Odean Pope makes rare Chicago appearance at Umbrella Music Festival

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Updated: May 9, 2012 9:58AM

One of the most ambitious and original music festivals —the Umbrella Music Festival — is back for a sixth year and stronger than ever, conjoined at the hip with the showcase of European musicians at the Cultural Center this week, which already witnessed Chicago debuts from rising stars Francesco Bigoni from Italy and Lithuanian saxophonist Jan Maksimowicz on Nov. 3.

The Nov. 4 bill at Elastic in Avondale/Logan Square features electro-acoustic British solo saxophone innovator John Butcher followed by an equally rare visit from New Yorker Tim Berne in trio with bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Ches Smith.

Smith returns Nov. 6 at the Hungry Brain to stoke guitarist Mary Halvorson’s quintet, which follows a rare solo set from witty drum wizard Matt Wilson.

The Nov. 5 line-up at the Hideout also is outstanding. After opening sets from Locksmith Isidore and a new duo pairing Umbrella presenter Mike Reed and guitarist Jeff Parker, Odean Pope’s Quartet with Marshall Allen will headline.

Philly saxophonist and composer Pope hasn’t been in Chicago since he visited the Jazz Showcase with drum legend Max Roach a decade ago. Pope created a stir in the meantime with a live album “Locked and Loaded” (Half Note, 2006) from NYC’s Blue Note club on which Joe Lovano, Michael Brecker and James Carter guested with Pope’s long-running Saxophone Choir (Ornette Coleman, incidentally, wrote the liner notes).

Back in the ’80s Pope was already making waves in a remarkable, funky trio with bassist Gerald Veasley and drummer Cornell Rochester, and earlier still with the collective group Catalyst. Despite sporadic associations in fast company, Pope has remained an innovator in his own right, a jazz godfather on the Philadelphia scene, and beyond.

The Sun-Times recently caught up with Pope over the phone:

Q. You joined Max Roach in 1967, then after one year you took a 12-year break, since Max accepted a teaching gig, while “rock ’n’ roll and disco” were drowning jazz.

I took lessons with Ron Rubin, principal woodwind in the Philadelphia Orchestra. I wanted to learn more about the woodwinds, the character of the pure and natural sound, as well as the subtone.

Q. What did you learn from Roach?

OP: Max was a pioneer for having your own voice every time you picked up your instrument. Cross rhythms was another thing, playing three against four, five against eight. I use 9/4, 6/8, 11/4, experimenting with different concepts.

Q. John Coltrane gave you one of your first gigs. When did you first meet?

OP: We used to jam after hours at the Woodbine Club in Philly. Jimmy Heath, Benny Golson, Philly Joe Jones and Donald Bailey would be there often. When Miles asked Trane to join him, he asked me to finish out his gig with (Hammond organ hero) Jimmy Smith.

Q. But you, still a teenager, didn’t think you were ready?

OP: Coltrane told me: “You will never be ready. If you play a hundred years you’re never ready. But you have to make yourself available.”

Q. Was one of your missions to translate what Coltrane was doing in the upper register to the lower register of the tenor saxophone?

OP: Well I have to give my wife credit for that suggestion. She really likes the lower range of the horn and it is more difficult to play certain things down there.

Q. You have used your explorations in the bottom range to develop multiphonics, where you overblow to split chord tones. You’ve done some serious work in this area, notably on your record “Out for a Walk” (Moers 1980).

OP: Multiphonics started when I was learning the oboe and then would play false fingerings on the tenor by accident and sounds started coming out.

Q. Another thing you employ regularly is circular breathing. Who taught you that technique?

Well surprisingly it was (the late Philadelphia pianist) Eddie Green who told me specifically how it was done. I was good friends with Roland Kirk, who lived in Philly for five years, but he never quite explained what he was doing with circular breathing.

Q. There’s a wild story about Kirk joining you on the stand at the Aqua Lounge in the ’70s?

OP: I was playing with Eddie and I heard this voice behind me say, “This is Rahsaan Roland Kirk, release your hands, keep blowing and let me play your horn.” He was amazing, a showman, the audience loved it.

Q. Tonight you will be playing with alto saxist Marshall Allen, with whom you recorded with on “Universal Sounds” (Porter Records) this year. Marshall is known for his association with Sun Ra and is one of the most uninhibited musicians on this planet (or any other). You originally met when you attended rehearsals for the Sun Ra Arkestra years ago.

OP: Marshall lives close to me in Philly; he is such a great spirit. We rehearsed the other day. It was raining and I forgot my hat. He met me with an umbrella and held it over my head when I arrived and when I left. I was amazed how powerful and strong he was when he played the music (Allen is 87, Pope 73).

Q. Marshall creates intergalactic sound spaces with EWI (electronic wind instrument) as well as blowing the analogue horn. Wild as Sun Ra’s music was, it was notated. Will you be reading or playing free at The Hideout here in Chicago?

OP: We’ll perform my tribute to (late saxophonist) Prince Lasha, which is very complex and fast (2005’s “The Mystery of Prince Lasha,” with Lasha and the Odean Pope Trio) but, being the individual he is, I will be offering Marshall the flexibility and freedom to fully express himself.

†The Odean Pope Trio with drummer Craig McIver, bassist Lee Smith plus Marshall Allen, 11 p.m. Nov. 5, The Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, (773) 227-4433, $15 cover; hideoutchicago.com. Also on the bill: Locksmith Isidore, 9 pm.; Jeff Parker and Mike Reed Duo, 10 p.m.

Michael Jackson is a local free-lancer writer and photographer.