Free Lancing is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer recorded in 1981 and released on the Columbia

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

 label. It was Ulmer's first of three albums recorded for a major label.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Brian Olewnick awarded the album 4 stars and states "it's Ulmer's stinging guitar lines — rough-hewn, corrosive, and scrabbling — throughout this recording that make it one of his finest".
Trouser Press

Trouser Press

Trouser Press was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow Who fan Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" ...

described both Free Lancing and the subsequent Black Rock

Black Rock (James Blood Ulmer album)

Black Rock is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer recorded in 1982 and released on the Columbia label. It was Ulmer's second of three albums recorded for a major label.-Reception:...

as "technical masterpieces, making up in precision what they lack in emotion (as compared to Are You Glad to Be in America?

Are You Glad to Be in America?

Are You Glad to Be in America? is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer recorded in 1980 and originally released on the Rough Trade label in the UK in 1980 and the Artists House label in the US in 1981....

). Working to expand his audience, Ulmer concentrates more on electric guitar flash, and actual melodies can be discerned from the improvised song structures (improvisation being one of the keys to harmolodics)."

Track listing

All compositions by James Blood Ulmer

1. "Timeless" - 4:22
2. "Pleasure Control" - 5:00
3. "Night Lover" - 5:22
4. "Where Did All the Girls Come From?" - 4:38
5. "High Time" - 4:00
6. "Hijack" -
7. "Free Lancing" - 4:42
8. "Stand Up to Yourself" - 4:37
9. "Rush Hour" - 5:32
10. "Happy Time" - 5:11

Personnel

• James Blood Ulmer - guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , vocals
• David Murray tenor saxophone
  Tenor saxophone
  The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
  
   (tracks 5, 6 & 9)
• Oliver Lake
  Oliver Lake
  Oliver Lake is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer and poet. He is known mainly on alto saxophone but also performs on soprano saxophone and flute....
  
   – alto saxophone
  Alto saxophone
  The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
  
   (tracks 5, 6 & 9)
• Olu Dara
  Olu Dara
  Olu Dara Jones is an American cornetist, guitarist and singer.-History:...
  
   - trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
    (tracks 5, 6 & 9)
• Ronnie Drayton - guitar (tracks 2, 4 & 8)
• Amin Ali - electric bass
  Electric Bass
  Electric bass can mean:*Electric upright bass, the electric version of a double bass*Electric bass guitar*Bass synthesizer*Big Mouth Billy Bass, a battery-powered singing fish...
  
  
• G. Calvin Weston - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Diane Wilson, Irene Datcher, Zenobia Konkerite - backing vocals (tracks 2, 4 & 8)