Odean Pope

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Odean Pope (b. October 24, 1938, Ninety Six, South Carolina) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.

Pope was raised in Philadelphia, where he learned from Ray Bryant while young.^[1] Early in his career, at Philadelphia’s Uptown Theater, Pope played behind a number of noted rhythm and blues artists inlcuding James Brown, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. ^[2]

He played briefly in the 1960s with Jimmy McGriff and Art Blakey, and late in the 1960s he began working with Max Roach, including on tours of Europe in 1967-68. He was a member of Philadelphia group Catalyst in the early and mid-1970s, and assembled the Saxophone Choir, which consists of nine saxophones and a rhythm section (piano, bass and drums), in 1977. He became a regular member of Roach's quartet in 1979 and has recorded extensively with him, in addition to numerous releases as a leader.

Pope was quoted in 2001 as saying, “Every time I pick that horn up there's always something that I discover I can do differently if I really seek. 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. There's no end.” ^[2]

[edit] Discography

• Almost Like Me (1982)
• The Saxophone Shop (1985)
• The Ponderer (1990)
• Out for a Walk (1990)
• Epitome (1993)
• Ninety Six (1996)
• Collective Voices (1996)
• Ebioto (1999)
• Changes & Changes (1999)
• Nothing Is Wrong (2004)
• Two Dreams (2004)
• Locked & Loaded: Live at the Blue Note (2006) U.S. Jazz #24^[3]

[edit] References