Despite the Comparisons, Ulmer Does Own Thing(s)

Beyond jazz’s mainstream and outside the confines of commercial jazz radio, singer and guitarist James Blood Ulmer continues his idiosyncratic explorations.

Ulmer, who plays two shows at the Spirit Club in San Diego this Friday night, has often been linked to jazzman Ornette Coleman and rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix. In truth, he’s one of the few true originals around.

And, according to Ulmer, the press has overemphasized his ties to Hendrix.

“I never played with him. Yeah, he played guitar, but the only guitar player I listen to is Wes Montgomery.”

On the 1987 album “America--Do You Remember the Love?,” his last American release, Ulmer’s vocals call to mind the earthy storytelling of Taj Mahal, while his best guitar work has a melodic, meditative quality due in part to the unusual tunings he uses.

Sometimes, Ulmer explained, all strings are tuned to the same note, so that open strings create a harmonic drone like the effect achieved by Indian sitarists. Although Ulmer’s guitar work on his vocal numbers tends to be sparse and supportive of the singing, on instrumental tunes his improvisations often become collages of fiery, staccato fragments that reveal his ‘60s and ‘70s experiences with avant garde saxophonists Coleman and Arthur Blythe.

After years of recording pretty much what pleased him, which made albums like “America” a rich mix of the danceable and the cerebral, Ulmer is changing his tactics in search of a broader following. Now, instead of doing earthy vocal songs side by side with searing, spacey instrumentals, Ulmer has two bands, one for each of the two directions.

“I’m tired of being related to as a weird guitar player who does everything at once,” Ulmer said. “More innovative, creative musical ideas create an elite audience. Now I’m trying to expand my audiences.”

With the group Phalanx, Ulmer continues to explore his instrumental music. He’s appearing in San Diego with his other band, which supports the vocal music he refers to as his “blues thing.” This band includes bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma and percussionist Calvin Weston, both of whom also played with Coleman.

Currently without an American recording deal, Ulmer has two albums due for release early next year: “James Blood Ulmer’s Blues Experience,” and a session with drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson and bassist Bill Laswell. He’s hoping to make his next album for a U.S. label.

Even though he wants to reach a larger audience, Ulmer doesn’t care to predict which radio format might accommodate his music.

“Lord, I don’t know that. If I had to figure that out and write music, too, I’d be in big trouble.”

Ulmer plays shows at 9 and 11:15. Opening will be The Crows, combining members of Manhattan Transfer and the Mighty Penguins.

After Ulmer kicks it off, the Week of the Guitarist continues Tuesday night, Dec. 12, in the San Diego City College Theater with a debut performance by Jim Storey with his new band Open Channel.

Storey, 36, has played with Eddie Henderson, Richie Cole and Pharoah Sanders, as well as locals Hollis Gentry, Joe Marillo, Bruce Cameron and the late Ella Ruth Piggee, but he’s trying to launch a career as a leader. The music, he hopes, is challenging, but also accessible.

“This is sort of progressive fusion,” Storey said. “We use acoustic bass, percussion and drums with electric guitar, keyboards and sax. It’s not really funk like Lites Out jazz. It’s more progressive, leaning toward Latin.”

Storey, who grew up emulating blues masters like B.B. King and Albert King before chasing after jazzmen like Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, John Scofield, John Abercrombie and Pat Metheny, has put together a crack crew including saxophonist Steve Feierabend, Chris Conner on bass, Alan Eicher on keyboards, Danny Campbell on drums and Kim Kimmery on percussion. The band has a repertoire including 30 of Storey’s compositions.

Their 8 p.m. performance will be broadcast live on KSDS-FM (88.3). If you don’t live in the heart of the city, you can receive the signal over most local cable television systems. A “splitter” allows you to run a separate line directly to the back of your receiver.

Checkfield partners and studio wizards John Archer and Ron Satterfield are putting the finishing touches on the follow-up album to “Through The Lens,” titled “A View from the Edge.” The band’s first three albums have sold a total of more than 160,000 copies.

RIFFS: The Daniel Hook Quartet, led by the French swing singer, will be featured this Sunday at 7 p.m. on KSDS’s “Le Jazz Club” program. At 1 p.m. Saturday, Erin Searles will highlight the music of trumpeter Donald Byrd on her “Silhouettes in Jazz” program. . . . At Croce’s in downtown San Diego: Friday night, Pieces, the a cappella group, and Algo Caliente; Saturday night: pianist Bob Hamilton followed by the Joe Marillo Quartet; Sunday night: A.J. Croce followed by Joe Marillo’s jam session. . . . At Diego’s Loft: Friday night, saxophonist Gary Lefebvre; Saturday night, Algo Caliente; Sunday night, fusion with Vehicles. . . . Tonight and Friday night at the B Street Cafe & Bar in downtown San Diego: the Mark Lessman Band. . . . Next Wednesday, Dec. 13, Fattburger plays Art Good’s “Jazz Trax Nite” at the Catamaran in Mission Beach.