James Blood Ulmer, guitarist who fused avant-garde jazz with blues and funk, dies at 86

James Blood Ulmer, the guitarist and vocalist whose work spliced avant-garde jazz with the raw textures of blues and funk, died on 3 June at the age of 86. His family confirmed his passing in statements released on Monday, describing a musician whose sound was as distinctive as his spirit was fearless. No cause of death was disclosed, though the family noted he died peacefully.

A singular path from gospel to the avant-garde

Born Willie James Ulmer in St. Matthews, South Carolina, on 8 February 1940, music surrounded him from the start. The son of a Baptist preacher, he sang gospel with his father's group, the Southern Sons, and picked up the guitar at age four. As a teenager, he discovered the blues and Chuck Berry, sounds his parents considered the devil's music. At 18, he moved to Pittsburgh, supporting a young family by playing with doo-wop groups like the Del Vikings. Stints in Columbus, Ohio, and Detroit followed, where he backed artists such as Jewel Bryner and Hank Marr and crossed paths with a teenage guitar prodigy named George Benson, who taught him a few things.

A pivotal moment came when his hero, Wes Montgomery, rebuffed his request for lessons. Ulmer's family later recounted that the cold shoulder pushed him to develop his own musical language, determined to sound like no one else. He settled in New York in the early 1970s, playing with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Joe Henderson, and Rashied Ali. The move marked a clean break from the structured dance music of his past.

I ain't never thought nobody could make no money playing free music. So I always played structured blues, rhythm playing, dance music, or something like that. And I abandoned it! When I came to New York, it was like... I just went totally another way.

The Coleman years and harmolodics

In New York, Ulmer fell into the orbit of saxophonist and free-jazz architect Ornette Coleman, becoming the first guitarist to join Coleman's Prime Time ensemble. Coleman schooled him in harmolodics, a theory that places harmony, movement, and melody on an equal plane, freeing musicians from conventional keys and chord structures. Ulmer, Coleman said, was naturally built for the concept. During this period, Ulmer had a dream in which he tuned every string of his guitar to the same note, a technique he would return to throughout his career.

Coleman co-produced Ulmer's debut album as a bandleader, Tales of Captain Black, released in 1979. The record drew immediate acclaim; Canada's The Globe and Mail wrote that it elevated Jimi Hendrix several levels higher. His follow-up, Are You Glad to Be in America?, came out on the British independent label Rough Trade. The title track's spirited social commentary became a signature song, and Ulmer found himself on tour supporting post-punk acts like Public Image Ltd and Captain Beefheart.

I'd stand at the microphone and tell them to shut the fuck up. They had five minutes to get into it or get the fuck out!

A major-label moment and a lasting ensemble

Ulmer's work with saxophonist Arthur Blythe on the Columbia albums Lenox Avenue Breakdown (1979) and Illusions (1980) earned him his own deal with the major label. Between 1981 and 1983, he released three Columbia LPs: Free Lancing, Black Rock, and Odyssey. The records paired virtuosic, blues-drenched guitar with tight funk arrangements and soulful vocals, a progressive package that still carried commercial instinct. Rolling Stone hailed him on the back of Free Lancing as the most original electric guitarist to emerge since Jimi Hendrix.

During the 1980s, Ulmer also formed the Music Revelation Ensemble, a separate band featuring saxophonist David Murray, bassist Amin Ali, and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson. The group became another vehicle for his restless, boundary-averse approach to improvisation.

Final years and tributes

Ulmer gave his last concert at the Detroit Jazz Festival in 2024, already in declining health. His family's statement, published via DownBeat, asked that fans play his music loud and respect their privacy. Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid, who produced Ulmer's Memphis Blood album, captured the mood of many peers.

Blood was one of one. He was made of the stuff that Blues is made of. Raw. Pure. Elemental.

Details of a public celebration of his life are forthcoming.