★Nimbus West Records
One Step Out
2412 South Western Avenue, Los Angeles. A mansion the Arkestra members had taken over for communal living. They called it the Great House. In the late 1970s, Michael Session - the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra's tenorist - brought a young pianist named Kaeef Ruzadun Ali through the front door. "When I walked in there," Kaeef recalled, "it was like this whole rush came over me, just from going in the front door. It was like a very, very warm feeling of love. I went and I came out with 'Flashback o…
I Want Some Water
Twenty years in a vault. That's how long I Want Some Water waited before anyone outside of a Los Angeles studio could hear it. Recorded on April 29 and May 3, 1980, at United Western in Hollywood, it wasn't released until 1999 - a small CD run that most collectors never saw. The vinyl pressing came forty years after the tapes were made.
Billie Harris was born in Laurel, Mississippi, on February 15, 1937. He picked up the saxophone at fourteen, served four years in the Air Force, and landed in Lo…
Lullaby For Linda
She kept notebooks. Spiral-bound, lined, 8x10 inches. In her beautiful flowing cursive, Linda Hill documented every rehearsal, every concert, every recording session of the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra. The names of three hundred musicians passed through those pages. When she died, the notebooks vanished - a treasure of information, lost. But the music survives. Lullaby For Linda, recorded on April 25, 1980 and released the following year on Nimbus West, is the only album Hill made as a leader. …
Flight 17
Seventeen years. That's how long it took the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra to make their first record. Founded in 1961 by Horace Tapscott as the Underground Musicians Association, the orchestra had weathered the Watts uprising, the ferment of the Black Arts Movement, a decade-long residency at the Immanuel United Church of Christ - all without committing a single note to vinyl. Not for lack of industry interest, but by choice: Tapscott wanted to build a community, not a recording career.
It was T…
The Call
For nearly two decades, Horace Tapscott and his Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra made music without making records. They played in parks, on street corners, at fundraisers, churches, community centers - anywhere the people needed them. While the rest of the jazz world chased contracts and critics, Tapscott was building something else entirely: an ark for the Black arts in the heart of Los Angeles.
The story of The Call is inseparable from this larger project. When long-time jazz devotee Tom Albach f…
Desert Fairy Princess
There's a particular light in the music of Los Angeles's spiritual jazz community of the late 1970s - something warm, searching, unpretentious. Adele Sebastian's sole album as a leader catches that light perfectly. Recorded in 1981 and released on the legendary Nimbus West imprint, Desert Fairy Princess stands among the finest documents of West Coast creative music from the period.
Sebastian was born in Riverside, California in 1956 into a musical family - her mother played piano with the Albert…
Live at I.U.C.C. 5/27/79
** 333 copies, one-time pressing ** Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in concert at the Immanuel United Church of Christ. This May 1979 concert brings the goods, several tracks were selected for inclusion on the original 1979 “LIVE at IUCC” 2LP.. “Future Sally’s Time”, “LTT”, and “Village Dance” are presented as fresh transfers alongside extended takes of “Sea Wife” and “Many Nights Ago”… Lester Robertson killing it this afternoon…
Live at I.U.C.C. 3/30/80 (2CD)
** 333 copies, one-time pressing ** Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra n concert at the Immanuel United Church of Christ. Completely unheard concert from March 30, 1980
Live at I.U.C.C. 2/24/80
** 333 copies, one-time pressing ** Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra live in concert at the Immanuel United Church of Christ. Completely unheard concert from February 1980
Live at I.U.C.C. 9/30/79
** 333 copies, one-time pressing ** Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in concert at the Immanuel United Church of Christ - September 30, 1979. This is the seventh concert that Tom Albach recorded at Immanuel United Church of Christ. A wild and beautiful performance from beginning to end. Opening with an angelic take of Coltrane’s ‘Equinox’ which turns into a Coltrane medley, this recording is obviously a special one from the start… the existence of an unheard Sabir Mateen composition from 1979 (‘A C…
Live at I.U.C.C. 3/25/79
