The Parts You Keep

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

Bassist, composer, and recording engineer Mike Pope 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 and Coltrane. Of note, Pope traveled to Atlanta to record his 85-year-old mother, an accomplished classical pianist, as a centerpiece of the closing track "The Parts You Keep." Imagined as a reminiscence of his youth when he'd wake up to his mother practicing, Pope inserts her performance into the piece, wrapping up the album with her solo rendition of the Ernst von Dohnányi piece it was derived from.

Production Info:

Produced by Mike Pope
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Mike Pope
at Vatican City Sound, Marriottsville, MD
Recorded October 9-10, 2022
Cover art by Elizabeth Pope | Photos by Mort Schuman
Cover design & layout by John Bishop
(8,9) Classical piano recorded
at Dave Pope Productions, Atlanta, GA
(9) Recorded by Dave Pope
Piano technicians: David G. Hughes (MD); Brian McClure (GA)

Reviews of The Parts You Keep

Paris Move (Thierry De Clemensat)
5-STARS Mike Pope's Sonic Architecture: A Jazz Tapestry of Intellect, Emotion, and Mastery. Internationally acclaimed composer and bassist Mike Pope has long stood at the confluence of intellect and intuition in jazz. With his latest album, he offers a grand, ambitious work that speaks directly to those who crave music with depth, complexity, a ...

avxforum.hu (Budapest) (Rudolf Radnai)
Bassist, composer and sound engineer Mike Pope mixed and mastered his new album himself, the title of which was inspired by the title of a Tom Waits song "The Parts You Throw Away" in the opposite sense, of course. The album also features his own songs and arrangements, and as a touching ending, Pope inserts a recording of his 85-year-old mother, a ...

All About Jazz (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 se ...

Jazz Weekly (George W Harris)
Bassist Mike Pope brings in a muscular and tasteful team of Geoffrey Keezer/p-k, Nate Smith/dr, Roxy Coss/ts-ss, Randy Brecker/tp-fh, Amaury Cabral/g, Ann Almond Pope/p and a guest string quartet for a swinging yet lyrical mix of standards, originals and even some classical. Of the latter, Pope lights the candles for the glistening title tune while ...

Modern Drummer (Mark Griffith)
This is an ambitious project from bassist Mike Pope. Trumpeter Randy Brecker, saxophonist Roxy Coss, and guitarist Amaury Cabral are guests, there are two duets with Mike's mother who plays beautiful classical piano, and there is a string section on two tracks. But it is the rhythm section of Pope, drummer Nate Smith, and pianist Geoffrey Keezer wh ...

Making A Scene (Dee Dee McNeil)
Geoffrey Keezer's piano introduction is stunning on an original composition by Mike Pope called "Misgivings." This tune was so captivating that I had to play it twice before I could go forward with reviewing this album. It's not only his piano elegance and delivery, but the melodic flow of this composition and the unexpected movement of this piece ...

Bass Musician (Raul Amador)
I am always impressed by the many things Mike Pope does, so needless to say, I was eager to give his new album, The Parts You Keep, a listen. Mike has assembled an extraordinary group of musicians to bring this project to life… including his own mother, Ann Almond Pope, who is 85 years young and still gracing the world with her beautiful class ...

Bman's Blues Report (Bman)
I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, The Parts You Keep, from Mike Pope, and I really enjoy it. Opening with Misgivings, a lively track with a driving piano melody featuring Geoffrey Keezer, building with an aggressive snare rap by Nate Smith and breaking into a sensual bass solo by Mike Pope who builds the track with the h ...

Bass Magazine (Chris Jisi)
Mike Pope was a flurry of activity at the Anthony Jackson tribute concert at Matt Garrison's Shapeshifter Lab in Brooklyn this past February. From rehearsing "Race With the Devil on Spanish Highway" with Al Di Meola on his signature Fodera 6-string, to discussing a new upright he bought with Stanley Clarke, to jumping in last-minute to take a strai ...