___ _ __ __
___/ (_)_________(_)___/ /__ ____ / /_
/ __ / / ___/ ___/ / __ / _ \/ __ \/ __/
/ /_/ / (__ |__ ) / /_/ / __/ / / / /_
\__,_/_/____/____/_/\__,_/\___/_/ /_/\__/
d i s s i d e n t
_______________________________________________________________________
a r t i s t : James Blood Ulmer
t i t l e : No Escape From The Blues
d a t e : 2003
l a b e l : Hyena Records
g e n r e : Blues
r l s. d a t e : Nov/2003
t r a c k s : 12
b i t r a t e : 192kbps
s i z e : 67,2 MB
_______________________________________________________________________
JAMES BLOOD ULMER
No Escape From The Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions
In Stores September 9th, 2003 on HYENA
Produced by Vernon Reid
Featuring Special Guests Olu Dara & Queen Esther
In Studio A at the hallowed Electric Lady Studios in New York
City, James Blood Ulmer and his band are set up in a circle:
producer and guitarist Vernon Reid with pedals and wires
entwined about his feet and stretching to his rig, a ring of
hot rod guitars at his back; bassist Mark Peterson and drummer
Aubrey Dayle side by side holding down a loose and steady
groove as they've done alongside Blood countless nights prior
around the world; against the far wall painted in a bright blue
psychedelic mural with a cloud of smoke always drifting just
above his head sits Charlie Burnham, Blood's foil in the now
legendary Odyssey band and currently deconstructing the blues
with blasts of electric fiddle drenched in wah-wah and howling
slide mandolin; to the immediate left is harpist David Barnes,
wailing to the heavens and channeling the ghost of Little
Walter; rounding out UlmerÆs cosmic roadhouse band is Leon
Gruenbaum, vintage gear at his fingertips from Wurlitzer to
Fender Rhodes, a Yahama Baby Grand to Jimi Hendrix's original
Hammond B-3.
No Escape From The Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions is the
next chapter in a story that began at Sun Studios, Memphis,
Tennessee, April 2001. It was the idea of Vernon Reid to bring
James Blood Ulmer back to his Southern roots. Ulmer grew up in
the deep South, son of a Baptist preacher, and was taught from
an early age to fear the blues. His mother warned him
repeatedly of its evil influence. In no uncertain terms, it was
the "Devil's Music." The man down the street playing
bottleneck guitar on his front porch, drunk on corn liquor, was
the result of a life with the blues. Yet as hard as Ulmer
tried to be faithful to his mother's teaching, there was truly,
No Escape From The Blues. It was part of the very fabric of the
landùa birthright. When he arrived at Sun in Memphis all those
years later, Ulmer found himself face to face with the songs
and music once again. Producer Vernon Reid insisted he run no
more.es
The resulting album, Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions, gave life
to Reid's assertion that Ulmer was one of the last great
American blues voices. It was a concept that took vision being
that Ulmer is revered as a jazz musician having come to
national acclaim as a disciple of Ornette Coleman's Harmolodic
school. "The thing about Blood is that he's not playing the
blues, he is the blues. All the stories that these songs tell,
thatÆs his life, heÆs lived that, it defines him," states Reid.
"He's staring his past straight in the face with this music.
ItÆs the conflict, the fact that he's now confronting this head
on that makes the music so vital."
In the true spirit of falling to one's knees at the crossroads,
this chapter was haunted by the devil early on. Memphis Blood
was released September 7, 2001. One week later the tragic
events of September 11tt occurred. By September 17th, Label M
(the record company that released Memphis Blood), was closed
down. This left Ulmer and his most celebrated album in over a
decade to wither on the vine. And yet word of Memphis BloodÆs
authentic musical potency spread, garnering critical praise and
stubbornly refusing to die. With the album suffering such a
harsh fate, nobody expected it to be nominated for a Grammy
Award in the "Traditional Blues Recording of the Year"
category. Memphis Blood subsequently sold through the
remainder of copies that had been shipped to record stores.
Now almost an exact two years to the day in April 2003, James
Blood Ulmer and company gathered again under the direction of
Vernon Reid to further explore what they began in Memphis. The
reason for recording in New York City at the fabled Electric
Lady Studios grew from the idea that the blues itself had
migrated from the rural south to the booming urban metropolises
of the north. UlmerÆs career paralleled this exodus. At the
age of 17 he left his home in St. Matthews, South Carolina and
relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, gigging in organ combos
on the juke joint circuit. He then moved to Detroit, Michigan
and finally to New York City where he's lived for the past 30
years.
The songs recorded on No Escape From The Blues deal directly
with migration and the struggles of adjusting to big city life.
Blood sings them with brutal honesty and raw convictionùitÆs
clear as Reid stated, heÆs lived the tales he sings of. From
the opening jug band stomp of the Jimmy Reed chestnut "Goin' To
New York" to the harsh realization that not all is paved with
gold upon arriving northùand thus "The Hustle Is On", which
doubles as timely contemporary commentary.
