Sa'ld Salaam

The final album by West Coast pianist and composer Horace Tapscott is one of sublime gentility, reaching harmonic elegance and meditative grace. Accompanied by Billy Hart on drums and bassist Ray Drummond, Tapscott moves through five compositions by others - including Charlie Parker's "Now's the Time"; Sonny Rollins' "Oleo"; and Gig Gryce's "Social Call," as well as Thurman Greene's "Lullaby in Black" - and adds four of his own to a set that is unusually devoid of odd time signatures and floating rhythmic techniques. There is a gorgeous waltz in "As a Child" that is big on rigorous attention to harmonic detail and not lilting danceability. Also, during the title track, Hart and Drummond move the four-four time signature into reversals of two-four or six-four and accent the living hell out of every turnaround in the score…

It was not so long time ago in history of modern music, when influence of musicians on society was tectonic. When artist’s statement or position could impact the political situation in a country or sometimes even worldwide. When secret services like KGB, Mossad or CIA would consider some musicians as seriously dangerous for their agenda, because of artist’s influence on audience’s minds. When in some countries listening to forbidden bands could lead a person to appear in a concentration camp or even killed. When artist’s names would be an inspiration and a symbol of fight for freedom.