James Blood Ulmer passed away last week at the age of 86. He was an early collaborator in Ornette Coleman’s free funk / harmolodics group Prime Time. He eventually put out a string of absolutely classic solo records in the early 1980s such as Are You Glad to Be in America?, Freelancing and Black Rock.
He was a formidable live act too. Check out his performance in Montreux from 1981 including Amin Ali on bass and Grant Calvin Weston on drums:
Those particular James Blood Ulmer solo records typically also included bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma. Here’s some footage I absolutely love of Jamaaladeen on VH1, of all channels, in 1988:
Also in 1988 Grant Calvin Weston put out a solo record with a trio including Tacuma and Ulmer. That record is called Dance Romance and is today’s pick!
The vinyl record of Dance Romance named the two sides the “Easy Side” and the “Serious Side”. They are pretty aptly named.
The “Easy Side” consists of more straightahead funk songs (with vocals by Weston along with Fostina Dixon and James Blood Ulmer). Even though they might be described as “Easy” compared to the second side of the record, they still contain elements of harlmodic style and the free form nature inspired by Ornette Coleman. The drums are also heavy as hell and recorded high up in the mix for a totally in-your-face sound.
“Chocolate Rock” is the album opener and it is a total banger. Fostina Dixon’s saxophone really drives the song along with the drums. James Blood Ulmer rips it up on the guitar solo too. Plus, I love the way the chorus goes into a double-time groove:
My favorite song on the “Easy Side” is “Planetary Citizen”. With a heavy James Brown influenced sound and a positive lyrical message (and another insane guitar solo by Ulmer) makes this one a undiscovered masterpiece to many:
The “Hard Side” opens up with the 11+ minute epic “Preview”. It starts with an incredible drumo solo and then goes into a tune that is full of speedy unison lines between all the players mixed with some free jazz inspired blasting. All the while Weston is playing a kind of military parade beat that still sounds funky as hell. If there is one song you need to hear on Dance Romance it is THIS ONE:
The album closes with a slow blues number called “House Blues”. It cools down the temperature a little bit but isn’t exactly mellow. It sounds like Jimi Hendrix having a bad acid trip with a terrifyingly loud drummer scaring the wits out of him:
Dance Romance doesn’t get the same acclaim as records like Tales of Captain Black or Of Human Feelings which I think is a shame. I think this album ranks up there with those generally praised critics darlings, but is seemingly ignored. It might be because it was released on the smaller label In+Out (as opposed to CBS or Columbia).
Dance Romance is worth tracking down and turning up!
