{"title":"James Blood Ulmer","description":"\u003cp\u003eJames Blood Ulmer grew up in St. Matthews, South Carolina, singing with a gospel quartet called the Southern Sons from the age of nine, absorbing two kinds of blues simultaneously, the sacred and the forbidden, before making his way through Pittsburgh, Columbus and Detroit in the 1960s as a working musician in organ-dominated soul-jazz and R\u0026amp;B bands. He played on John Patton's Blue Note album \"Accent on the Blues,\" worked with Dionne Warwick, Chuck Jackson and George Adams in Detroit, and moved to New York in 1971 where he landed a nine-month residency at Minton's Playhouse and worked briefly with Art Blakey before Rashied Ali introduced him to Ornette Coleman in 1973. He moved in with Coleman and spent a year studying harmolodic theory. The concept, which aimed to liberate melody from fixed harmonic hierarchy and allow all instruments equal improvisational freedom, gave Ulmer a framework for what he had already been developing independently: a guitar language built from gospel, blues and free jazz simultaneously, the instrument treated as a rhythmic and melodic voice at once rather than a lead or rhythm instrument in the conventional sense. He became one of Coleman's primary interpreters and appeared on \"Dancing in Your Head\" before recording his own debut \"Tales of Captain Black\" (Artists House, 1979) with Coleman on alto saxophone, Jamaaladeen Tacuma on bass and Denardo Coleman on drums. Public Image Ltd. recruited him as their support act for their US tour in 1980. The New York Times called him \"the most original electric guitarist to emerge since the late Jimi Hendrix.\" \"Odyssey\" (Columbia, 1983), recorded without a bassist, won the Village Voice Critics' Poll Album of the Year. He died in New York City on June 3, 2026, aged 86.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"james-blood-ulmer-black-rock-1982-japanese-cbs-sony-vinyl-lp","title":"James Blood Ulmer - Black Rock (1982 Japanese CBS\/Sony Vinyl LP)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJames Blood Ulmer - \u003cem\u003eBlack Rock\u003c\/em\u003e | Vinyl LP - 1982 Japanese CBS\/Sony (25AP 2438, CBS\/Sony Inc.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJames Blood Ulmer spent most of the 1970s absorbing Ornette Coleman's harmolodic theory firsthand, famously tuning all six guitar strings to the same note and reworking the entire instrument from the ground up. By the time he landed on Columbia, he'd already made a case for himself on \u003cem\u003eAre You Glad to Be in America?\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eFree Lancing\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003cem\u003eBlack Rock\u003c\/em\u003e is where the accessible version of that language arrived. The title track is a three-minute punk-funk sprint with Ulmer and Calvin Weston trading shouts over Ronald Drayton's rhythm guitar. \"Moon Beam\" and \"Overnight\" bring in Sam Sanders on saxophone, weaving through stacked melodic lines that pull apart and snap back into formation. \"Family Affair\", the A-side's longest track, hands lead vocals to Irene Datcher and stretches into a seven-minute slow-burn. The whole record balances precision with looseness in a way Ulmer's earlier work didn't always manage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe band here is tight: Amin Ali on electric bass, Calvin Weston on primary drums, Cornell Rochester doubling on five of the nine tracks, and Drayton adding rhythm guitar across most of Side A and B. Ulmer co-produced with associate producers Ali, Weston, Harrison Avery and Jim Fishel. It was recorded at the Power Station in New York and mastered at CBS Recording Studios by Joe Gastwirt.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the Japanese pressing on CBS\/Sony (25AP 2438), manufactured in Tokyo with Japanese liner notes included. Ulmer passed away in June 2026, and his Columbia trilogy (\u003cem\u003eFree Lancing\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eBlack Rock\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eOdyssey\u003c\/em\u003e) remains the most direct entry point into one of the most original guitar voices in post-war American music.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CBS","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44218846380091,"sku":null,"price":40.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/3203\/3339\/files\/IMG_8656.jpg?v=1789722352"}],"url":"https:\/\/lushliferecords.com.au\/collections\/james-blood-ulmer.oembed","provider":"Lush Life Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}