John Pope Quintet

Proof once again that a lot more comes from the Newcastle area than coal, Labour politicians and rock bands, bassist John Pope organized a quintet to play his seven compositions that project exploratory sounds with touches of FreeBop and earlier Jazz currents. Someone who works with the likes of Roger Turner and Mick Beck, Pope’s crew of Northerners include trumpeter Graham Hardy, alto saxophonist Jamie Stockbridge, ubiquitous drummer Johnny Hunter and multi-reedist Faye MacCalman. While the CD’s parameters suggest an updated Jazz Messengers/Ornette Colman Quartet parameters, winnowing clarion tones from clarinetist MacCalman, one third of Archipelago with Pope, recall John Carter’s band with Bobby Bradford.

Advancing rhythmic power with heavy gauge strings, Pope digs deep tones from his instrument during “Ing”, as well as mating slick spiccato tones with Hardy’s speaking-in-tongues brass bugling. Sliding to a sequence where Stockbridge’s irregular vibrations are as much Dixie as Downtown and the drum break is almost pre-modern, the bassist’s ambulating plucks redirect the piece to perambulation before trumpet blasts turn mocking. Other than that, differing group expressions range from clanging upsurges with a touch of hard-rocking R&B from the horns on “Plato” to the yearning, lower-case vibrations that characterize the title track. MacCalman proves in spots that low-pitched Hawkins/Webster tenor sax smears are as much her forte as airy clarinet timbres. And as he produces fluttering theme variations on “Misha, a Miner”, Hardy channels Dizzy Gillespie and Don Cherry with equal facility while the time-suspended middle section accelerates in speed and volume by the finale.

By the extended concluding “Country Bears, Come North”, with a booming Latin-like crackle from Hunter’s kit and smeared buzzes from the horns, the bouncy walk projected by the tune could make anyone follow those bears to check out the Northern English Jazz scene.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Plato 2. Misha, a Miner 3. Mixed with Glass 4. Ing 5. The Right Hand Path 6 Beautiful Pink (Is Not Ugly) 7. Country Bears, Come North

Personnel: Graham Hardy (trumpet and pocket trumpet); Jamie Stockbridge (alto saxophone); Faye MacCalman (tenor saxophone and clarinet); John Pope (bass) and Johnny Hunter (drums)