The Dark Tree: Jazz and the Community Arts in Los AngelesWhile he was still in his twenties, Horace Tapscott gave up a successful career in Lionel Hampton’s band and returned to his home in Los Angeles to found the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, a community arts group that focused on providing affordable, community-oriented jazz and jazz training. Over the course of almost forty years, the Arkestra, together with the related Union of God’s Musicians and Artists Ascension (UGMAA) Foundation, were at the forefront of the vital community-based arts movements in black Los Angeles. Some three hundred artists—musicians, vocalists, poets, playwrights, painters, sculptors, and graphic artists—passed through these organizations, many ultimately remaining within the community and others moving on to achieve international fame. Based primarily on one hundred in-depth interviews with current and former participants, The Dark Tree is the first history of the important and largely overlooked community arts movement of African American Los Angeles. Brought to life by the passionate voices of the men and women who worked to make the arts integral to everyday community life, this engrossing book completes the account began in the highly acclaimed Central Avenue Sounds, which documented the secular music history of the first half of the twentieth century and which the San Francisco Examiner called "one of the best jazz books ever compiled." |
Contents
Roots of the African American Community Artist | 1 |
The Legacy of Central Avenue and the 1950s AvantGarde in Los Angeles | 18 |
African American Los Angeles and the Formation of the Underground Musicians Association | 41 |
The Watts Uprising and Cultural Resurgence | 65 |
Illustrations follow pages 88 and 200 | 88 |
UGMA in the Middle of It | 89 |
From UGMA to the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra and UGMAA | 112 |
The Arkestra in the 1970s | 145 |
The Ark and UGMAA in the 1980s | 201 |
The 90s Resurgence | 223 |
Horace Tapscott | 246 |
The ArkestraUGMAA Ethos and Aesthetic | 272 |
The Music of Horace Tapscott and the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra Roberto Miranda | 293 |
Notes | 301 |
Bibliography | 329 |
345 | |
Other editions - View all
The Dark Tree: Jazz and the Community Arts in Los Angeles Steven L. Isoardi No preview available - 2023 |
Common terms and phrases
103rd Street According Adele Sebastian Afrikan Peoples Arkestra alto Amina Arkestra Arthur Blythe artists avant-garde band bassist became Billy Black Bobby Bradford Butch Morris California cats Center Central Avenue Sounds Coltrane community arts concert creative cultural Dadisi David Bryant Dolphy drummer drums early ensemble Eric Dolphy film Fuasi going High School Horace Tapscott Horace's horn interview by Steven Jesse Sharps John Kamau Daáood knew LAPD Leimert Park Linda Hill live Los Angeles loved Mafundi Michael Dett Wilcots Michael Session movement musicians Nate Morgan never Ojenke Oral History Program organization Ornette Pan Afrikan Panther performance pianist piano play player police political recalls recording rehearsal remembers Roberto Miranda saxophone saxophonist scene social solo Songs South Central space Steven Isoardi studio stuff Tapscott Archive thing UCLA UCLA Oral History UGMA house UGMAA University Press Unsung Vinny Golia wanted Watts Prophets Watts Towers West Workshop York young