In 1979, Horace Tapscott traveled to New York and recorded In New York with Art Davis on bass and the immortal Roy Haynes on drums. That album captured something approaching magic - a West Coast visionary meeting East Coast rhythm masters on neutral ground. Five years later, Tapscott returned to NYC for another trio date. The results sat in the vaults for fourteen years.
Dissent Or Descent pairs Tapscott with Fred Hopkins on bass and Ben Riley on drums - two musicians whose credentials need no elaboration but demand acknowledgment. Hopkins, the Chicago-bred AACM member who anchored Henry Threadgill's trio Air, was considered by many connoisseurs the most accomplished jazz bassist of his generation. Gary Giddins described his playing as fusing "audacious power with mercuric reflexes." Riley spent 1964-1967 in Thelonious Monk's quartet, learning to accompany one of music's great eccentrics, then carried that education through decades of work with Alice Coltrane, Stan Getz, Kenny Barron, and the Monk tribute group Sphere. Together, they coax a different energy from Tapscott. The playing here is fairly muted compared to the volcanic Arkestra recordings or even the more exploratory solo sessions. More emphasis falls on Tapscott's formidable melodic gifts than any virtuoso turns. This is polished music, but never slick - a playful spirit keeps things elastic throughout.
Five trio tracks: "As A Child," "Sandy And Niles," "To The Great House," Clifford Jordan's "Spellbound," and "Ballad For Samuel." Hopkins steals scenes repeatedly, his solo on "Spellbound" a particular highlight of fluid invention. Riley, ever the accompanist, finds the spaces and shifts in dynamics with the empathic precision that made him indispensable to Monk. "To The Great House" references the Arkestra's communal mansion at 2412 South Western Avenue in Los Angeles - the spiritual headquarters of the UGMAA movement. Tapscott brings that geography into a New York studio, bridging coasts through composition.
The 1998 CD adds two bonus tracks from Tom Albach's vast archive of Lobero Theatre solo recordings: Monk's "Ruby, My Dear" and Tapscott's own "Chico's Back In Town." The contrast is instructive. Tapscott's rendition of Monk is intensely expressive, his touch bolder and heavier than on the trio material. A compelling reminder that even in muted contexts, fire waited beneath the surface.
Hopkins died in January 1999, just months after this album finally saw release. Riley followed in 2017. Tapscott himself had passed in 1999. Dissent Or Descent captures three masters in conversation - solid, tasteful professionalism from musicians who understood that restraint is its own form of power.
