Horace Tapscott

Horace Tapscott, a pianist, composer and educator whose influence reached well beyond his primary association with jazz, died late Saturday night of cancer. He was 64. Tapscott's career reached from the closing years of the colorful Central Avenue jazz scene in the 1940s and '50s to his role in recent years as a mentor, teacher and role model for hundreds of young people.

We're writing to contest--to put it mildly--the opening comment in Dean Kuipers' piece, "All That Young Jazz" (June 20), that Leimert Park's World Stage died in the 1990s. Not only did the Stage grow considerably in the 1990s, offering many opportunities to artists of all ages, but it continues to present a wide range of programs, despite the passings of key participants Billy Higgins and Horace Tapscott. The error does a disservice to the music's history in this city and to young artists in search of a nurturing, creative environment.

When vocalist Dwight Trible first began ascending bandstands in Los Angeles after moving here from Cincinnati in 1978, he noticed someone often popped in briefly during performances. "It was Horace Tapscott. He always came around to check everyone out. He would listen to what I was doing and then disappear." Eventually Tapscott, the pianist-composer-bandleader who died in February, came to Trible and said he had a song for him to do.

"Inspirational" may be the best word to describe the Horace Tapscott tribute at the Jazz Bakery on Sunday afternoon. Inspirational in honoring the memory of one of the Southland's most visionary musicians; inspirational in revealing the power and the spirit that persist in his artistic teachings.

Musician, teacher and bandleader, Horace Tapscott, 64, will be buried today after a 10 a.m. ceremony at Brookins Community A.M.E. in Los Angeles. Yet it is not likely that his physical passing will diminish the life and vibrancy of the music, organizations and themes he devoted his life to sustaining. Alongside his eight solo piano recordings and his many compositions (a discography is available online at http://www.posi-tone.

A quick glance at the overflow crowd filling Catalina Bar & Grill Monday night for a tribute to pianist-composer Horace Tapscott triggered an inevitable thought: How full would the room have been for a program by Tapscott himself on a Monday night? And the equally inevitable answer was: not very full at all. If ever there was a prophet without honor beyond his own community, it was Tapscott.

It was when he moved to Los Angeles in 1943 that Horace Tapscott, not yet 10 years old, realized that his mother wanted him to become a musician. "We got into Union Station," the 56-year-old pianist recalled, "and I was anxious to see where we'd be living. But before we went to the house, my mother took me to meet my new music teacher first. Can you imagine just getting into town and going right over to see the music teacher? That's when I knew she was really serious."

Promises do not always survive the harshest seasons of our lives. They get trampled under the foot of the real world. And then young men's vows turn into minor trophies, packed away with other things of youth. Papa made a promise to his music teacher and mentor when he was just a boy: I will pass on the gift. At 64 he was still keeping it. For this fidelity he paid a price. And for this fidelity he was deeply loved.

** 1/2 Horace Tapscott, "The Dark Tree 1 & 2," Hat Hut . The problem with this pair of live recordings is that the Los Angeles pianist's all-star supporting cast--the late clarinetist John Carter, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Andrew Cyrille--is just that , a backup band and not a group that's had the chance to live with Tapscott's music. Consequently, the playing behind the leader's cascading torrents is too stiff and formal.

Re Bill Kohlhaase's review of the Leimert Park Jazz Festival ("Leimert Park Festival Crosses Stylistic, Generational Bounds," Sept. 15): I can't argue with the fact that Horace Tapscott and the Arkestra deserve a sound system worthy of the caliber of their music, but they also deserve a review that describes their performance accurately. Kohlhaase and I must have attended two different Arkestra performances Sunday. The closing set I heard transported an elated audience to the highest spiritual planes and beyond.

Echoes of Horace Tapscott were in the air Friday night when the Michael Session quartet showed up for a one-night performance at Rocco Ristorante. Saxophonist Session and drummer Fritz Wise, in fact, represented half of the quartet Tapscott led in the years prior to his death in February. With Nate Morgan taking over the piano chair, and Jeff Littleton playing bass, the music resonated with the surging rhythms and dauntless improvising characteristic of Tapscott's unique approach to jazz.

When vocalist Dwight Trible first began ascending bandstands in Los Angeles after moving here from Cincinnati in 1978, he noticed someone often popped in briefly during performances. "It was Horace Tapscott. He always came around to check everyone out. He would listen to what I was doing and then disappear." Eventually Tapscott, the pianist-composer-bandleader who died in February, came to Trible and said he had a song for him to do.

A quick glance at the overflow crowd filling Catalina Bar & Grill Monday night for a tribute to pianist-composer Horace Tapscott triggered an inevitable thought: How full would the room have been for a program by Tapscott himself on a Monday night? And the equally inevitable answer was: not very full at all. If ever there was a prophet without honor beyond his own community, it was Tapscott.

Promises do not always survive the harshest seasons of our lives. They get trampled under the foot of the real world. And then young men's vows turn into minor trophies, packed away with other things of youth. Papa made a promise to his music teacher and mentor when he was just a boy: I will pass on the gift. At 64 he was still keeping it. For this fidelity he paid a price. And for this fidelity he was deeply loved.

Musician, teacher and bandleader, Horace Tapscott, 64, will be buried today after a 10 a.m. ceremony at Brookins Community A.M.E. in Los Angeles. Yet it is not likely that his physical passing will diminish the life and vibrancy of the music, organizations and themes he devoted his life to sustaining. Alongside his eight solo piano recordings and his many compositions (a discography is available online at http://www.posi-tone.

Horace Tapscott, a pianist, composer and educator whose influence reached well beyond his primary association with jazz, died late Saturday night of cancer. He was 64. Tapscott's career reached from the closing years of the colorful Central Avenue jazz scene in the 1940s and '50s to his role in recent years as a mentor, teacher and role model for hundreds of young people.

Wearing a black skull cap with three glass stones affixed to its front, a black shirt and green trousers, Horace Tapscott had the look of a wizard as he sat Friday at the grand piano in the open courtyard of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. And produced his own brand of magic at the keyboard, as he and his longtime accompanists--bassist Roberto Miranda and drummer Fritz Wise--kicked off the first in a series of three Friday evening shows at LACMA.

In his article on L.A.'s 10 top jazz clubs, Don Heckman puts the Club Brasserie on his list and says that "first-rate local acts" have been the club's staple until recently, when "nationally known performers like saxophonist Greg Osby and pianist Brad Mehldau have appeared, strengthening the quality of the programming" ("Jazz Jewels," Jan. 22). That statement is a confession on Heckman's part that he believes local talent, even the best of it, does not quite come up to the standard set by outsiders from the New York scene.

Imperially slim pianist-composer-bandleader Horace Tapscott has cast a long, vibrant shadow over the Los Angeles jazz scene during the last 50 years. A musical activist, Tapscott brought his bands to the people at every opportunity, at one point loading his Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra onto a flatbed truck during the Watts riots of 1965 to play in the streets.

Re Bill Kohlhaase's review of the Leimert Park Jazz Festival ("Leimert Park Festival Crosses Stylistic, Generational Bounds," Sept. 15): I can't argue with the fact that Horace Tapscott and the Arkestra deserve a sound system worthy of the caliber of their music, but they also deserve a review that describes their performance accurately. Kohlhaase and I must have attended two different Arkestra performances Sunday. The closing set I heard transported an elated audience to the highest spiritual planes and beyond.