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Odyssey the Band: Back in Time
by Kurt Gottschalk
The significance of James Blood Ulmer's Odyssey trio is a bit of backhanded praise. It's a good band for sure, but its value is enhanced by the fact that Ulmer has rarely had standing bands worthy of his potential. He should have had stronger projects and more great records, considering what a great guitarist he is. In 1983, when Odyssey the record showed up, Ulmer was on the rise. Having released the landmark Tales of Captain Black in 1978, he ...
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by Paul Olson
Guitarist/vocalist James Blood Ulmer has managed to recreate himself as a bluesman in the last few years, as he convincingly demonstrated on last year's Birthright (Hyena). On that set of unaccompanied solo pieces, Ulmer somehow made his wildly unique unison tuning and Ornette-derived harmolodic sensibility sound like the very essence of the blues. It was the best blues recording in years.Yet Ulmer is much more than a blues player. His playing on seminal albums like Tales of Captain ...
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