The Dark Tree: Horace Tapscott, the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, and the Community Arts

A few months ago I picked up a copy of Stephen L. Isoardi’s The Dark Tree: Jazz and the Community Arts in Los Angeles at our local library’s semiannual book sale.  I hadn’t heard of the book, but it was about  Horace Tapscott, a legendary figure in the West Coast avant-garde, came with a CD, and was only four bucks, so why not? Having just finished it, I’m here to say it’s an important read for anyone interested in the culture and politics of the 1960s, 1970s, and beyond; the evolution of spiritual jazz; and the ongoing racial and political issues it reflects. Beginning with a brief history of L.A.’s Central Avenue jazz and R & B scene in the 1940s, it recounts Tapscott’s lifelong commitment to the arts in the African-American community, his bringing together the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra and the Union of God’s Musicians and Artists Ascension (UGMAA), and their participation in a host of arts projects and organizations from before the Watts riots through the early 2000s.  The book, based mainly on interviews with about 100 Arkestra/UGMAA participants, also provides a glimpse at the personality of Tapscott himself, a charismatic yet modest person who was both a devoted family man and night-wandering bohemian (his wife Cecelia must have been a very patient woman).

This story resonated with me because of my own knowledge of how all of the arts became weapons in the Movement of the 1960s and 1970s against war, racism, and imperialism. The abundance of groups and efforts that were born and died in the struggles of those days come alive in Isoardi’s narrative, which also demonstrates how little I knew about this important segment of the jazz world —one that continues in various forms today. In a period of time during which the perennial issues of race, class, and the arts continue to haunt American society, it’s both depressing to see how little progress has been made and uplifting to see the persistence of efforts to make this country what it professes to be.

The accompanying CD contains a number of previously released recordings of the Arkestra and its various components.  It made me want to hear much more of this fine music. Here’s a sample.