Free Lancing | ||||
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Studio album by James Blood Ulmer | ||||
Released | 1981 | |||
Recorded | 1981 | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer | Jim Fishel, Roger Trilling & James "Blood" Ulmer | |||
James Blood Ulmer chronology | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Free Lancing is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer recorded in 1981 and released on the Columbia label. It was Ulmer's first of three albums recorded for a major label.
The Allmusic review by Brian Olewnick awarded the album 4 stars and states "it's Ulmer's stinging guitar lines — rough-hewn, corrosive, and scrabbling — throughout this recording that make it one of his finest".
Trouser Press described both Free Lancing and the subsequent Black Rock as "technical masterpieces, making up in precision what they lack in emotion (as compared to Are You Glad to Be in America?). Working to expand his audience, Ulmer concentrates more on electric guitar flash, and actual melodies can be discerned from the improvised song structures (improvisation being one of the keys to harmolodics)."