Los Angeles-based pianist Horace Tapscott was something of a moral leader for California's free-jazz community. In 1959 he established the multimedia Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra and in 1961 he helped create the Underground Musicians' Association (UGMA), but nothing surfaced on record. A quintet featuring alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe recorded the four jams of The Giant Is Awakened (april 1969), also known as West Coast Hot. The solo piano album Songs of the Unsung (february 1978), full of covers, was hardly representative of his compositional genius or his rhythmically eccentric style. The Arkestra (two pianos, six reeds, two trombones, tuba, cello, two basses and two percussionists) was finally documented on Flight 17 (april 1978), that includes no Tapscott compositions, and The Call (april 1978), mostly composed by Tapscott. Besides a trio with bassist Art Davis and drummer Roy Haynes, In New York (january 1979), and the other trios of Autumn Colors (may 1980), and Dissent or Descent (1984), and the duo with a drummer of At the Crossroads (1980), his art was best represented on the two original pieces of Dial B for Barbara (1981) for a sextet (piano, trumpet, two saxophones, bass and drums). The most ambitious composition of the era was the 29-minute solo piano fantasia Struggle X An Afro-American Dream, documented on Sessions 2 (november 1982). Towards the end of his life, Tapscott managed to record Aiee The Phantom (june 1995) for a trumpet-saxophone quintet with bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille, that contained the 16-minute Mothership, and Thoughts of Dar es Salam (july 1996) for another trio. TM, ®, Copyright © 2006 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.

The other elderly statesman of California's free jazz was Texan-born but Los Angeles-based clarinetist John Carter, the founder and leader of the New Art Jazz Ensemble, who debuted playing saxophone on Seeking (january 1969). He had to wait until the 1980s before his pioneering work was widely recognized. His five-part series of concept albums devoted to the history of blacks constituted one of the boldest and most successful attempts at fusing African and USA music, focusing not so much on the stereotyped rhythms of Africa but on its melodic aspect and wedding it to the elastic application of rhythm and harmony introduced by free jazz, as well as to his own (often harrowing) sense of melodrama: Dauwhe (march 1982), Castles of Ghana (november 1985), Dance of Love Ghosts (november 1986), Fields (march 1988), Shadows on a Wall (april 1989). TM, ®, Copyright © 2006 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.

Texas-born reed player Prince Lasha, active both on the East and West Coast, coined a more relaxed form of Ornette Coleman's free jazz on The Cry (november 1962), in a quartet with alto saxophonist Sonny Simmons. After playing on Elvin Jones' Illumination (1963) with John Coltrane's rhythm section (Jones, bassist Jimmy Garrison and pianist McCoy Tyner), he further downplayed the viscerality of the free-jazz masters in the quartet (Herbie Hancock on piano, Cecil McBee on bass) of Inside Story (1965). TM, ®, Copyright © 2006 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.

California's alto saxophonist Sonny Simmons was emblematic (although a relative rarity) of how the free-jazz improviser could wed the sophisticated composer. Stayin' On The Watch (august 1966) and Music From The Spheres (december 1966), each containing the four lengthy jams for quintets with trumpeter (and wife) Barbara Donald, were sometimes reminiscent of John Coltrane but also inherently more complex, if a bit less emotional. He remained a brilliant composer even after he started playing less confrontational music, such as on Backwoods Suite (january 1982), with Donald replaced by a three-piece horn section, Global Jungle (october 1982), in a quartet with cello, Ancient Ritual (december 1992), in a trio. No matter what the setting was, Simmons always managed to carve out a unique place in the history of jazz improvisation and composition. TM, ®, Copyright © 2006 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.