Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » James Blood Ulmer: Baby Talk

1

James Blood Ulmer: Baby Talk

By

View read count
James Blood Ulmer: Baby Talk
It was a predestined meeting. This collaboration between the legendary guitarist James Blood Ulmer and the band The Thing. Ulmer, who cut his teeth with the soul jazz organists Hank Marr, Larry Young and Big John Patton before collaborating with Ornette Coleman's electric free jazz/funk harmolodic music, expanded upon Coleman's ideas, incorporating rock music with players like Ronald Shannon Jackson, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and Calvin Weston. His more recent work like Birthright (Hyena, 2005) and No Escape From The Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions (Hyena, 2003) conjure the roots tradition of the blues. In any context though, his guitar sound is distinctive.

Saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and his partners in The Thing, bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten  and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love covered the Ulmer piece "Baby Talk" along with compositions by Don Cherry, Frank Wright, Joe McPhee, Ornette Coleman and PJ Harvey on their first album She Knows... (Crazy Wisdom, 2001). At the time, what was probably thought of as a one off session, has turned into an in-demand outfit. The Thing have produced more than a dozen sessions, often collaborating with their contemporaries and heroes like McPhee, Barry Guy, Ken Vandermark, Otomo Yoshihide, Jim O'Rourke, Neneh Cherry, and Thurston Moore. Their brand of self-described garage rock/free jazz music has the spark of that much of modern jazz eschews—a DIY punk aesthetic.

In the context of The Thing's development as a band, and their often scorched earth sets, it is quite remarkable how Ulmer's music is treated with such appreciation here. The spotlight rarely departs from his guitar, even when Gustafsson is exorcising demons with his tenor saxophone on "High Yellow," and Nilssen-Love is trashing out beats on his drum set. Ulmer's picked notes spring (or are sprung) almost unimpeded by the Scandinavian trio. Yes, Blood Ulmer hasn't lost the harmolodic lessons learned from Ornette Coleman. It leaks out everywhere. The title track plays like a child's nursery rhyme, expanding on repeated patterns upon which each player gets an opportunity to build. Any extraordinary recording.

Track Listing

Interview; High Yellow; Baby Talk; Proof.

Personnel

James Blood Ulmer: electric guitar; Mats Gustafsson: tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone; Ingebrigt Håkerflaten: electric bass, acoustic bass; Paal Nilssen- Love: drums.

Album information

Title: Baby Talk | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Trost Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.