Tales of Captain Black

Tales of Captain Black Artist: James Blood Ulmer
Label: Artists House
Category: Music



Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1
EAN: 4988044004030
ASIN: B00001ZTRW


Release Date: 1996-05-18

Related Categories:

Avant Garde & Free Jazz Avant Garde & Free Jazz
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Listmania:

  1. TOP NOTCH - VOLUME ONE

Tracks:

  1. Theme From Captain Black
  2. Moons Shine
  3. Morning Bride
  4. Revelation March
  5. Woman Coming
  6. Nothing To Say
  7. Arena
  8. Revealing

Similar Items:

  1. No Escape from the Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions
  2. Odyssey
  3. Machine Gun
  4. Lenox Avenue Breakdown
  5. Birthright

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Brilliance........2005-08-04

An album that desparately deserves to be put back in print, James "Blood" Ulmer's recording debut, "Tales from Captain Black", finds the guitarist stepping into his own as a leader. With mentor Ornette Coleman blowing alto and Coleman's son Denardo serving as drummer, it would be quite possible that this record would simply be a Coleman record under another man's name, but it's not. Working with bass wizard Jamaaladeen Tacuma, the string players manage to define the voice of the record.

The great addition to the concept of harmolodic music this record really exposes is tight interaction between rhythm section and melody. Tacuma solos underneath all of Ulmer's solos, and often both are soloing underneath Coleman's reedy alto. Underneath it all, Denardo maintains a rhythmic pulse while responding to and frequently quoting the rest of the musicians. This sort of collective improvisation has always been present in the best of Coleman's records, but with such a sympathetic group, it comes out cleanly. The other thing this group does is drag the music a bit further out of the jazz idiom-- it's clear that Ulmer and Tacuma come from a background more seeped in funk and soul jazz, because the blues tinge that infects Coleman's record (not necessarily a bad thing) is far deemphasized on this rcord.

A good example of this is "Nothing to Say"-- Ornette blows a sing-song melody line, Ulmer is seeped in deep South blues, Denardo is freely associating with them, and Tacuma sits in his own universe. But as disjoint as it sounds, the record thrives off this sort of tenuousness and tension.

But this is an album that's quite hard to find-- and at 33 minutes or so in length, its difficult to justify the expensive used market or import prices. Still, its one of the great lost albums in free jazz/funk, and is essential listening for fans of Ulmer or Coleman. Highly recommended.

5 out of 5 stars Soul Guitar Thunder.......2000-01-14

James Ulmer is one of the finest guitar players in the jazz world. He was influenced by Hendrix, but developed his own style. On this album, he plays with Ornette Coleman. The guitar is hard driving and uncompromising. His closest cousin would be Sonny Sharrock. Also try Odyssey the Band on Knitting Factory.

Music CD:

  1. Shock Treatment ~ Don Ellis
  2. The Bruford Tapes ~ Bill Bruford
  3. Live at Montreux ~ Les McCann
  4. Journey Home ~ Dana Landry
  5. Right Now ~ Howard Johnson & Gravity
  6. American Dreams ~ Charlie Haden, Michael Brecker
  7. I Can't Give You Anything But Love ~ Janet Carroll
  8. Live in the Netherlands ~ Jean 'Toots' Thielemans with Joe Pass
  9. The Power Of One ~ Corky McClerkin
  10. Viva Brazil ~ Tania Maria

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

In the Air Tonite ~ Lil Kim

Lunch for the Sky ~ Socratic

Hits You Remember: Live ~ Robert Gordon

Hey Ho (What You Do to Me) ~ The Guess Who

ULU ~ ulu

Manifest Destiny

Dirty Pounding Gasoline ~ X-Headz

Toon Tunes: Action-Packed Anthems ~ Peter Fernandez

...And Then There Was X ~ DMX

Mr. Benjamin 2008