Dadisi Komolafe Hassan's Walk

Among Tapscott’s protégés was a young flautist and saxophonist, Dadisi Komolafe. Born Arthur Wells, Komolafe regarded Tapscott as his mentor and became involved with the Cross Roads Art Academy, sponsored by the UGAMA (Union of God's Musicians and Artists Ascension) Foundation, both established by Tapscott, and a vanguard to a crucial community-centred black arts movement in Los Angeles. From the various community based musicians workshops and educational exchange opportunities, Komolafe had the good fortune to record with members of Tapscott’s Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, a collective of similarly minded souls founded in 1961 that over the years hosted such names as Arthur Blythe, David Murray and Jimmy Woods. From the late 70s to the mid-80s, Komolafe appeared on many of the key albums that appeared on the Nimbus West label, a label ostensibly started to promote recordings by Tapscott: the Creative Arts Ensemble’s ‘One Step Out’, Nate Morgan’s ‘Journey to Nigritia’ and Tapscott’s own ‘The Call’. As impressive as his contributions to these amazing albums are, it’s Komolafe’s own solo effort, ‘Hassan’s Walk’, recorded in 1983, that sets him out as a true talent, albeit a criminally under-recorded one.