Horace Tapscott, Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra

The only live recording the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra ever released - and arguably the most complete document of this extraordinary musical community in full flight. Recorded between February and June 1979 at the Immanuel United Church of Christ on 85th & Holmes in Los Angeles, where P.A.P.A. played every second Sunday, developing their sound and building an audience rooted in the community. As a culturally radical, communal big band with a visionary approach to American Black music, the Arkestra is second only to that other famous Arkestra - Sun Ra's. Tapscott founded the group in 1961 as the Underground Musicians Association (U.G.M.A.), renaming it the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in 1971. Instead of chasing a recording career, Tapscott wanted to build what he called "a cultural safe house for the music."

The ensemble captured here features original U.G.M.A. members Linda Hill, David Bryant and Alan Hines alongside the powerful voices of a new generation: Jesse Sharps, Sabir Mateen, Adele Sebastian, Billie Harris, Lester Robertson, Louis Spears on cello. The heavy modal groovers "Desert Fairy Princess" and "Macramé" stretch out into spiritual territories that fuse Afro-centric rhythms, hypnotic bass lines, Tapscott's stabbing modal piano and stunning flute and horn arrangements. A rare chance to hear one of the most important, foundational bands in the music at the peak of its cohesion. The mothership in full flight, with the great Tapscott at the helm.