** 333 copies, one-time pressing ** Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in concert at the Immanuel United Church of Christ - March 25, 1979. This is the third concert that Tom Albach recorded at Immanuel United Church of Christ. This recording finds the Arkestra on new feet following the departure of bandleader Jesse Sharps. Featuring two of Jesse’s classics, including a totally different take on ‘Mykowski’s’, and the now iconic live version of ‘Desert Fairy Princess’, this concert also marks the debu…
Live at I.U.C.C. 4/29/79
** 333 copies, one-time pressing ** Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in concert at the Immanuel United Church of Christ - April 29, 1979. This is the fourth concert that Tom Albach recorded at Immanuel United Church of Christ. Featuring fiery takes of ‘Village Dance’ and ‘Mykowski’s First Fifth’, this concert also marks the only known recording of Tapscott’s ‘Song of Emanon’. Rounded out with the Jesse Sharps tune ‘Sea Wife’ and Tapscott’s homage to David Bryant ‘Dee Bee’s Dance’, this recording ma…
Live at I.U.C.C. 4/27/80 (2CD)
**333 copies, one-time pressing** Volume 11. 2 disc set documenting the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in concert at the Immanuel United Church of Christ - April 27, 1980. This is the eleventh and final concert that Tom Albach recorded at Immanuel United Church of Christ. Easily ranking as one of our favorite performances of the series, its also destined to be considered one of the greatest Arkestra live recordings, brimming with intense energy and culminating in the 1-2 punch of a blazing “Lelan…
Live at IUCC 11/25/79 (2CD)
** 333 copies, one-time pressing ** 2CD SET in gatefold slipcase 2 disc set documenting the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in concert at the Immanuel United Church of Christ - November 25, 1979. This is the eighth in a series of eleven concerts recorded at the church. This month sees the Arkestra stretching out and reaching blissful heights… the 30+ minute long version of “Carnival” is worth the price of admission alone, but the same could be said for the monumental “Nation Rising” or the deep ta…
Live at IUCC 2/25/79
Volume 2 out of 11. Edition of 333 copies, one-time pressing. This is the last recording with Jesse Sharps as the Bandleader before he left for the Army. An incredible afternoon of music and a fitting “Departure” for a Jesse, a true pillar of the 70’s Arkestra. Macrame was originally released in 1979 on the IUCC 2LP, it is presented here, in a raw transfer of the master reel. Mykowski’s 1st Fifth is nothing but pure fire with those blistering solos by Sharps, Session, and a very special reading …
Live at IUCC 6/24/79
**333 copies, one-time pressing** Volume 6 out of 11. This is the last recording with Jesse Sharps as the Bandleader before he left for the Army.. An incredible afternoon of music and a fitting “Departure” for a Jesse, a true pillar of the 70’s Arkestra. Macrame was originally released in 1979 on the IUCC 2LP, it is presented here, in a raw transfer of the master reel. Mykowski’s 1st Fifth is nothing but pure fire with those blistering solos by Sharps, Session, and a very special reading by Kam…
Live at I.U.C.C. 11/26/78 (2CD)
A never before issued recording of Horace Tapscott leading his legendary Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, 'Live at I.U.C.C. 11/26/78' documents the entirety of a nearly two-hour performance that rises as one of the most beautiful, striking, and historically important releases of the year. The first in a series of eleven volumes planned by the label for 2023, this 2CD set is limited to 250 copies only and is already sold-out at source. A joyous explosion of sound, seeded by social, political, and co…
Tapscott and Winds (LP)
Super Tip! * Originally recorded in 1983. A never before released Studio album featuring Horace Tapscott with flautist Aubrey Hart and saxophonist Kafi Roberts. Direct From the 1/4” Master Tapes (All Analog Cut), Tip-On Sleeve Insert with Liner Notes by Mark Weber *
Sharps and Flats
Super Tip! * First official and the absolute definitive version of the album. Originally recorded in 1986, featuring Nate Morgan and Horace Tapscott. Finally on LP as originally intended: straight from the 1/2” Master Tapes (All Analog Cut). With Unseen Photos from the recording session Tip-On Sleeve. Insert with Liner Notes by Mark Weber *
At The Crossroads
**Original, still sealed copies of this rare album! Few available** Likely one of the most underrated Nimbus albums. Horace Tapscott & Everett Brown Jr.'s piano and drums avant-guard jazz outing 'At The Crossroads'. Piano and Drums : raw, uncut, brilliant