Ornette Coleman (with James “Blood” Ulmer)
October 13th, 2007When I was in college, James Blood Ulmer would come to Boston a few times a year with a trio featuring James Blood on guitar (and intermittent vocals), Jamaaladeen Tacuma on bass and Grant Calvin Weston on drums. They were incredible, alternating songs between free-form-jams and semi-folksy-“funk” tunes (to this day Grant Calvin Weston is the greatest drummer I have ever seen live).
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything with James Blood and this group online, but while searching for “James Blood” I stumbled upon this video featuring him with Ornette Coleman from the mid-1970’s. Ornette (on alto) is known is the pioneer of free jazz and James Blood made his name playing guitar with Prime Time, Ornette’s electric “funk” band.
The video is from 1974 even though it looks about 30 years older.