Blood's take on Howlin' Wolf"s "Who's Been Talkin'" is
downright spooky, reciting the lyrics like a man who's been
ôthe cause of it allö one too many times. We also hear the
first of many performances featured where Blood turns out
inspired guitar work essentially acoustic and unplugged on his
Gibson Birdlandùsomething that's a first on record for the
legendary guitarist.
Johnny Copeland's classic ôGhetto Childö is up next and it's
arguably Ulmer's strongest vocal performance of his career. It
might also be the album's most significant meeting of the
traditional and modern. The song is sung from the perspective
of the ôGhetto Childö whose mother's taken ill, whose father
has left and who's been turned away from school for arriving
with no shoes. In keeping with the concept of migration and
its inherent struggles, the song is rural and urban, ancient
and current. Ulmer states: ôThe blues is nothin' more than a
story. The æGhetto ChildÆ story is deep. Yeah, that one's
good.ö
ôAre You Glad To Be In America?ö is the first of two solo
performances by Ulmer. It is also one of two original Ulmer
compositions. The song, which has been recorded by Ulmer in a
group setting on previous albums, stands tall alongside the
rest of the record's material, highlighting the strength of
Ulmer's own writing. The question Blood poses is at once
seemingly earnest and ironic, touching on both opportunity and
burden. Blood comes across like a long lost blues preacher
stumbled upon somewhere at the bottom of the radio dial moaning
the refrain, ôHome of the brave and slavery is obsolete.ö
At this point in the album, No Escape From The Blues, takes a
decidedly looser, more freewheeling turn. Ulmer leaves behind
the troubled terrain of struggle, poverty and betrayal, and his
sense of humor shines through beginning with a steady rocking,
feel good duet featuring Queen Esther on John Lee Hooker's ôYou
Know, I Know.ö The two trade verses tempting each other with a
certain future rendezvous. Queen Esther, who recently finished
a stint in the off-Broadway musical ôHarlem Song,ö soars in the
tradition of the great blues divas.
Blood keeps the joint jumping with a burning romp through Earl
King's ôCome On (Let the Good Times Roll).ö In further
enchanted blues lure, the tune was chosen by Vernon Reid in
light of Jimi Hendrix's version on Electric Ladyland. However,
the day before the sessions began, Earl King passed away adding
an entirely new dimension to its inclusion. David BarnesÆ
midnight hour harmonica tag is dead on the spot, setting up a
smoky, spaced out take of Jimmy Reed's ôBright Lights, Big
City,ö with Queen Esther on harmony, Maya Smullyan Jenkins tap
dancing and very special guest Olu Dara on pocket trumpet.
Olu, who was once a member of Ulmer's band in the early 1980s,
has not appeared on record with Blood since that time. Their
reunion is a session highlight.
ôWell somebody made a mistake when they said life was a bowl of
fruit, you know I had to go downtown and pawn my last suit,
well I can see I was born to lose, and for me there ainÆt No
Escape From the Blues,ö demands Ulmer, wearing his lifeÆs woes
like a badge of honor on the album's title track. His band
kicks, thumps and rumbles, driving the tune forward with
frantic momentum and energy. ôI named the album after this
song because it best tells what this record is all about,ö
explains Ulmer.
UlmerÆs second original composition and solo piece is ôSatisfy
(Story of My Life).ö An ode of sorts to the women in his life,
and the complexities of keeping him happy, this is pure Ulmer
psychology. Sisters take note.
The entire album's journey concludes with the haunted faith of
ôTrouble In Mind.ö This was the last track recorded for the
recordùthe arrangement seemingly floating out of the ether as
the musicians ran it down. Take two is the keeper. There was
not a soul in the vicinity of the music being created that
didnÆt feel the hair on the back of their neck rise. John
Kruth sits in on tamboura. Blood moans in a weary baritone.
All possible roads have been exhausted, and all thatÆs left to
do is hold out for the sun.
No Escape From the Blues closes with the raucous, electrified
send off, ôThe Blues Had A Baby and Called It Rock & Roll.ö The
Muddy Waters' tune is a perfectly fitting closer in light of
where the blues would ultimately go upon arriving north and
thus tying together the thread that runs through the recording.
No Escape From The Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions will be
released September 9th, 2003 on HYENA Records. Additionally,
HYENA has secured the rights to Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions
and has since reissued it. Look for James Blood Ulmer & The
Memphis Blood Blues Band to perform select dates late this
summer and early fall. James Blood Ulmer and Vernon Reid will
also be featured in upcoming PBS documentary ôMartin Scorsese
Presents the Blues-A Musical Journey.ö
_______________________________________________________________________
01-Goin' To New York [04:24]
02-The Hustle Is On [02:39]
03-Who's Been Talkin' [03:25]
04-Ghetto Child [05:51]
05-Are You Glad To Be In America [04:01]
06-You Know, I Know [04:16]
07-Come On (Let The Good Times Roll) [04:12]
08-Bright Lights, Big City [06:03]
09-No Escape From The Blues [03:32]
10-Satisfy (Story Of My Life) [02:02]
11-Trouble In Mind [04:43]
12-The Blues Had A Baby And Called It Rock N Roll [03:44]
-------
48:52 min
_______________________________________________________________________
inventas vitam iuvat excoluisse per artes