Horace Tapscott

Solo piano from the heart of the Los Angeles underground. Horace Tapscott completely alone at the keyboard, recorded in the early '80s when the Nimbus label was documenting his every move. This is contemplative music of the deepest order - yet the closing piece devastates. "As A Child", Tapscott's own composition dedicated to Adele Sebastian who died just four days before this recording in 1983, aged only 27. She was a pillar of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, and this was her favorite Tapscott piece. The performance carries that grief and love - exceptionally lyrical, utterly naked at the piano.

The program opens with deeply personal readings of Mal Waldron's "Fire Waltz" and Randy Weston's "Little Niles" that stretch out across the first side with an almost meditative intensity. There's something of Satie's suspended time here, even hints of Morton Feldman's patient exploration of space and silence. Tapscott approaches each note with considered weight, letting phrases breathe and decay naturally. Monk's "Crepuscule With Nellie" arrives as fitting companion piece to this introspective program.

This is Tapscott without the Arkestra, without the community music framework - just the man and his instrument, exploring the interior landscape of jazz composition. Far from the spiritual fire music of his large ensemble work, yet no less profound. Essential solo piano document. Pristine deadstock copies from the Nimbus archive.