Horace Tapscott's "The Ghetto Suite" recording

Horace Tapscott's "The Ghetto Suite" recording session:

The Ghetto Suite is an epic composition by Horace Tapscott, the legendary composer and pianist from Los Angeles, California who founded the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in 1961. The Arkestra has been an influential incubator and host to many great jazz artists over the years, including Arthur Blythe, Butch Morris, Azar Lawrence, Phil Ranelin, Dwight Trible, Kamau Daáood, and more recently Kamasi Washington. Horace passed in 1999, and the Arkestra continued under the leadership of the musicians he mentored and led through the decades.

Jesse Sharps, an early bandleader of the Arkestra, has been working to put together a proper recording of Horace’s composition The Ghetto Suite for many years. We now have a date and location secured for the recording session which will take place on June 5th at the REDCAT theater in Los Angeles, California. This session is in conjunction with the 60th anniversary celebration of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra.

Jesse will be bringing a 25-piece band together, with many of the elders who go back with the Arkestra to the 60s & 70s, including Aubrey Hart, Bob Watts, Fundi Legohn, Kafi Roberts, Michael Session, Reggie Andrews, Roberto Miranda, and others. The session will be filmed and interviews will be done with the participating musicians. Three additional compositions are planned to be recorded, including Bakai by Carl Massey, Bee Vamp by Booker Little, and Mike’s Tune by Jesse Sharps. More information can be found at https://www.lacpapa.com

We need your help to make this significant session happen and donations of any size are welcome! Any additional funds beyond our goal will be used to support the LACAPA composition and sheet music projects.

Stay tuned for updates and thank you for your support!