| Music Speaks Louder Than Words | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1996 | |||
| Recorded | December 18 & 19, 1995 | |||
| Studio | East Side Sound, New York City | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 54:24 | |||
| Label | DIW DIW 910 | |||
| Producer | James Blood Ulmer & Kazunori Sugiyama | |||
| James Blood Ulmer chronology | ||||
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Music Speaks Louder Than Words (subtitled James Blood Ulmer Plays the Music of Ornette Coleman) is an album by James Blood Ulmer recorded in 1995 and released on the Japanese DIW label. [1] [2]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [3] |
Opinions of the album varied. The Allmusic review by Don Snowden awarded the album 11⁄2 stars, stating, "what an enormous let-down Music Speaks Louder Than Words is in terms of execution ... Ulmer sounds distracted and disinterested, his guitar lines all introverted thumb mumbles and musings played softer than his acoustic rhythm section (and they're being sensitive) ... What a wasted opportunity". [3] In JazzTimes Bill Milkowski wrote "Blood always sounds best when he’s skronking over the top of a free flowing, interactive and understated rhythm section ... He conjures up that more open-ended vibe on this collection of Ornette Coleman compositions ... when he’s using space dramatically, surfing on top of rolling waves of rhythm, there is no more distinctive and startling sound in jazz guitar. Few other six-stringers can capture the provocative, probing essence and dark beauty of Ornette like Blood". [4] On All About Jazz Glenn Astarita said "This is the recording Ulmer fans have been waiting for. The festivities are celebratory! Ulmer is a talented and unique voice on the guitar. Better yet, he swings! ... A well balanced affair and highly recommended". [5]
All compositions by Ornette Coleman except where noted
Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He was best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. His pioneering works often abandoned the harmony-based composition, tonality, chord changes, and fixed rhythm found in earlier jazz idioms. Instead, Coleman emphasized an experimental approach to improvisation, rooted in ensemble playing and blues phrasing. AllMusic called him "one of the most beloved and polarizing figures in jazz history," noting that while "now celebrated as a fearless innovator and a genius, he was initially regarded by peers and critics as rebellious, disruptive, and even a fraud."
Jamaaladeen Tacuma is an American jazz funk avant-garde bassist, composer and producer born in Hempstead, New York. He was a bandleader on the Gramavision label and worked with Ornette Coleman during the 1970s and 1980s, mostly in Coleman's Prime Time band.
Ronald Shannon Jackson was an American jazz drummer from Fort Worth, Texas. A pioneer of avant-garde jazz, free funk, and jazz fusion, he appeared on over 50 albums as a bandleader, sideman, arranger, and producer. Jackson and bassist Sirone are the only musicians to have performed and recorded with the three prime shapers of free jazz: pianist Cecil Taylor, and saxophonists Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler.
James "Blood" Ulmer is an American jazz, free funk and blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer plays a Gibson Byrdland guitar. His guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging". His singing has been called "raggedly soulful".
Harmolodics is a musical philosophy and method of musical composition and improvisation developed by American jazz saxophonist-composer Ornette Coleman. His work following this philosophy during the late 1970s and 1980s inspired a style of forward-thinking jazz-funk known as harmolodic funk. It is associated with avant-garde jazz and free jazz, although its implications extend beyond these limits. Coleman also used the name "Harmolodic" for both his first website and his record label.
In All Languages is a 1987 double album by Ornette Coleman. Coleman and the other members of his 1950s quartet, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Billy Higgins, performed on one of the two records, while his electrified ensemble, Prime Time, performed on the other. Many of the songs on In All Languages had two renditions, one by each group.
Denardo Ornette Coleman is an American jazz drummer. He is the son of Ornette Coleman and Jayne Cortez.
Of Human Feelings is an album by American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Ornette Coleman. It was recorded on April 25, 1979, at CBS Studios in New York City with his band Prime Time, which featured guitarists Charlie Ellerbee and Bern Nix, bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and drummers Calvin Weston and Coleman's son Denardo. It followed the saxophonist's failed attempt to record a direct-to-disc session earlier in March of the same year and was the first jazz album to be recorded digitally in the United States.
Tales of Captain Black is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer, featuring Ornette Coleman, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and Denardo Coleman, recorded in 1978 and originally released on the Artists House label. It was coproduced by Ornette. The album was remastered and rereleased on CD with a new mix by Joe Ferla approved and co-produced by Ulmer on the Japanese DIW label in 1996.
Are You Glad to Be in America? is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer, recorded in 1980 and released on the Rough Trade label in the UK. It was mixed by Ulmer, Geoff Travis, Roger Trilling, and Mayo Thompson. A remixed version, credited to Ulmer and Bob Blank, with a different running order and new cover art, was released by the Artists House label in the US in 1981. The album was released on CD with a new third mix by Joe Ferla, but the original running order, and with a new cover design featuring a recent photo of Ulmer, on the Japanese DIW label in 1995.
Blues Preacher is an album by the American guitarist James Blood Ulmer, recorded in 1992 and released in Japan on DIW Records and in the US on Columbia/DIW. It was released in North America in 1994.
Harmolodic Guitar with Strings is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer recorded in 1993 and released on the Japanese DIW label. The album features Ulmer on guitar with the Indigo String Quartet performing compositions which expand on Ornette Coleman's theory of harmolodics.
Forbidden Blues is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer recorded in 1996 and released on the Japanese DIW label in 1998.
After Dark is an album by James Blood Ulmer's Music Revelation Ensemble recorded in 1991 and released on the Japanese DIW label featuring performances by Ulmer with David Murray, Amin Ali and Cornell Rochester.
In the Name of... is an album by guitarist James Blood Ulmer's Music Revelation Ensemble, featuring bass guitarist Amin Ali and drummer Cornell Rochester, with guest saxophonists Sam Rivers, Arthur Blythe and Hamiet Bluiett, recorded in 1993 and released on the Japanese DIW label.
Cross Fire is an album by James Blood Ulmer's Music Revelation Ensemble, with guest saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and John Zorn, recorded in 1996 and released on the Japanese DIW label.
Avant-funk is a music style in which artists combine funk or disco rhythms with an avant-garde or art rock mentality. Its most prominent era occurred in the late 1970s and 1980s among post-punk and no wave acts who embraced black dance music.
In and Out is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer recorded in 2009 and released on the German In+Out label.
The Complete Science Fiction Sessions is a two-CD compilation album by Ornette Coleman. Released by Columbia Records in 2000, it brings together tracks recorded during September and October 1971 and September 1972 sessions at Columbia Studios in New York City. The album includes all of the music that was originally issued on Science Fiction and Broken Shadows, along with previously unreleased material. On the album, Coleman is joined by a core group of long-time associates consisting of trumpeters Don Cherry and Bobby Bradford, saxophonist Dewey Redman, double bassist Charlie Haden, and drummers Billy Higgins and Ed Blackwell. Guest artists include guitarist Jim Hall, pianist Cedar Walton, trumpeters Carmine Fornarotto and Gerard Schwarz, and vocalists David Henderson, Asha Puthli, and Webster Armstrong.
Grant Calvin Weston is a drummer best known for his association with Ornette Coleman's band Prime Time.
