Songs of the Unsung: The Musical and Social Journey of Horace Tapscott - Paperback

by Horace Tapscott (Author)

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.

Back Jacket

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

Author Biography

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.