James Blood Ulmer - Odyssey

Styles: Vocal And Guitar Jazz
Year: 1983
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:52
Size: 88,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:58)  1. Church
(4:47)  2. Little Red House
(5:07)  3. Love Dance
(3:41)  4. Are You Glad To Be in America?
(3:29)  5. Election
(5:03)  6. Odyssey
(4:11)  7. Please Tell Her
(4:32)  8. Swings & Things

Tales of Captain Black was a startling debut, but Odyssey stands as James Blood Ulmer's signature masterpiece, the purest and most accessible showcase for his bold, genre-clashing guitar vision. With minimal trio accompaniment -- only drummer Warren Benbow and violinist Charles Burnham -- Ulmer's guitar is always the meat of the ensemble, especially since his unique tuning (developed specially for this album) allows him to cover bass parts as well as guitar leads. Save for the title track, his playing isn't as jagged or fragmented as on past efforts. Part of the reason is his conscious emphasis on the smoother tones of Burnham's amplified violin, which is often fed through a wah-wah pedal; his solos often resemble the faux-orchestral sounds electric guitarists can create by skillfully manipulating their volume controls. It lends an almost pastoral tint to Ulmer's skittering avant jangle, which is otherwise firmly rooted in downtown New York. Few other scenes could have nurtured Ulmer's blend of free jazz, blues, rock & roll, funk, and punk (by way of no wave noise rock). And Odyssey mixes them all freely yet cohesively, as though there had never been a line separating the most experimental musical forms from the earthiest. The instrumentals are particularly inspired examples: The opener "Church" contrasts freely improvised passages with spare James Brown grooves; the droning, Eastern-tinged "Love Dance" features soaring interplay between Ulmer and Burnham; and the closing "Swing & Things" switches between dissonant jazz-rock and straight-up guitar boogie. In addition, Ulmer's vocals are showcased at their most effective on the blues "Little Red House," the Jimi Hendrix-style ballad "Please Tell Her," and a major-label revisitation of his signature tune, "Are You Glad to Be in America?" All the pieces come together to produce not only Ulmer's finest album, but a certified classic of the modern jazz avant-garde.~Steve Huey http://www.allmusic.com/album/odyssey-mw0000648740

Personnel: James Blood Ulmer (vocals, guitar); Charles Burnham (violin); Warren Benbow (drums).

Odyssey

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James Blood Ulmer - Free Lancing

Styles: Vocal And Guitar Jazz
Year: 1981
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:39
Size: 116,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:24)  1. Timeless
(5:03)  2. Pleasure Control
(5:25)  3. Night Lover
(4:41)  4. Where Did All The Girls Come From ?
(4:03)  5. High Time
(4:43)  6. Hijack
(4:40)  7. Free Lancing
(3:46)  8. Stand Up To Yourself
(5:35)  9. Rush Hour
(5:14) 10. Happy Time

After cultivating a huge underground reputation both as a sideman in Ornette Coleman's Prime Time band and as an increasingly influential musician among the more experimental edges of the New York City punk and noise scenes, James Blood Ulmer was finally, in 1981, given a major-label contract by Columbia. Free Lancing was the first of three albums for the label before he, like many before and after, was unceremoniously dropped. It opens explosively with "Timeless," a ripping instrumental showcasing Ulmer at his best, all jagged angles, raw blues feeling, and chainsaw guitar shards. One of several cuts with only the trio of Ulmer, bassist Amin Ali, and drummer G. Calvin Weston, it's the guitarist at his most elemental, brutal, and real. Other tracks lean toward the funky side of things, with the leader's vocals (always at least a bit reminiscent of Hendrix) and a few female background vocals that impart a certain simmering sexiness even as they always serve to "slickify" the final product. But even here, on tracks like "Where Did All the Girls Come From?," Ulmer manages to raise the stakes far beyond the standard jazz-punk-funk of the period. Three other songs import the impressive horn trio of David Murray, Oliver Lake, and Olu Dara, used to provide a supremely strutting back line on "High Time" and giving the trumpeter a fine, fat solo on "Hijack" (a tune that recalls Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society). But it's Ulmer's stinging guitar lines rough-hewn, corrosive, and scrabbling throughout this recording that make it one of his finest.~Brian Olewnick http://www.allmusic.com/album/free-lancing-mw0000895852

Personnel: James Blood Ulmer (vocals, guitar); Irene Datcher, Diane Wilson, Zenobia Kankerite (vocals); Ronald Drayton (guitar); Oliver Lake (alto saxophone); David Murray (tenor saxophone); Olu Dara (trumpet); Amin Ali (bass guitar); Calvin Weston (drums).

Free Lancing

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Music Revelation Ensemble & James Blood Ulmer - Cross Fire

Styles: Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz
Year: 1998
File: MP3@256K/s
Time: 53:08
Size: 99,0 MB
Art: Front

(5:36)  1. Law
(7:10)  2. Suspect
(4:30)  3. Devotion
(5:18)  4. Sweet
(6:36)  5. Proof
(9:14)  6. My Prayer
(7:59)  7. Evidence
(6:40)  8. Backbeat

Pretty good idea to rotate guest saxophonists as a means to keep James Blood Ulmer's Music Revelation Ensemble concept fresh. Pharoah Sanders and John Zorn are on board for Cross Fire, and a change to Calvin "Fuzz" Jones' acoustic bass lowers the frenzy level that marked Knights of Power. Sanders, in particular, sounds inspired by the context, playing hard and pushing Ulmer and the music. His tracks all start out peaceful, go totally outside with high harmonic shrieks and thick, woolly tenor tone, and then bring it back to the serenity base. He plays some kind of flute over Jones' arco bass on the atmospheric "Suspect," before Cornell Rochester's drums (a driving, active force throughout) gradually push things out. Some lingering echoes of Sonny Sharrock's Ask the Ages disc mark the Sanders tracks it is the exact same lineup after all, led by another guitar improviser with some kind of space-bluesman-kinship-connection to Jimi Hendrix that becomes explicit on "Sweet." And damn, "My Prayer" finds Sanders playing over segments with an outright country & western groove (yes, you read that right) before it turns sideways and abstract with a spare Ulmer solo for effective contrast. Zorn is subdued at first he's the weak link on the opening "Law," not connecting with the blues dirge-feel created by Jones' bass drag anchor with octave drops and a solid Ulmersolo. But he hits his stride on "Proof," his sonic sax effects playing dodge 'em games with Ulmer's guitar around a very pretty, classic Ulmer theme over a slow, descending bassline later he comes vomiting back in to spew forth guttural commentary, whoops, and slides near the end of a great track. His playing even picks up on the peace and serenity vibe for the nice closer "Backbeat." Music Revelation Ensemble seems to be the context that Blood Ulmer reserves his strongest melodies for, and he plays with the kind of fire and invention that made him a major figure. Cross Fire probably isn't the best place to plunge in and explore the music, but it's a very worthy addition to the catalog.~Don Snowden http://www.allmusic.com/album/cross-fire-mw0000036120 

Personnel:  James Blood Ulmer – guitar;  Calvin "Hassan Truth" Jones - acoustic bass;  Cornell Rochester – drums;  John Zorn - alto saxophone (tracks 1, 3, 5 & 8);  Pharoah Sanders - tenor saxophone (tracks 2, 4, 6 & 7)

Cross Fire

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