John Pope Quintet

Some of the most exciting sounds coming out of Newcastle upon Tyne since the 1960s heyday of Eric Burdon and the Animals are from bassist John Pope’s quintet. Not that there are too many similarities between the legendary British R&B quintet and the contemporary creative music ensemble. But with the same number of players and a lot less amplification, Pope’s group projects the same lively drive and go-for-broke rhythm as the earlier band.

That’s about as far as the comparison can go though. For a start Chas Chandler would never be as sterling a bassist as Pope, who has worked with the likes of Mick Beck. Plus the level of musicianship of the others  – trumpeter/flugelhornist Graham Hardy, reeds players Jamie Stockbridge and Faye MacCalman and percussionist Johnny Hunter – is far superior to any Rock musician. And to state the obvious, the music is much different, with all eight Pope compositions pretty much in the Free Bop genre. What that means is the band comes on with the power of the Jazz Messengers, but with enough breathing room to extend techniques much further and add many unforeseen diversions.

Balanced among the sequences are those which introduce a slight Latin tinge or another in which the horn parts are stacked to produce a canon-like exposition. Yet most proceed at tempos between andante and allegro. Made up of baritone saxophone snorts, tenor saxophone smears and  trumpet propulsion, narratives evolve along with double bass reverberations, drum ruffs and pitter patter. Furthermore no Rock band – or mainstream Jazz combo for that matter – could create anything as audacious as “Quantum Stepper”. A Mixmaster of timbres and tones, the piece combines handclaps, maracas-like shakes, intense split tones, doits and smears from the reeds, but manages to preserve the foot-tapping theme.

More traditionally, a track such as “World Dancer” evolves from an exciting call-and-response reed exposition to a swift tenor solo, backed by accented brass smears and drum slaps. It then slow down to dual reed honks and snarls challenged by the trumpeter’s floating triplets to conclude with a line as straight-ahead as the introduction.

Sudden arco bass echoes, unexpected clarinet trills, tandem reed punts, and graceful brass ripples also find their way onto the tracks. But Citrinitas’ accomplishment is no matter how advanced motifs become, an approachable groove is maintained throughout.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Free Spin 2. Through The Earth 3. Shadow Work 4. A Procession Of Heads 5. World Dancer 6. Hiba 7. Quantum Stepper 8. Shiryō

Personnel: Graham Hardy (trumpet and flugelhorn); Jamie Stockbridge (alto and baritone saxophones); Faye MacCalman (tenor saxophone and clarinet); John Pope (Bass and percussion) and Johnny Hunter (drums and glockenspiel