Infused with a deep sense of the blues and equally informed by Ornette Coleman's Harmolodic conception, this classic quartet reissue from 1978 brings to light the pacy and exuberant fire of Ulmer's guitar paired with the happy holler and shout of Ornette's alto. Originally released on Coleman's own Artist's House label, 'Tales Of Captain Black' marked a breakthrough for Ulmer and now happily sits as one of his outstanding achievements along wth the rest of his current output on DIW (trust the Japanese to be so thoroughly sussed on Ulmer's relevence to contemporary jazz). The recording marks the interim period before Coleman launched himself into the early incarnations of his electric Prime Time band, a group whose modus operandi seemed to be 'everyone soloing at once, and in different keys' (a glorious pot-pourri of sound, to be sure). With 'Tales' we hear this idea diluted, with more adherence to theme-and-solo, reduced down to the quartet featuring an equal-strength rhythm section of Denardo Coleman on drums and Jamaaladeen Tacuma on electric bass, a constantly busy and out-funky gallop along with Ornette's irrepressible birdsong and Ulmer's spiky riffing. It's a brief (33 minutes) and invigorating romp through Ulmer's level-headed harmolodic view, with the saxophonist commiting himself to more sparing statements. A classic debut and very welcome on cd. Contact Birdland Records
Reviewed by Matt Krieg
Source: Sept '96 'Jazz Notes'
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