Pope was born in Ninety Six, South Carolina to musical parents and moved to North Philadelphia at the age of 10,[2] where he learned from Ray Bryant.[3] His talent at the Granoff School of Music and Benjamin Franklin High School caught the attention of fellow North Philadelphia resident and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, who offered him his first job in music at age 17.[4] Coltrane had called Pope to inform him that he was leaving to join Miles Davis and asked him to take his place and play with Jimmy Smith. Pope hesitated, expressing his youth and doubt, to which Coltrane responded, "Never say that. Always say you CAN do something."[4]
Early in his career, at Philadelphia's Uptown Theater, Pope played behind a number of noted rhythm and blues artists including James Brown, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder.[4][5]
He played briefly in the 1960s with Jimmy McGriff, and late in the 1960s he began working with Max Roach, including on tours of Europe in 1967-68. He was a member of Philadelphia group Catalyst in the early and mid-1970s, and assembled the Saxophone Choir, which consists of nine saxophones and a rhythm section (piano, bass and drums), in 1977.[4] He became a regular member of Roach's quartet in 1979 and recorded extensively with him, in addition to numerous releases as a leader.[6]
Pope founded the jazz studies program at Settlement Music School and offers master classes within the School District of Philadelphia.[6] He was a 1992 Pew Fellow and in 2018 was awarded a Pew Center Project grant to create Sounds of the Circle, an evening-length suite reflecting the distinctive sound of North Philadelphia and the mid-20th-century innovators who shaped the city's jazz legacy.[7][8] He has received awards and fellowships from The Rockefeller Foundation, North Sea Jazz Festival, and the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, and was honored with the Living Legacy Jazz Award from Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in 2017.[4][6]
Pope has publicly spoken about his bipolar disorder, which he has had for over 30 years.[9]
Pope was quoted in 2001 as saying, "Every time I pick that horn up there's always something that I discover I can do differently if I really seek. If you were on planet Earth for, like, 2 billion years, I feel as though there's always something new that you can find to do. There's no end."[5]
