Horace Tapscott Quintet – The Giant Is Awakened (1969)

Horace Tapscott Quintet
The Giant Is Awakened
1969 original release, Flying Dutchman
2020, this reissue Real Gone Music RGM-1012

Juneteenth is now a federal holiday in the United States.  I don’t wish to take away from the significance of that recognition, especially for those old enough to remember the days of Jim Crow.  But you’ll have to indulge my skepticism about whether this represents a movement toward genuine reckoning and reparations, or whether its a gesture to make white folks feel better.   But while you have your red drink of choice today, and reflect on history and which parts of the past are not past, maybe you can also enjoy this monumental album from the Horace Tapscott Quintet, featuring Arthur Blythe on saxophone.  Tapscott was engaged with a variety of endeavors aligned with a radical black political vision, from the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra and the UMGAA, to supplying music for an album by Elaine Brown of the Panthers.

Horace Tapscott Quintet
The Giant Is Awakened
Label:Real Gone Music RGM-1012
Format:Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo
Country:US
Released:21 Aug 2020
Genre:Jazz
Style:Contemporary Jazz, Free Improvisation, Avant-garde Jazz

A1 The Giant Is Awakened 17:23

Written-By – Horace Tapscott

A2 For Fats 2:20

Written-By – Arthur Murray Blythe

B1 The Dark Tree 7:01

Written-By – Horace Tapscott

B2 Niger’s Theme  11:55

Written-By – Horace Tapscott

 

Phonographic Copyright (p) – Flying Dutchman Records
Licensed From – Ace Records Ltd.
Published By – Hot Chocolate Music Co. Ltd.
Published By – Ode Mark Music
Record Company – Flying Dutchman Records
Pressed By – Gotta Groove Records
Lacquer Cut At – Well Made Music

Credits

Alto Saxophone – Black Arthur Blythe
Bass – David Bryant, Walter Savage Jr.
Drums – Everett Brown Jr.
Engineer – Eddie Brackett
Piano – Horace Tapscott

Producer – Bob Thiele

Liner Notes – Stanley Crouch
Photography By [Cover & Liner Photographs] – Irv Glaser
Remix, Mastered By – Bob Arnold
Design – Robert Flynn (2)

Notes
Recorded April 1, 1969

Pressed on Black Vinyl at Gotta Groove Records

 

LINEAGE: 2020 Real Gone Music RGM-1012 vinyl; Pro-Ject RM-5SE with Audio Tecnica Signet TK7E cartridge; Speedbox power supply; Creek Audio OBH-15; Audioquest Black Mamba and Pangea Premier interconnect cables; M-Audio Audiophile 192 Soundcard ; Adobe Audition at 32-bit float 192khz; clicks and pops removed manually with Adobe Audition 3.0; dithered and resampled using iZotope RX Advanced. Converted to FLAC in either Trader’s Little Helper or dBPoweramp. Tags done with Foobar 2000 and Tag and Rename.


16-bit 44.1 khz

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4 Comments

  1. Does EVERYTHING have be about politics? Give it a rest dude. It’s a jazz record. Christ.

    • Really unfair comment, Upkerry14 – sometimes political contexts are intrinsic to music, and are seen as intertwined by their creators, such as Tapscott. Why do you want to censor his art ?

  2. You ask valid questions for which there are no conclusive answers, but one can hope it has less to do with making the white folks feel better and more to do with finally welcoming and acknowledging the value of black people and black culture as valid parts of American society. I admit in past time, in my own naïveté, I had hoped we might have finally achieved a post racial society. However, so many disturbing events over the past few years have proven that’s not where we are, yet. In any case, revisiting this fine album is a wonderful way to observe the new holiday. May it indeed lead to more inclusive and equitable times ahead.

  3. I hope you are sending your tip jar donations to Horace as part of his “reparations”. Otherwise you are perpetuating the ripping off of the black man, congrats.

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