Search - Odean Pope :: Ninety Six

Tenor saxophonist Odean Pope is another underrated, middle-aged jazzman. He has long curtailed his own bandleader ambitions by playing in the superb Max Roach Quartet--though Pope did organize the much respected Saxophone Choir. On this album, Ninety-Six, however, it's pretty hard to ignore Pope, because he is accompanied only by bassist Tyrone Power and drummer Mickey Roker. In the liner notes, Pope comments, "I tried to imagine what it would sound like if I played at the bottom of my range of my instrument like Coltrane played at the top." Many of the 11 tunes--including 8 originals and a Coltrane number--find Pope exploring the unusual timbres and effects at the bottom of the tenor- sax range in solos that are as rhythmically hypnotic as they are harmonically bold. --Geoffrey Himes