Horticulture means setting the framework for optimised growth. That is exactly what we set out to do for our life long love - music.
So what is this project? Well, to start it's a record, one that runs counter to the industry standards of jazz and gives artists true freedom to evolve their own sound – free of academic concepts but full of personal expression and soul.
It's also a philosophy about music and music production. It has its roots in a prolonged conversation, and through that conversation the urgent desire to actively create something grew. We created Horticulture Records out of a deep respect for the artists, activists, social and musical virtuosos whose integrity prohibited them from bowing down to the industry.
Samuel Browne, Gerald Wilson, Charles Mingus, just to name a few – and of course Horace Tapscott.
Horace Tapscott and his approach are the condensation nucleus for this project. Tapscott brought the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra to life in 1961 in Los Angeles. Sixty years later and right here in Berlin, we are building a contemporary project with a spiritual energy for the 21st century and the challenges we face today. Headed by Arkestra member Fuasi Abdul-Khaliq, the octet brings together the largest number of Tapscott´s disciples living abroad, in addition to the heir to Horace himself, the current conductor and manager of the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Mekala Session, direct from Los Angeles!
Just reading about the arktet you will see that we are in for a rare treat. Next to Fuasi and Mekala there's Ghasem Batamuntu, who carried the tradition of the Arkestra to Europe with the renowned Rotterdam based Nu Nova Compound, Havanna native alto sax prodigy, Regis Molina, Joel Holmes, the four-time grammy nominated pianist and composer, the innovative bassist Charles Sammons, and last but not least, Nirankar Khalsa, an outstanding percussionist and drummer who has played alongside Alice Coltrane among others and will give the project a beat you´ve never heard before.
It will be a night to remember!
Looking forward seeing you at the Schlot,
Your Horticulturalists
