Odean Pope - What Went Before, Volume 1

Porter

Despite semi-regular stops to the CIMP Spirit Room over the past decade, Odean Pope’s small group documentation remains relatively slim. Flip the calendar back further and sessions become more even more infrequent with much of his activity in the vein resigned to sideman work with Max Roach or in the fusion group Catalyst. In light of that history the appearance of this Porter compilation is a little alarming. The disc’s eight tracks appear to be pulled from a pair of previously released Pope sessions. Five come from Ninety-Six on Enja and three others from Ebioto, originally released on the Knitting Factory imprint. Both sources are apparently out of print, a troubling occurrence given their comparatively short shelf lives. Pope fronts two trios, the difference being the drum chair occupant, either Craig McIver or Mickey Roker, each of whom owes palpable debt to Pope’s former employer. Roker, a veteran session player and participant in classic Blue Note dates like Lee Morgan’s Live at the Lighthouse and Herbie Hancock’s Speak Like a Child fits well with Pope’s proclivities though his drumming is a shade more conventional than his younger counterpart. Longtime confrere Tyrone Brown handles bass in both cases.

Pope himself has a habit of worrying similar scalar phrases and licks across pieces. It’s a stylistic tick in common with Fred Anderson and like the elder Chicagoan, Pope makes it work through sheer soulfulness of delivery. “You Remind Me” and “Good Question”, for instance, are close cousins in terms of traveled terrain, but Pope still sows each with a sprinkling of fresh emotive soil. The usual Coltrane corollaries are present with Pope personalizing his inspiration’s “sheets-of-sound” vernacular and producing harmonic gold. Melody is central to the improvisatory schema as well with the sturdy heads coming swift and providing fertile grist for elaboration. Even the ballad “Cis”, penned in honor of Pope’s wife, exude a buoyant muscularity. The saxophonist’s lines are long and ropy but rarely ponderous, buttressed by the attentive accompaniment of Brown and the drummers. “WL” shows off his facility for vocalized effects and features some striking solo extemporization bracketed by Roker’s tensile press rolls and liquid cymbal splashes. Bass and drums are prominent actors in the aural drama, Brown's preamble to “For All We Know” paving a propitious path for Pope’s burnished entry. Points tally up too for the new packaging and what sounds like refurbished fidelity. Pre-existing Pope fans will probably find this Porter release redundant, but listeners new to the Odean omniverse are well advised to pick this set up in the event that the original albums are out of reach.

~ Derek Taylor