Search - James Blood Ulmer :: Love at the Bayerischer Hof

Sounds like work

D. Moore | NH | 07/25/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In the two years since Blues Preacher, it sounds like somebody handed James and Aubrey a copy of John McLaughlin's Inner Mounting Flame. They could do a lot worse than emulate the work of Billy Cobham and Mahavishnu, and there are parts of this that I rather enjoyed. Aubrey Dayle is a much better jazz drummer than he ever was pounding rock.



James, however, still needs to work on his jazz guitar skills OR simply get down to some serious blues stuff, which I suspect he's very capable of. Sometimes his licks are with it, but repeatedly, his improvisations go out of context and end up twisting in the wind like he's four.

I also think he should lose that wiggly little billy-goat-Yoko-style falsetto thing he does when singing a long note.

"

James Blood Ulmer plays funk

Nobody important | 06/30/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album is credited to The James Blood Ulmer Blues Experience, but this album isn't really a blues album. There is a distinct blues influence to this album (Ulmer has always shown some blues leanings), but this is closer to the type of funk found on Eddie Hazel's solo album, Games, Dames and Guitar Thangs. Of course, Ulmer's playing sounds nothing like Hazel-- that is just a point of reference. Ulmer's playing is as ragged as ever here, making this a compelling album of jittery, blues-influenced funk with only a few hints of jazz. This is somewhat similar to another Ulmer project, Third Rail, with Zig Modeliste, Bill Laswell and Bernie Worrell, but the Third Rail album (South Delta Space Age) leaned a bit more towards fusion, whereas this album sticks closer to funk. The recording quality is good on this live album, and the rest of the trio is in fine form as well, particularly Amin Ali, whose funk bass is critical to the success of the album. Ulmer gained notoriety as a follower of Ornette Coleman's free jazz, and his jittery style puts many people off. However, even his skeptics might be surprised by how well that style works in the context of raw, blues-inflected funk.



Further listening: The Soul of John Black's Good Girl Blues, or Black John. "The Soul of John Black" is actually Fishbone guitarist, John Bigham, who convincingly blends blues with funk."