"James "Blood" Ulmer (born February 2 or 8, 1940) is an American jazz, free funk and blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer plays a Gibson Byrdland guitar. His distinctive guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging". Ulmer's singing has been called "raggedly soulful".

Willie James Ulmer was born in St. Matthews, South Carolina. He began his career playing with various soul jazz ensembles, first in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1959Ð1964, and then in the Columbus, Ohio region, from 1964Ð1967. He first recorded with organist Hank Marr in 1964 (released 1967). After moving to New York in 1971, Ulmer played with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Joe Henderson, Paul Bley, Rashied Ali and Larry Young.

In the early 1970s, Ulmer joined Ornette Coleman; he was the first electric guitarist to record and tour extensively with Coleman. He has credited Coleman as a major influence, and Coleman's strong reliance on electric guitar in his fusion-oriented recordings owes a distinct debt to Ulmer.

His appearance on Arthur Blythe's two consecutive Columbia albums, Lenox Avenue Breakdown and Illusions, was followed by Ulmer's signing to that label. That resulted in three albums: Free Lancing, Black Rock, and 1983's Odyssey, which was the inaugural release of his Odyssey The Band with drummer Warren Benbow and violinist Charles Burnham, a trio that has continued to perform and record to this day. It was described at the time as "avant-gutbucket", leading writer Bill Milkowski to describe the music as "conjuring images of Skip James and Albert Ayler jamming on the Mississippi Delta."

He formed a group called the Music Revelation Ensemble circa 1980, initially co-led with David Murray for the first decade, that lasted into the mid-90s. Later recorded incarnations of the group featured either Arthur Blythe, Sam Rivers, Pharoah Sanders or John Zorn on saxophones. In the 1980s he co-led, with saxophonist George Adams, the Phalanx quartet.

Ulmer has recorded many albums as a leader, including a recent quartet of acclaimed blues-oriented records produced by Vernon Reid: Memphis Blood, No Escape from the Blues, Bad Blood in the City, and the solo guitar & vocals album Birthright.

Ulmer was a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.

In a 2005 Down Beat interview, Ulmer opined that guitar technique had not advanced since the death of Jimi Hendrix. He stated that technique could advance "if the guitar would stop following the piano," and indicated that he tunes all of his guitar strings to A.

In 2009, Ulmer started his own label, American Revelation, which has released four CDs to date; all are available only from his website, or at his shows.

In spring 2011, Ulmer joined saxophone luminary James Carter's organ trio as a special guest along with Nicholas Payton on trumpet for a six-night stand of performances at Blue Note New York."

"Charles Burnham (born 1950; also known as Charlie Burnham) is an American violinist and composer. He has a unique highly imaginative style that crosses genres, including bluegrass, delta punk, free jazz, blues, classical and chamber jazz. He often performs with a wah-wah pedal. He initially became renowned for his work on James "Blood" Ulmer's Odyssey album. The musicians on that album later performed and recorded as Odyssey the Band, sometimes known as The Odyssey Band. He was also a member of the String Trio of New York, and currently plays in the 52nd Street Blues Project, Hidden City, We Free StRings, Improvising Chamber Ensemble and the Kropotkins.

He has played on recordings by Living Colour, Susie Ibarra, Cassandra Wilson, Steven Bernstein, Queen Esther, Peter Apfelbaum, Henry Threadgill, Ted Daniel, Medeski Martin & Wood, The Woes, Hem, Elysian Fields, Adam Rudolph, Jonah Smith, The Heavy Circles, Mario Pavone, Joan As Police Woman, Rick Moranis, Doug Wamble, Steve Swell, John Zorn, Rufus Wainwright, Gabrielle Roth, Robert Musso, Jai Uttal, Soul Syndicate, Bobby Paunetto, Krishna Das, Sasha Dobson, Kenny Wollesen, Kato Hideki, Norah Jones, Billie Joe Armstrong, Emily Coates and Jason Kao Hwang.

He played a musician in the film Junior. He played on the soundtracks for Northfork, Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man; and an episode of the Backyardigans."

"Warren Benbow is a New York-based drummer who has worked and recorded with Nina Simone, Larry Willis with Eddie Gomez on the CD Inner Crisis, Olu Dara, Jimmy Owens with Chris White and Kenny Barron, Phyllis Hyman, Michael Urbaniak, Billy "Spaceman" Patterson, Teruo Nakamura. Theatre and film artists Bill Duke, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Gilbert Moses, Chapman Roberts, Melvin Van Peebles and was an original member of James Blood Ulmer's band 'Odyssey.' At the High School of Performing Arts in New York City Mr. Benbow studied drums and percussion with Jazz percussionist Warren Smith and with Morris Goldenberg of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Later at The Mannes College of Music he studied with Walter Rosenberger, also of the Philharmonic, and with Korean percussion teacher Dong Wong Park. While studying at the Jazzmobile with Freddie Waits and Albert Tootie Heath, Benbow was introduced by Waits to jazz vocalist Betty Carter, and his career as a professional drummer began. He has toured with Ulmer and played on Ulmer's albums Odyssey, and Reunion. Their latest recording is titled Back in Time. In addition to his jazz work, he has also worked as an actor and musician in Broadway musical productions. He has performed on television, in the studio, and in clubs or concert halls around the world with artists Whitney Houston, Gwen Guthrie, LL Cool J, Nancy Wilson, Mavis Stalpes, Brian McKnight, SWV, Mary J. Blige and others. Mr. Benbow has a Bachelor of Science degree in Music."