James Blood Ulmer, Guitarist Who Smashed Through Genres, Dies at 86

"When he showed [Ornette] Coleman, his mentor beamed. 'He made me feel like I just graduated from his harmolodic school of music,' Mr. Ulmer said …" James Blood Ulmer, Guitarist Who Smashed Through Genres, Dies at 86 (NYT obit - gift link):

“James Blood Ulmer, whose aggressively avant-garde guitar compositions demolished the boundaries separating jazz, funk, punk, blues and even country music, earning him comparisons to Jimi Hendrix…Wes Montgomery and his mentor….Ornette Coleman, died on June 3 in Manhattan. He was 86.” GIFT

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/a...

RIP James Blood Ulmer

www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/a...

“By then, Mr. Ulmer was appearing at downtown Manhattan venues like CBGB, where jazz was a rarity. He opened for post-punk bands like Public Image Ltd and for musicians like Captain Beefheart who were just as category-defying as he was.” www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/a...