Odean Pope

Odean Pope (born October 24, 1938, Ninety Six, South Carolina) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.^[1]

Pope was raised in Philadelphia, where he learned from Ray Bryant while young.^[2] Early in his career, at Philadelphia’s Uptown Theater, Pope played behind a number of noted rhythm and blues artists including James Brown, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder.^[3]

He played briefly in the 1960s with Jimmy McGriff, 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 has publicly spoken about his bipolar disorder, which he has had for over 30 years.^[4]

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.” ^[3]

Discography

As leader

• Almost Like Me (1982)
• The Saxophone Shop (Soul Note, 1985)
• The Ponderer (Soul Note, 1990)
• Out for a Walk (1990)
• Epitome (Soul Note, 1993)
• Ninety Six (1996)
• Collective Voices (1996)
• Ebioto (1999)
• Changes & Changes (1999)
• Philadelphia Spirit in New York, (2001) CIMP ^[5]
• Nothing Is Wrong (2004)
• Two Dreams (2004)
• Locked & Loaded: Live at the Blue Note (2006) U.S. Jazz #24^[6]
• The Misled Children Meet Odean Pope (2008)
• Odean's List (2009) In+Out Records
• Odean's Three (2012) In+Out Records

As sideman

With Max Roach

• Pictures in a Frame (Soul Note, 1979)
• In the Light (Soul Note, 1982)
• It's Christmas Again (Soul Note, 1984)
• Easy Winners (Soul Note, 1985)
• Bright Moments (Soul Note, 1986)
• To the Max! (Enja, 1990–91)

References

External links

• Official Site