James Blood Ulmer

Biography

James Blood Ulmer was once described by the Village Voice as: “…the missing link between Jimi Hendrix and Wes Montgomery…between P-Funk and Mississippi Fred McDowell.” Indeed, the 59-year old guitarist, vocalist and composer hovers atop the pantheon of American music mavericks. Born in 1942 in rural St. Matthews, South Carolina to God-fearing parents, his first guitar was given to him at the age of four by his father, a preacher at the local ministry, in order to prepare him for the gospel life. While gospel may have sparked Blood’s passion for music, the flames quickly spread as he discovered new sounds and styles. On the radio rock & roll, country & western and blues reigned. The blues was alternately alluring and frightening, a struggle for him that still exists to this day. Viewed as the devil’s music by his parents, he’d often have to sneak the music behind their back. “I broke every law in the book to listen to some blues.”

Some years later, after a stint in the juke joint scene, he dove headlong into jazz. During this time the development of his revolutionary approach to the guitar began: “I started trying to work on substitution of all Western music forms. I was trying to figure out how to eliminate playing scales and sequences, figure out how not to use regular conventional chords.” “I moved to Detroit,” Blood says. “I knew a lot of progressive musicians were based there, and I wanted to see if I couldn’t play something new myself. I started studying a lot, tearing my music down.” While still struggling to develop his own unique voice, Blood wound up a sideman on a handful of Blue Note recordings. In New York City in ’71 he met the legendary avant-garde jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman, which led to a stint in Coleman’s revolutionary group, as well as collaborations with groundbreaking experimental musicians such as Larry Young and Joe Henderson.

His solo debut Tales of Captain Black (’78) saw him finally beginning to stake his claim to the American music tapestry. Critics touted him as the hottest new thing on the scene and fans packing his NYC performances. He recorded Are You Glad To Be In America? for Rough Trade, a frentic concoction of free funk and jazz that pushed the concept of harmolodic guitar towards previously unimagined frontiers. On the back of ecstatic reviews of his album and live show, CBS bought out his contract and released three landmark records: Free Lancing (’81), Black Rock (’82), and Odyssey (’83). Blending blues, jazz, funk, country and freeform noise in dense musical themes and sonic structures, Odyssey is considered by many as a peak moment in American music daring. Ironically, it was also the calling card by which CBS dropped Ulmer from his contract. Disillusioned at failing to reach a wider audience, Blood recorded sparingly through the remainder of the ‘80s.

Flash forward to 2003. Ulmer is in the unique position of being hailed as an American music icon. Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions, reawoke fans and critics alike to his power and electricity and earned a Grammy nomination for “Best Traditional Blues Album.” Birthright was Blood’s first every recording completely solo, digging into deep, haunted blues. His latest effort is Bad Blood In The City, a cycle of songs that deal with Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.