Reviews
"Horace Tapscott was one of the finest jazz musicians of the last 40 years. That you may not know his name is due to the fact that he chose to remain at home in Los Angeles, taking music to his local communities, rather than head for New York in search of personal glory. . . .as a gripping account of a quietly heroic life, and as a rare document about the West Coast's black cultural underground, Songs of the Unsung is essential reading."--Graham Lock, Jazzwise, July 2001 "Tapscott, a pianist and composer who died in 1999, spent most of his life under the radar of public attention, yet, Songs of the Unsung is an important book. This memoir depicts the musical, social and cultural evolution of Los Angeles over a half century, beginning with Tapscott's decision to jettison a promising career as a trombonist with Lionel Hampton in favour of mending his native Los Angeles neighbourhood, convulsed by traumas of racism and the the travails of inegration. Recalling that 1940s hotbed of L.A. jazz collegiality known as Central Avenue, Tapscott sought to recreate its essence in his Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, an avante-garde ensemble that expanded into an artistic collective, a nexus of political activism and a people's music academy. Songs of the Unsung arose out of an oral history project at UCLA, and was edited by Steven Isoardi. He preserves Tapscott's part-preacher, part-hipster paotios--in which he inflects the word "out" to describe free jazz, police brutality, injustice, good luck, violent rage, unexpected genorisity, spontaneous affection and insanity. Songs of the Unsung is a witness to hope, one man's determination to create art of lasting value and the power of music to connect people. It is, in the profoundest sense, "out"."--International Herald Tribune, 26 April 2001 "Tapscott is one of the fascinating, unsung figures in the history of jazz and political community activism . . . The details and local lore of Songs are beautifully rendered, and Tapscott's modesty and perserverance are qualities to behold."--The Wire, December 2002 ________ " 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."- Billy Higgins "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."- George Lipsitz, author of Dangerous Crossroads: Popular Music, Postmodernism, and the Poetics of Place, " 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."-Billy Higgins, Page after page, Tapscott offhandedly knocks down stereotypes about African-American communities, like pines behind an eruption. . . . Tapscott's controversial narrative, filled with stories about 'the cats' and their 'out' behavior is fascinating. . . . But more valuable than the book's entertainment quotient is its map of possibilities., [A] raw, intimate autobiography of L.A. free jazz pianist, trombonist, and composer Tapscott. . . . [T]his retrospective will enable jazz enthusiasts to revel in the life of a unique and talented underground musician. . . ., Songs of the Unsung offers a glimpse into the life of a jazz musician who resolved not to abandon the place where he started out--the streets of South-Central., "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, “ 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.�-Billy Higgins, "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."--George Lipsitz, author of Dangerous Crossroads: Popular Music, Postmodernism, and the Poetics of Place, "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, "Horace Tapscott was one of the finest jazz musicians of the last 40 years. That you may not know his name is due to the fact that he chose to remain at home in Los Angeles, taking music to his local communities, rather than head for New York in search of personal glory. . . .as a gripping account of a quietly heroic life, and as a rare document about the West Coast's black cultural underground, Songs of the Unsung is essential reading."--Graham Lock, Jazzwise, July 2001"Tapscott, a pianist and composer who died in 1999, spent most of his life under the radar of public attention, yet, Songs of the Unsung is an important book. This memoir depicts the musical, social and cultural evolution of Los Angeles over a half century, beginning with Tapscott's decision to jettison a promising career as a trombonist with Lionel Hampton in favour of mending his native Los Angeles neighbourhood, convulsed by traumas of racism and the the travails of inegration. Recalling that 1940s hotbed of L.A. jazz collegiality known as Central Avenue, Tapscott sought to recreate its essence in his Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, an avante-garde ensemble that expanded into an artistic collective, a nexus of political activism and a people's music academy. Songs of the Unsung arose out of an oral history project at UCLA, and was edited by Steven Isoardi. He preserves Tapscott's part-preacher, part-hipster paotios--in which he inflects the word "out" to describe free jazz, police brutality, injustice, good luck, violent rage, unexpected genorisity, spontaneous affection and insanity. Songs of the Unsung is a witness to hope, one man's determination to create art of lasting value and the power of music to connect people. It is, in the profoundest sense, "out"."-International Herald Tribune, 26 April 2001"Tapscott is one of the fascinating, unsung figures in the history of jazz and politicalcommunity activism . . . The details and local lore of Songs are beautifully rendered, andTapscott's modesty and perserverance are qualities to behold."--The Wire, December 2002________"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."- Billy Higgins"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."- George Lipsitz, author of Dangerous Crossroads: Popular Music, Postmodernism, and the Poetics of Place, Isoardi has done a fine job of preserving Tapscott's voice--the narrative is fluent, conversational in tone and packed with both colourful incident and tart social commentary. . . . [A]s a gripping account of a quietly heroic life, and as a rare document about the West Coast's black cultural underground, Songs of the Unsung is essential reading., The details and local lore of Songs are beautifully rendered, and Tapscott's modesty and perseverance are qualities to behold., Songs of the Unsung . . . sets forth an astonishing, searingly honest view of one segment of music history that is indeed unsung. . . . [The] memoir reminds us with stunning candor that too much has happened under the radar of the jazz industry. . . . We need more books like Songs of the Unsung , by which we can come to understand creative musicians as agents of change at home, effecting local pockets of activity with universal ramifications. For Tapscott provides us with an unwritten truth behind this radically unfinished music called jazz., A valuable firsthand account of American music and culture that will make a welcome addition to any collection., [O]ffers fascinating insights into Tapscott's work as a composer and bandleader, as well as his memories of L.A. during the turbulent 1960s., " 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."--Billy Higgins, "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."-George Lipsitz, author of Dangerous Crossroads: Popular Music, Postmodernism, and the Poetics of Place, “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, [Isoardi] preserves Tapscott's part-preacher, part-hipster patois--in which, for example, he inflects the word 'out' to describe free jazz, police brutality, injustice, good luck, violent rage, unexpected generosity, spontaneous affection and insanity. Songs of the Unsung is a witness to hope, one man's determination to create art of lasting value and the power of music to connect people. It is, in the profoundest sense, 'out', “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.�-George Lipsitz, author of Dangerous Crossroads: Popular Music, Postmodernism, and the Poetics of Place
