Bobby Bradford & John Carter Quintet: No U Turn: Live In Pasadena, 1975

Read "No U Turn: Live In Pasadena, 1975" reviewed by Mark Corroto


History, it is said, is written by the victors. With jazz history, the story is too often written by New Yorkers, or at least those east of the Mississippi. Listeners with inquisitive minds are required to dig deeper, into record bins and into interviews with musicians to learn about players that did not make New York their home. We are fortunate to have dedicated musicologists who find 'lost' recordings and make them available to fans. A fine example ...

3
Album Review

Steve Dalachinsky / Joelle Leandre: The Bill Has Been Paid

Read "The Bill Has Been Paid" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni


The verbal-musical match between American beat poet Steve Dalachinsky, who describes himself as one that was born “right after the last big war and managed to survive lots of little wars," and French double master Joëlle Léandre is unique and untimely. Dalachinsky's poetry focuses on his musical experiences and meditations on musicians--as a spectator or collaborator, or as an active player in a musical scene (for example with Matthew Shipp or Charles Gayle)--ones that transform him into a more conscious, ...


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