31st Cape May Jazz Fest

31st Cape May Jazz Fest roster includes bluesman James Cotton, Philly legend Odean Pope

By Jeff Schwachter

“The role of all of us in the group is to motivate each other to grow spiritually and as a group. Spirituality plays a great role in terms of giving each other a spiritual support. This is the thing I think each and every group should have.” — Odean Pope, interview with Gregg Hall for Catalyst’s 1974 album Unity.

Cape May has a diverse slate of performers for the city’s 31st jazz festival, which takes place this weekend (April 17-19) and has been dubbed “Legends and more Blues.”

Here are a few things you should know.

James Cotton, the masterful blues harmonica player, will be performing on Saturday night at the Lower Regional High School Theatre for two sets.

This year’s festival theme pays tribute to the late great jazz singers Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughan.

Live music events will be happening on all three dates at various locations throughout Cape May (see sidebar for schedule and venues).

Weekend passes start at $150 and individual passes start at $25.

One of this year’s performers hasn’t played in southern New Jersey for a while — Philadelphia jazz legend Odean Pope, who will be appearing with his quintet on Friday night for two sets (8:30 & 11pm) at Aleathea’s Restaurant at the Inn of Cape May.

Although Pope is renowned around the globe for his husky and emotive tenor saxophone playing, his dynamic compositions and arrangements, and his long-standing (and innovative) Saxophone Choir — not to mention his hipper than hip ’70s Philly jazz-funk collective Catalyst — the 70-year-old musician is no stranger to the Jersey Shore.

“I worked in Atlantic City quite a bit,” says Pope during a recent phone conversation. “It was probably the mid-’60s, early ’70s. As a matter of fact, I [sat in] there with Cannonball Adderley — I think that was in the ’60s. I was working in Atlantic City at the time and he was working [there] so he invited me to sit in with him. It was the last large club on the end there — the Wonder Bar.”