If Jazz is the Teacher and Funk is the
Preacher, James Blood Ulmer is both the professor as well as
the deacon. Ulmer, who sometimes also goes by the name of Adamu
Mustafa Abdul Musawwir, holds (for all practical purposes),
a degree in both jazz and funk musical idioms and is a major
force in the production of some other as of yet classifiable
and unclassifiable musical forms as well. James "Blood" Ulmer
was born February 2, 1942 in St.Matthews, S.C. He started to
play the guitar at the age of 7 with his father's gospel group,
the Southern Sons. In the 60s he played with bands such as the
Savoys, the Del-Vikings, Jewel Brenner, Hank Marr and his own
Blood Brothers. He started to develop his own ideas with George
Adams whom he had met in Marr's band. In 1967 he lead the Focus
Novii in Detroit. In the early 70s Ulmer met Ornette Coleman
with whom he lived, played and studied Coleman's harmolodic
music theory for a couple of years. Since then, Ulmer has blazed
a highly individualistic trail through a myriad of recordings
in both group and solo situations.
This
page hopes to serve as a platform for showcasing the multi-musical
talents, accomplishments, and opinions of James Blood Ulmer,
the guitarist who more than any other musician on the planet,
has found the perfect synthesis of the Teacher and the Preacher.
