" data-original-title="" title="">Horace Tapscott founded the Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra (PAPA) in 1961, it was by design a support collective for all arts, bringing pride to the black community, specifically that of South-Central Los Angeles. PAPA signified social activism, teaching empowerment, and advocating Tapscott's belief that channeling African ancestral roots was a key to succeeding. Tapscott, who died in 1999, had forsaken wider recognition to bring music and teaching to his community, but his catalog has seen a revived interest with four recent reissues. Ancestral Echoes—The Covina Sessions, 1976, the latest from the Dark Tree label was something of an open-house jam session that likely included some Watts neighborhood musicians not documented for the credits.

PAPA worked as a rotation of musicians that often changed considerably from one project to another. Of the twenty-four known participants on Ancestral Echoes, only flutists Adele Sebastian and Aubrey Hart, and poet/percussionist Kamau Da��ood, were part of the live 1972-1981 compilation Live at I.C.U.U. (Soul Jazz Records, 2019).

Da��ood, at Tapscott's request, had written the verse that accompanies the pianist's nineteen-minute "Ancestral Echoes," a composition that appeared in a much shorter version on Da��ood's Leimert Park (Mama Records, 1996). That album included Tapscott and his regular bassist Roberto Miranda. Da��ood's recitation gives way to an extended Tapscott solo after two minutes, morphing into an orchestrated masterwork with electrifying solos from trumpeter Steven Smith and soprano saxophonist Jesse Sharps. Tapscott's quartet of