Project documentation is a big deal, not just for fulfilling funders’ demands, but also for probing a project’s progress, lapses, diversions, and revelations. A conventional tool for documentation of a performance project is extensive video-taping. But there are good reasons to diverge from that practice, not least of which is the cost of high-quality video documentation. There is also the danger that hours of video will just sit on a drive without review or analysis.
For Sounds of the Circle, we chose an approach to documentation that is decidedly more subjective than video-recording,but involves a more iterative engagement with project developments. This project has a Reflective Writer, whose role combines elements of ethnography, dramaturgy, storytelling and evaluation. Deena Adler, a clinical psychologist with more than a decade of experience supporting and observing Odean Pope’s career, has written brief personal reflections on the creative process as revealed by the project’s activities and relationships. She was a frequent guest at gatherings of the Professional Learning Community (PLC), listened in on the planning conferences for PLC sessions, and had probing conversations with Odean.
Take a peek into the project through Deena’s eyes and ears; check out excerpts from several reflections she wrote over a span of 10 months, and then dive deeper into the reflections that grab your attention.
Relationship
The Circle of notable jazz greats in North Philadelphia that included Odean Pope and Reggie Workman, represented relationship at its best. It was a rarified group of highly self-disciplined and talented young men who were bound together by making music. It was Reggie being teased by Philly Joe Jones on the 23 trolley (Jones was the first black conductor) because his bass was without a case. It was Reggie driving his friends and their instruments in his father’s hearse. It was Odean practicing everyday with Hasaan Ibn Ali and Coltrane. It was Hasaan Ibn Ali, the brilliant iconoclastic piano player, cutting his tie short bucking a dress requirement and it is still Reggie and Odean reminiscing about those times. It is the reverence heard from Odean when he repeatedly refers to “ standing on shoulders.” In a circle of shared mutuality, the musical men influenced each other, many developing into great jazz masters. Some continue to perform and create into their eighties and nineties! The friendships remain golden. Jazz has always been interested in human relationships. Read More…
Resilience
Odean Pope is the epitome of resilience. Odean has suffered with Bipolar Disorder for more than forty years. His first breakdown occurred when his brother died and subsequent breakdowns were triggered by similar losses. I’ve knowOdean through three devastating episodes that required extensive hospitalization. Both Joe [Sudler] and Terry [Lawson] were instrumental in helping me navigate through some difficulty, although Odean’s daughter, Harriet Taylor and her husband, Rich, are the godsends. ODEAN POPE, however, is the paragon of this story. At one time Harriet and I were afraid that Odean would never survive and certainly never be able to play his horn again. Ha! Doggedness and sheer grit not only brought Odeanback but he is clearly going through a very creative period of his life and his horn is well in harness. Read More…
Down To The Well
Odean was locked up in the town jail for three days and three nights until his frantic mother could get the $25 to free him. Young Odean was terrorized and traumatized; he was a seven year old innocent child who was voiceless and soundless. He was betrayed by his friends, cruelly separated from his mother, threatened with a torturous death for his family and was treated as though he was subhuman. It was Jim Crow, Ninety-Six, South Carolina. Odean has spent a lifetime finding his voice and sound. There is a musical phrase in every solo Odean has played since the 1970’s that sounds to me like a cry for help. Read More…
Dichotomies
The concept of blending was emphasized during the last two telephone planning sessions with Odean, Julian, Tom, Germaine and me. Odean talked about using ballads as a way to think about blending sound, singing into your instrument. Julian said that the blending of strings with saxophones is a glorious problem. Because we don’t usually think of problems as being glorious, the idea of blending as a glorious problem shouted out to me in neon because it contained many elements on many levels that have captured my reflection……. The PLC group is blending glorious problems; saxophones with strings; life force, love, hope neutralizing hatred;… “ it enlarges us giving new parameters on which to value life.” (Monty Don) The musical continuance orchestrated by Odean, is aggression being put, through the creative process, to its most humane use. It is resolving a great dichotomy, blending a glorious problem on multiple levels. Read More…
Summoning The Spirits
There was a third time around and then Odean and Craig played “Coltrane Time” to demonstrate the roots of Odean’s improvising concept. Odean always wants to go to the other side of what is comfortable. He likes to put it on the edge. I am reminded of a duet Odean and Bobby [Zankel] played recently at Chris’ Cafe when I imagined two spacemen taking a space walk, tethered to each other by their music. Odean is always looking to elevate the legacy. Read More…
Looka Yonder
Odean can still taste the fried chicken, potato salad, collard greens and lemon cake at the communal picnics after church where the ladies would try to outdo each other with their tasty offerings. Community is the current that runs through Odean’s happy memories. Strong, caring women were the dominant force in his familial community. Read More…
Essence Of A Moment
It was only moments but it sounded to me like sound bouncing down a path following a theme and then heard more and more in the distance. Solos spilled out in all directions celebrating individual freedom, momentary as it was, yet still confined to an overall structure like a painting in a frame. The theme steered on down the path sometimes like a train careening down the track. The music unfolded progressively adding hue and harmonies till it cascaded like water down a lush hillside. The music burst its constraints, running like electricity throwing sparks. Read More…
Looking Back, Moving Forward
Several years agoOdean told me he was unnerved by a tragic event that happened earlier that day when his subway train was suddenly stopped in the dark. He and others were eventually escorted out through the tunnel. He later learned that a young teenage boy had thrown himself in front of the train, committing suicide. Our conversation gradually shifted to Odean’s childhood memory of being taken by his parents to hear saxophonist Wilber Campbell play Stan Getz’ “Early Autumn.”Odean said, “It was magical, a sound I would never forget.” He paused and said, “I’ll write some music tomorrow, expressing it.” Read More…
Soundscapes
“I was never fond of listening to horn players.” Odean wanted his sound to be unique. “I started listening to a lot of keyboard players. In terms of music I was learning all the different kinds of cross rhythms, seven/four, eight/four and things of that nature. From that experience I did research on Fats Waller, Bill Evans, ‘Fatha’ Hines, Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell. I always wanted to play long phrases like keyboard players. The greatest influence on me would be Hasaan Ibn Ali. He was a great great innovator. He was the kind of person that could just create all kinds of different melodies, rhythmic concepts, harmonic concepts, cross rhythms, two against three, three against five, seven/four, nine/four, eight/four and all kinds of different rhythms. After a period of six to eight months we started getting together practically every day and it was like a sort of institution for me.” Read More…
