''The Dark Tree'' is a live album by pianist

Horace Tapscott Horace Elva Tapscott (April 6, 1934 – February 27, 1999) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He formed the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (also known as P.A.P.A., or The Ark) in 1961 and led the ensemble through the 1990s. Early lif ...

recorded in 1989 and released on the Hat ART label as two separate volumes in 1991.Horace Tapscott discography
accessed March 5, 2014 The album was re-released as a double CD in 1999 and 2009

Reception

The ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

'' review by Steve Loewy awarded the album 4½ stars stating "The pianist shows his feathers on piece after piece (most of which were written by him), in which he is as comfortable with post-bop runs as he is with their avant-garde implications. Through it all, you can hear his blues-drenched roots".Loewy, S.
Allmusic Review
accessed March 5, 2014 ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

'' awarded the album a "Crown" signifying a recording that the authors "feel a special admiration or affection for". ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

'' stated "''The Dark Tree'' has only been sporadically available since its original, limited edition release in 1991, and the re-releases have been small runs. In the gloaming, fables have grown around the album. But as is by no means always the case with rarities, the reality here is as good as the legend: this motherlode of groove is a signature performance by a woefully neglected artist"May, C.
All About Jazz Review
August 17, 2009

Track listing

''All compositions by Horace Tapscott except as indicated'' ''Disc One:'' # "The Dark Tree" - 20:56 # "Sketches of Drunken Mary" - 11:32 # "Lino's Pad" - 16:46 # "One for Lately" ( Thurman Green) - 10:24 ''Disc Two:'' # "Sandy and Niles" - 11:17 # "Bavarian Mist" (Michael Session) - 13:16 # "The Dark Tree 2" - 18:30 # "A Dress for Renee" - 4:57 # "Nyja's Theme" - 19:44

Personnel

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

* John Carter - clarinet * Cecil McBee - contrabass *

Andrew Cyrille Andrew Charles Cyrille (born November 10, 1939) is an American avant-garde jazz drummer. Throughout his career, he has performed both as a leader and a sideman in the bands of Walt Dickerson and Cecil Taylor, among others. AllMusic biographer ...

- drums

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dark Tree, The 1991 live albums Horace Tapscott albums Hathut Records live albums