Horace Elva Tapscott (April 6, 1934 – February 27, 1999) was an American jazz pianist and composer.

He formed the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (also known as P.A.P.A., or The Ark) in 1961 and led the ensemble through the 1990s.

Tapscott was born in Houston, Texas, and moved to Los Angeles, California, at the age of nine. By this time he had begun to study piano and trombone. He played with Frank Morgan, Don Cherry, and Billy Higgins as a teenager.

After service in the Air Force in Wyoming, he returned to Los Angeles and played trombone with various bands, notably Lionel Hampton (1959–61). Soon after, though, he quit playing trombone and focused on piano.

In 1961 Tapscott formed the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, with the aim of preserving, developing and performing African-American music. As his vision grew, this became just one part of a larger organization in 1963, the Underground Musicians Association (UGMA), which later changed name to the Union of God's Musicians and Artists Ascension (UGMAA). Arthur Blythe, Stanley Crouch, Butch Morris, Wilber Morris, David Murray, Jimmy Woods, and Guido Sinclair all performed in Tapscott's Arkestra at one time or another. Tapscott and his work are the subjects of the UCLA Horace Tapscott Jazz Collection.

Enthusiasts of his music formed two labels in the 1970s and 1980s, Interplay and Nimbus, for which he recorded.

Discography

As leader

The Giant is Awakened (Flying Dutchman, 1969) - as Horace Tapscott Quintet
Songs of the Unsung (Interplay, 1978)
In New York (Interplay, 1979)
Lighthouse 79, Vol. I, 1979
Lighthouse 79, Vol. II, 1979
Autumn Colors, 1980
At the Crossroads (with Everett Brown, Jr.), 1980
Dial 'B' for Barbra (Nimbus, 1981) - as Horace Tapscott Sextet
Live At Lobero, Vol. I (with Roberto Miranda and Sonship), 1981
Live At Lobero, Vol. II (with Roberto Miranda and Sonship), 1981
Dissent or Descent (Nimbus, 1984 [1998])
The Dark Tree (HatArt, 1991) - originally released as two separate volumes and re-released as a double CD
Arkestra Live in Chicago, 1993
Aiee! The Phantom (Arabesque, 1996)
Among Friends, 1995
Thoughts of Dar es Salaam (Arabesque, 1997)

With the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra

The Call, 1978
Horace Tapscott with the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra - Live at I.U.C.C., 1979
Flight 17, 1997

As sideman

With Lou Blackburn

Jazz Frontier (Imperial, 1963)
Two Note Samba (Imperial, 1963)
Both titles compiled on The Complete Imperial Sessions (Blue Note, 2006)

As composer and arranger

With Sonny Criss

Sonny's Dream (Birth of the New Cool) (Prestige, 1968)
Crisscraft (Muse, 1975) - composer only


Bibliography

Dailey, Raleigh. "The Dark Tree: Jazz and the Community Arts in Los Angeles" (review). Notes Volume 63, Number 3, March 2007, pp. 632–634.
Isoardi, Steven L. The Dark Tree: Jazz and the Community Arts in Los Angeles. April 2006. 394p. illus. index. University of California, $34.95 (0-520-24591-1).
Isoardi, Steven L. Songs of the Unsung: The Musical and Social Journey of Horace Tapscott. Duke University Press, 2001.
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