Updated: September 1, 2025
Bassist and composer Mike Pope builds significant musical, personal and spiritual bridges between the past, present and future with his third release, Cold Truth, Warm Heart. The new album shows him to be a visionary composer, arranger and bandleader.
The 2014 offering is the first in a decade and establishes a new threshold of leadership for the virtuoso acoustic and electric bassist who has toured extensively with Chick Corea, David Sanborn, Al DiMeola and Bill Bruford, and more recently, Joe Locke and Eldar Djangirov.
Pope’s 2002 album, The Lay of the Land, delivered contemporary straight ahead jazz with help from stellar players: Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, John Patitucci, Jeff ”Tain” Watts and others. It was warmly received, but tours with other ensembles took up the bulk of his time.
In the last decade, he moved to Maryland, started a family and adopted a more anchored life. Both his personal and professional life bore fruit. He has two lovely children and plenty of new music to share.
“The new album,” says Pope, “was written for the players who were playing it. The idea was to write stuff that was inspired, worrying less about how it would all go together than how it felt in the moment.“ On most compositions, he establishes the subject matter and directs the conversation, while the (recording and touring) musicians contribute superb interaction and improvisation. Pope leaves plenty of space for these world-class improvisers to do what they do.
The stellar touring band includes Eldar Djangirov (piano), Joe Locke (vibraphone), Seamus Blake (tenor saxophone) and Mauricio Zottarelli (drums). All but Djangirov appear on the latest album.
Mike Pope brings an unerring gravitas and steely resolve to every role he plays. Devoid of pretense or ego, his skill on the bass is matched by just a handful of players on the planet.
Cold Truth, Warm Heart exhibits the essence of jazz: rich melodies, lush chords, and sensual rhythms. Others of equal skill and stature surround him; gifted improvisers who surrender to the supremacy of truly inspired music.
In his latest CD, The Parts You Keep, Mike taps into the music and musicians who represent several pivotal life phases over his striking 30-year career, as well as from broad positions in the great timeline of jazz. From trumpeter Randy Brecker, a foundational figure in modern jazz, to saxophonist Roxy Coss, a brilliant leader representing the next guard, to the young guitarist Amaury Cabral who Pope heard at Berklee, they join Pope contemporaries, pianist Geoffrey Keezer and drummer Nate Smith, for a vivid set of originals, along with modern arrangements of music from Bird & Coltrane.
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Mike Pope: The Parts You Keep
by Jack Bowers
You have to admire a bandleader who enhances an album by dedicating one of his compositions to an Uber driver and inviting his 85-year-old mother to play piano on the last two numbers. That is exactly what bassist Mike Pope does on The Parts You Keep, and they are two of the recording's more pleasing episodes. Pope also adds a four-member string section on the standard “That Old Feeling" and his quirky composition “Past Is Prologue" (both of which encompass ...
Continue ReadingBill Bruford: The Summerfold Collection 1987-2008
by John Kelman
Intrepid percussionist/composer/bandleader Bill Bruford began his career in the late '60s art-rock arena with Yes and, later, King Crimson, but jazz has always moved underneath, like an eddying current. His early recordings, well documented on the companion Winterfold Collection, may not speak the language of jazz, but they possess its spirit. By 1986, Bruford was looking for a new path. Crimson had again dissolved, the 1981-'84 incarnation having provided him with the opportunity to explore nascent electronic drum ...
Continue ReadingTake Five With Mike Pope
by AAJ Staff
Meet Mike Pope: Mike Pope is a virtuoso acoustic and electric bassist who has toured extensively with Chick Corea, David Sanborn, Al Di Meola and Bill Bruford, and more recently, Joe Locke and Eldar Djangirov. Raised in Ohio by two parents who were both classical musicians and educated at the University of North Texas, Pope came under the influence of legendary saxophonist Michael Brecker and eventually played with him in New York City, as well as with Blood Sweat and ...
Continue ReadingMike Pope: Cold Truth Warm Heart
by John Kelman
Cold Truth Warm Heart isn't Mike Pope's first album as a leader (it's his third), but in the 12 years since The Lay of the Land (Whaling City Sound, 2002), the bassist has, in addition to some serious life-changers, forged a relationship with two musicians of unequivocal significance. First appearing on Joe Locke's State of Soul (Sirocco, 2002), Pope has worked with the superb vibraphonist and equally fine pianist Geoffrey Keezer in the by turns incendiary and profoundly lyrical Joe ...
