James Blood Ulmer › Similar Artists

Sonny Sharrock - 82% match to James Blood Ulmer

Warren Harding Sharrock, 27 August 1940, Ossining, New York, USA, d. 26 May 1994, Ossining, New York, USA. Now regarded as one of the most remarkable guitarists in contemporary jazz, Sharrock was a late starter, teaching himself the instrument at the age of 20. Before that he sang in a doo-wop group, the Echoes. He recorded with them for Alan Freed but the tracks were never Read more

Magic Slim - 74% match to James Blood Ulmer

David Murray - 69% match to James Blood Ulmer

Last Exit - 68% match to James Blood Ulmer

This high-power, high-intensity band came together by chance when its members happened to be playing in the same city (Zurich) in early 1986 and went on to become something of a cult institution. Comprising Peter Brötzmann, Sonny Sharrock, Bill Laswell and Ronald Shannon Jackson, their music was passionate and visceral, mixing elements of free jazz, blues, metal, hardcore, Read more

Anthony Braxton - 65% match to James Blood Ulmer

4 June 1945, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Braxton began playing clarinet in high school, studied music for one semester at Wilson Junior College, then joined the US Army, where he played clarinet and alto saxophone. In 1966 he joined Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (the AACM), a newly formed musicians’ co-operative whose leading members i Read more

Cecil Taylor - 59% match to James Blood Ulmer

15 March 1929, New York City, New York, USA. A towering figure in post-war avant garde jazz, Taylor has been hailed as the greatest piano virtuoso of the twentieth century because of the phenomenal power, speed and intensity of his playing. ‘We in black music think of the piano as a percussive instrument, ’ he told writer John Litweiler, ‘we beat the keyboard, Read more

Steve Lacy - 56% match to James Blood Ulmer

Albert Ayler - 55% match to James Blood Ulmer

13 July 1936, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, d. 25 November 1970, New York City, New York, USA. In common with many of the radical figures of the 60s avant garde, tenor and alto saxophonist Ayler paid his dues in R&B bands. He started his musical education on alto, and played in the church attended by his family. At the age of 10 he began studying at the local academy of music, c Read more

Sam Rivers - 55% match to James Blood Ulmer

25 September 1930, El Reno, Oklahoma, USA. Alto, soprano and tenor saxophone, flute and piano player and composer. After extensive studies, Rivers began playing in and around Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 40s. (His first professional engagement had been with Jimmy Witherspoon during his military service.) During the next few years he played mostly in the Boston area wit Read more

Andrew Hill - 53% match to James Blood Ulmer

30 June 1931, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 20 April 2007, Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. Port Au Prince, Haiti, is usually given as Hill’s birthplace, but he actually hailed from Chicago. He studied composition privately with Paul Hindemith and Bill Russo, and played accordion and tap-danced on the streets where Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines heard him. In his teens he was i Read more

Don Cherry - 52% match to James Blood Ulmer

18 November 1936, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, d. 19 October 1995, Alhaurín El Grande, Málaga, Spain. Cherry began playing trumpet while still attending high school in Los Angeles, where he was raised. He also played piano and some of his first public performances were on this instrument when he worked in R&B bands. An early musical associate was Billy Hig Read more

David S. Ware - 48% match to James Blood Ulmer

David Spencer Ware, 7 November 1949, Plainfield, New Jersey, USA. Before studying at the Berklee College Of Music in the late 60s, Ware had already begun playing several members of the saxophone family. He formed his own band, Apogee, and played in the USA and Europe with both Cecil Taylor and Andrew Cyrille, recording 1978’s Metamusicians’ Stomp with the latter. Read more

Art Ensemble Of Chicago - 47% match to James Blood Ulmer

Founded in 1968 by trumpeter Lester Bowie (11 October 1941, Frederick, Maryland, USA, d. 9 November 1999, New York, USA), saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell (b. 3 August 1940, Chicago, Illinois, USA) and Joseph Jarman (b. 14 September 1937, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, USA) and bass player Malachi Favors (b. 22 August 1927, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 30 January 2004, Chicago, Illinois, U Read more

Eric Dolphy - 47% match to James Blood Ulmer

20 June 1928, Los Angeles, California, USA, d. 29 June 1964, Berlin, Germany. A fluent performer on several reed instruments, Dolphy began to play clarinet while still at school. On the west coast of America in the second half of the 40s he worked with Roy Porter’s band, before spending a couple of years in the US army. After his discharge, he played with several leadin Read more

Marc Ribot - 47% match to James Blood Ulmer

21 May 1954, Newark, New Jersey, USA. Ribot began playing guitar as a child, informally joining several garage bands while studying formally with classical guitarist and composer Frantz Casseus. Later, Ribot would dedicate an album to this Haitian-born guitarist-composer. In 1978, Ribot played with Brother Jack McDuff and Wilson Pickett, then joined the Realtones and the Upt Read more