Odean Pope Saxophone Choir biography, Odean Pope Saxophone Choir discography
Tel Aviv Jazz Festival, February 18th, 19th, 20th and 21, 2008.Epitome includes a saxophone section of three altos, five tenors, and one baritone,...Write a ReviewYour TakeTell the world what you think about The Odean Pope Saxophone Choir!Loaded lives up to the heavy ordinance promise of its title.Julian Pressley on alto and Joe Sudler on baritone making return appearances in the reed section.Tyrone Brown and Craig McIver join pianist George Burton in supporting the mighty reed phalanx.Pope and listeners alike have been waiting a long time for this release.Its abundant merits will hopefully lead to a diminished delay in the launch of the next Saxophone Choir salvo.Make Odean Pope a favoriteView Odean Pope's Favorite List (0)
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Biography
Tenor saxophonist and composer Odean Pope is an exceptionally compelling and original musician.Odean was born in the town in the town of Ninety Six, South Carolina, but grew up in Philadelphia.Philadelphia had a thriving jazz scene in the post war era and produced such notable jazz artists as John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown, Benny Golson, McCoy Tyner, the Heath Brothers, Ray Bryant, Kenny Barron, Bill Barron, Archie Shepp, Jymie Merritt, Jimmy Garrison and Philly Joe Jones.Uptown Theater, he played in the house band behind such.James Brown and Marvin Gaye).He studied with Ray Bryant, and was especially influenced by the pianist Hasaan lbn Ali (a brilliant but obscure figure who made just one record, 'The Max Roach Trio Featuring The Legendary Hasaan'.But unlike so many other tenor saxophonists, he managed to absorb Coltrane's message while developing a recognizable sound of his own.Odean joined the cooperative group, Catalyst, in 1971.As he points out, Saxophones are the instruments closest to the human voice.Saxophone Choir: it should sound like one instrument.Max Roach again invited Odean to join his quartet.Odean Pope Saxophone Choir at Caramoor Jazz Festival, Saturday,...Search
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Half Note Records
(2006)Upcoming Release
Pope,Odean Vol.The Mars Volta
Enter to win before you can buy tickets to see The Mars Volta on September 17th at the Hammerstein Ballroom!Governor's Island on Sunday, June 15th!Separate multiple ids each with a comma.Back when I taught, one of my pets was a grad student from England, already a BBC stringer, who was going to Mardi Gras on spring break and wanted to know if interviewing a local musician would suffice as a term paper.Kidd Jordan, a veteran New Orleans saxophonist who gently put him wise regarding the current state of jazz in its supposed birthplace.Jordan explained, and the clubs in the French Quarter were happy to oblige.Jazz came into being concurrent with radio and electrical recording; regional accents faded as musicians roamed the country and eventually the globe, preceded by their records.But just because regionalism seems to be a thing of the past doesn't mean we don't still yearn for it, the same way drivers on interstates hunger for back roads and truck stops and stations unaffiliated with either Clear Channel or NPR.Lennie Tristano and Sun Ra, who operated like cult leaders.If only to an outsider like me, Chicago seems blessedly immune to the market forces that exert conformist pressure on both coasts.Velvet Lounge, the South Side tavern where Anderson once tended bar, then owned and operated for 25 years, until its entire block was razed a few months ago.Von Freeman, who gallantly lets it pass.Though the payoff usually comes when the trio finally settles into the groove they've been implying, the suspense is just as gripping on "By Many Names," where they reverse the process, starting off in a groove and gradually spreading out.Take Odean Pope, a Philadelphia tenor who never uprooted even during the years he toured with Max Roach.I've lived in Philadelphia my whole life, and damned if I know exactly what locals and the rest of the world mean by "Philly jazz," except that John Coltrane embodied it, it has something to do with musical improvement as a means to spiritual enlightenment, and Pope may be its leading contemporary exponent.Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, and James Carter, allotting them more space than he does himself.They return the favor with solos supercharged (Brecker on "Prince Lasha" and "Coltrane Time"), sensitive (Lovano on "Cis" and "Terrestrial"), or both (Carter on "Muntu Chant," his honks and smears creating the illusion the massed horns and rhythm section are bouncing off him, instead of the other way around).Sam Rivers and as gorgeous as any since Benny Carter's.Coltrane's ghost hovers over all of it, not just Pope's ecstatic arrangements of "Central Park West" ("Giant Steps" reimagined as a ballad) and "Coltrane Time," a pounding rhythmic exercise its composer never got around to recording (the only previous version I know was by pianist Marilyn Crispell, who presumably learned it the same way Pope did, from Coltrane sideman Reggie Workman).All I know for sure is it's state of the art.All reader comments are subject to our Terms of Use.Village Voice LLC, 36 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003 The Village Voice and Voice are registered trademarks of Village Voice Media Holdings, LLC.The best jazz discussion forum on the web!"Are you sure you want to delete this message?""Are you sure you wish to delete these posts?"Love Pope, but his other Saxophone Choir sides have been kind of a mixed bag for me.It sounds really good, with interesting arrangements and a real live sound.Love Pope, but his other Saxophone Choir sides have been kind of a mixed bag for me.For my taste, this CD is one of the best in 2006.Labor Day, and the weather is ideal.These cuts and more can be heard on the brilliant 2006 release Locked and Loaded: Live at the Blue Note.Like the surrounding trees, and like Coltrane, Pope has roots deep in the Philadelphia ground.Born in 1938 in Ninety Six, S.Pope, who is performing today at a John Coltrane tribute at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia.It changed my life drastically.Venturing into public with gigs in and around Philly, Pope soon gained an important mentor.Pope forged an identity as focused as it was multifaceted.He spent 1967 working with the legendary drummer Max Roach.To the Roach, is a poignant tribute to the last originator of bebop.In recent years, he has made a number of fine recordings for the audiophile CIMP label.Warriors of the Wonderful Sound.Odean is a great example of someone who defied categories.It derives from my hometown in South Carolina.When I came to Philly, I was always looking for something that could recapture all the bright moments I shared in the Baptist church.The tenor sax alone reminded Pope of church vocals.Michael Brecker, who was soon diagnosed with the blood disease that ended his life in January.Stocked with such players as Elliot Levin, Julian Pressley and Terrence Brown, the choir has a sinewy musical texture, robust without being shrill.In 2004, Coleman reciprocated, coming to hear Pope at the Blue Note.Church of the Advocate, 18th and Diamond Streets.Featuring Bobby Zankel and the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, with special guests Odean Pope, Ruth Naomi Floyd, and Maugawane Mahoele.Rare, live and unreleased recordings, as well as reviews on avant garde Jazz.Musicians, I host my own public radio show.If you want your music considered for airplay, drop me a line.Loaded lives up to the heavy ordinance promise of its title.Also among the ranks are tenor Elliot Levin and a trio of surprise guests (Michael Brecker, James Carter, and Joe Lovano) sitting in on certain pieces.Overall, the club sound carries a bit too much Pro Tools polish, but the charts and playing never relent in kicking some serious tail.Its abundant merits will hopefully lead to a diminished delay in the launch of the next Saxophone Choir salvo.May
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Why You Gotta Play Me Like That?Live at the Hasty Puddin...Dick Griffin with Equal Time (4 of 4...Dick Griffin with Equal Time (2 of 4..."To me, music is a universal thing," says Pope.At age 8, as a member of a Baptist church in the unusually named town of Ninety Six, N.He has mastered the art of multiphonics, using a cluster of simultaneous overtones, an extremely difficult technique."You've got to keep that fire burning.""When I first came to Philadelphia I was 10 years old," he says.Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin.It was during one of his frequent visits to a local nightclub that an underage Pope met Roach.He'd been listening to me at some of the local jazz workshops, and, for whatever reason, he called and asked me take over that spot for him.It was a heady experience for the novice jazz player, who stayed on board for a year before returning to Philly."It really showed me the kinds of things I needed to do and convinced me that music was going to be my livelihood," he says.He returned with a vengeance, performing with pianist Ray Bryant and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers before resuming his long, continuous association with Roach."Right now, I'm working on the whole spectrum of how you can expand, like cross rhythms.It gives me a chance to extend from where some of these jazz giants left off," he explains.The way I look at it is, music is evolution.If you were on planet Earth for, like, 2 billion years, I feel as though there's always something new that you can find to do."When you feel satisfied with what you're doing and feel as though you've got everything, then you're dead."Odean Pope performs on Saturday, Feb.Maintained by Boulevards New Media.Both Pope's parents were musical, his mother playing piano and organ in church, his father a trombonist and drummer.
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