Continue ReadingMike Pope: Cold Truth, Warm Heart
by Dan Bilawsky
More than a decade separates Cold Truth, Warm Heart and bassist Mike Pope's previous album, but he hasn't exactly been sitting by idly and twiddling his thumbs in the intervening years. His professional life has been filled with high profile work, as he's held down the fort for everybody from vibraphonist Joe Locke to guitarist Chuck Loeb to drummer Bill Bruford during that span of time, and his personal life has seen highs and lows; the birth of his two ...
Continue ReadingBill Bruford / Tim Garland: Earthworks Underground Orchestra
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
Bill Bruford forged his reputation as a relentless pioneer striving to advance the art of percussion. Using odd times and improvisation in rock or exploring with electronic drums, he sought to challenge both his self-expression and the drummer's role. Since 1986, his primary outlet as a composer and bandleader has been Earthworks. What began as an electro-acoustic quartet has become strictly acoustic, bringing him back to his early love: jazz. To celebrate this twenty-year anniversary, Bruford and ...
Continue ReadingBill Bruford / Tim Garland: Earthworks Underground Orchestra
by John Kelman
Although jazz has left behind its America-centricity and become a more international language, a mysterious chasm still exists between the American and UK jazz scenes. For every artist like Kenny Wheeler who has achieved American recognition, a dozen others have not. But with Earthworks Underground Orchestra, drummer Bill Bruford and woodwind multi-instrumentalist Tim Garland narrow the gap, proving that swing is more than a defined rhythm--it's a feel, with an expanding definition.
Bruford's 1980s electro-acoustic Earthworks quartet began a gradual ...
Continue ReadingAn Evening With A Superband: Mike Pope & The House Of Cardinals Featuring Mike Pope, Eldar Djangirov, Joe Locke, Bob Franceschini & Mauricio Zottarelli
Source:
Sue Auclair Promotions
Cambridge, MA: Cambridge's jazz hotspot—the Regattabar—will present An Evening with A Superband: Mike Pope & the House of Cardinals featuring acoustic and electric bassist and composer Mike Pope, pianist Eldar Djangirov, vibraphonist Joe Locke, saxophonist Bob Franceschini and drummer Mauricio Zottarelli on Tuesday, June 10, 2014, 7:30 PM. The Regattabar is located in the Charles Hotel, One Bennett Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. Tickets at $25.00 are on sale now at regattabarjazz.com or information and tickets are also available by calling ...
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Mike Pope Releases Cold Truth, Warm Heart In May
Source:
The Phillips Agency
Baltimore, MD: World-class bassist Mike Pope is unveiling his third release, Cold Truth, Warm Heart. The new album shows him to be a visionary composer, arranger and bandleader with deep listening skills and an eloquent voice. Set for May release on Nineteen-Eight Records, the 2014 offering establishes a new threshold of leadership for the virtuoso acoustic and electric bassist who has toured extensively with Chick Corea, David Sanborn, Al DiMeola and Bill Bruford, and recently, Joe Locke and Eldar Djangirov. ...
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”Mike Pope is a real Renaissance man. He is a musician of broad scope and tremendous talent. His virtuosity on electric and acoustic bass is rare even by today’s standards.” —John Patitucci
“Mike has become a fixture on the New York jazz scene. I’ve had the pleasure of playing on his CDs, using him in my band, and recommending him for other situations. He’s an incredible acoustic and electric bassist and one of the few who is comfortable on both instruments while also being a very talented composer.” —Randy Brecker
“If I were going to study improvisation at this point, I’d do it with Mike Pope.” —Victor Wooten
Chick Corea
piano
Michael Brecker
saxophone, tenor
Mario Pavone
bass
Earl Klugh
guitar, acoustic
Tony Bennett
vocals
Mike Stern
guitar
Kenny Kirkland
piano
Donald Harrison
saxophone, alto
Victor Wooten
bass
Dena DeRose
piano and vocals
Marcus Roberts
piano
Calvin Keys
guitar
Terry Gibbs
vibraphone
Billy Kilson
drums
Hal McKusick
saxophone
Terri Lyne Carrington
drumsArtists who share similar musical characteristics to Mike Pope.
