Ulmer's five fine new compositions are supplemented perfectly by six well-chosen covers. These borrowed songs are all distinct, all fit Blood's style well and nearly all fall neatly within the whole Katrina theme.
"Sad Days, Lonely Nights" has all the mesmerizing swagger you'd expect out of a Junior Kimbrough tune, except that Ulmer adds even more. His voice shot all to hell from the hurried, late-night recording sessions only serves to bolster his sincerity in "keepin' it real."
John Lee Hooker's "This Land Is Nobody's Land" is a natural for Ulmer, as Ulmer's blues is plainly indebted to Hooker. In this rendition, Ulmer and his band give it a spooky, voodoo flavor. "Dead Presidents" is the lighthearted break in the somber proceedings and Ulmer and his crew band give Little Walter a run for his...err...dead presidents.
Howlin' Wolf is represented here, too, with his "Commit A Crime," replete with Ulmer and Reid's twin guitar assault. Next up to be represented is Son House, with "Grinnin' In Your Face." Charlie Burnham gives the tune a back porch quality with his fiddle and mandolin.
Bessie Smith's "Backwater Blues" goes all the way back to the 1920's and with it being about the risks and adversity poor black people face living in flood prone areas, it was just as relevant today as it was then. The song is rendered as a gentle, jazzy blues.
I always felt that the best blues draw heavily on tradition while speaking at a gut level to the concerns and conditions of the here and now. Ulmer stepped up to the plate and delivered just that with Bad Blood In The City; The Piety Street Sessions. Blood may not be from New Orleans, but he proved here to be a true New Orleanian at heart.
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Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
Ulmer is a wonder, eh? i mean, i bought Are You Glad To Be In America? all those years ago and would have never thought he would be playing music like this.
2 - Michael J. West
Mark's right - Ulmer is dizzyingly unique. I know a modern-classical guitarist who says Morton Feldman, Derek Bailey, and Ulmer are his major influences...wouldn't have dreamed he'd be doing a blues record.
3 - Pico
Ulmer has actually been making blues records on and off since around 1990. But it wasn't until Memphis Blood that he got a lot of recognition for his blues side, which is why I call that record a "watershed" for him. Since then, blues seems to be all he does lately. As long as he makes them this good, that's alright by me.
4 - Michael J. West
Guess that tells you I haven't paid the attention to Ulmer that I should have since the late '80s records. *blush*
5 - Pico
No need to blush, Michael.
Everytime I think I know a few things about jazz I read one of your columns and come back down to earth again. The education is always fun, though.
6 - Michael J. West
And since you've got me prowling Amazon for Ulmer records, Pico, I can safely say that the feeling is more than mutual!