James Blood Ulmer / Джеймс Блад Ульмер
Starting out as an orthodox rhythm’n’blues axe slinger, Ulmer radically transformed his style in the early 70s as he fell under the spell of free jazz maven Ornette Coleman and the latter’s revolutionary harmolodic concept (a unique system for collective improvisation). As a result, Ulmer created a discursive idiom defined by scratchy chords and jagged melodic shards. More recently, Ulmer has explored his blues roots, though his sui generis approach to jazz guitar remains unparalleled among the best jazz guitarists in history.