James "Blood" Ulmer has at last become the blues man he always should have been. His last two records, produced by Vernon Reid, have finally taken him away from rote blues and into heartfelt and interesting arrangements.

He opened this set - the first in a three-night stand - with two solo songs. Blood's blues is so low, so far down it don't know which way is up, so bluesy that it doesn't matter what song he plays. In fact, you often can't tell what song he's playing anyway, but you can tell he's playing it and that's what counts. He brought the group up and kicked in with "Goin’ to New York," Leon Cornbaum and David Barnes trading licks on melodica and harmonica then switching to a country two-step for Charles Burnham's fast fiddle solo.

What makes Memphis Blood better than most contemporary blues bands, and certainly better than Blood's other blues bands, is that they aren't redundant. Each of the seven musicians has a part. Ulmer's wah-drenched guitar couldn't be further from Reid's clean pop-metal lines, and both guitarists leave enough space for the sure-footed bass and drums of Mark Peterson and Albert Dale. Barnes plays his harp nonstop without bleating over the top while Cornbaum switches from melodica to piano to Hammond organ. And even if the inclusion of Charles Burnham has more to do with his and Blood's long association than pure brainstorm, there's surely not enough blues violin around (not to mention his electric mandolin).

What's more, the songs are arranged (with Burnham perhaps left to find his own way, but he found it). John Lee Hooker's "You Know, I Know" became an upbeat Yardbirds roll. Willie Dixon’s "I Just Want to Make Love to You" took a quick, funky "Crosstown Traffic" turn, his "Spoonful" was full of pregnant pause and "Little Red Rooster" was naked and bold without it's signature riff. (They didn't forget the riff, they just saved it - oddly enough - for Mose Allison's "I Love the Life I Live and I Live the Life I Love.") Muddy Waters' "The Blues had a Baby (And They Named it Rock and Roll)” did get the standard treatment, but then how could it not?

The band was tighter than on their excellent No Escape from the Blues(Hyena), which was a little unfortunate but is to be expected since live blues has become all about rhythm-driven precision. Even Olu Dara, who seemed like he got it several years back, has come in off the porch to deliver that post-Muddy 2-and-4 power. (Dara plays on the new disc but wasn’t there for the gig.) They loosened up a little for a much demanded encore, with Blood calling a song they'd already played, Reid complaining, Blood starting anyway and stopping again and apologizing that it was like being out on a date and being asked to do it again: "But baby, I already gave you my best." Maybe so, but Ulmer and Reid have proposed a series of albums, following on The Sun Sessions and the new one. Let's hope we get another date.