Rarely Heard: James Blood Ulmer - Are You Glad to be in America?

James 'Blood' Ulmer, one of the heroes of my youth! At times like these in the States I always come back to this song, a question ringing in my mind: "Are You Glad to be in America?" and feel glad I don't live there aynmore. I still have his early collaboration with Ornette Coleman (another hero of mine!), Tales of Captain Black, and my favourite album of his with the Music Revelation Ensemble: No Wave. I recently went through some pain trying to get his 'hit' album Are You Glad to be in America? on cd, it's being sold at unreasonable prices. At the time (late 70s/early 80s) I was so keen to see him live, but always missed the opportunities, and most of my friends did not share my passion for his music. Nowadays, Ulmer is playing straight blues, but he's still a fanatstic guitarist, and you will always be able to recognize the sound of his guitar playing, be it free jazz or blues.