Musician who spliced jazz, funk and blues, including in a spell on a major label in the early 1980s, was celebrated as ‘fearless’ by his fam
Guitarist James “Blood” Ulmer has died, age 86.
I first encountered his music around the time of his debut LP, Tales of Captain Black, which, with the participation of Ornette Coleman and the influence of his “harmolodic” theory of music, was a slippery, funky, virtuosic affair, as Ulmer, Coleman, drummer Denardo Coleman, and ninja bassplayer Jamaaladeen Tacuma chased each other around spiky melodic plains.
His subsequent albums for Rough Trade (Are You Glad to Be in America?) and under the big-label wings of Columbia were not quite as skronky, but still edgier than one typically heard in the mainstream. Further into his career, he tacked much more to the blues, John Lee Hooker-style.
He was a bold explorer on the guitar and a great, uncompromising musician.
aav.
Guitarist James “Blood” Ulmer eschewed Western concepts to find his unique sound
A good 2004 career overview from Wax Poetics.
