For the last day in my week of Ted Panken interviews, here is guitarist John Abercrombie in a Downbeat Blindfold Test from 2001. The Jazz great listens to 15 cuts and makes some pretty astute observations; it does amaze me sometimes how accurate these folks can be on these Blindfold Tests. From the piece, Abercrombie on James Blood Ulmer (who he was stumped on!):

Wow!  This is great.  I don’t know that tune.  I have to get this.  I’ve heard some other stuff by Blood and I liked it.  I have some of this stuff where he was singing that I enjoyed, but I’ll have to get this.  This definitely sounds very hip to me.  Very open.  And it’s kind of funny; that’s why I thought it was Sonny Sharrock, because of some of the similarities.  He sounds to me more harmonic.  I hear more harmonic information in his playing.  It’s cool.  And I think he does sort of play with his thumb a little bit, because it’s got a little bit of that feel.  It’s plucky.  He chokes the notes a little bit, so it… I’ll give this 5 stars.  I still like it. [AFTER] Now that you tell me it was Rashied Ali, it makes total sense, because I played with him once, and he has a great way of playing a sort of open music.  you really feel like they’re playing on a form or something.  It really has a great swing, a pulse to it.  It’s not just free.  I think that’s what makes it work.  That’s what makes everything sound so great.

Click here to read John Abercrombie’s Uncut Downbeat Blindfold Test