Cross Fire (Music Revelation Ensemble album)

For the 1984 Spinners album, see Cross Fire (Spinners album).

Cross Fire is an album by James Blood Ulmer's Music Revelation Ensemble, with guest saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and John Zorn, recorded in 1996 and released on the Japanese DIW label.^[1][2]

Cross Fire
Studio album by Music Revelation Ensemble
Released	1997
Recorded	December 17 & 18, 1996
Studio	Avatar, New York City
Genre	Jazz
Length	53:03
Label	DIW DIW 927
Producer	James Blood Ulmer & Kazunori Sugiyama
Music Revelation Ensemble chronology
Knights of Power (1996) Cross Fire (1997)
James Blood Ulmer chronology
Forbidden Blues (1996) Cross Fire (1997) Reunion (1998)

Reception

The Allmusic review by Don Snowden awarded the album 4 stars, stating, "Music Revelation Ensemble seems to be the context that Blood Ulmer reserves his strongest melodies for, and he plays with the kind of fire and invention that made him a major figure. Cross Fire probably isn't the best place to plunge in and explore the music, but it's a very worthy addition to the catalog".^[3]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]

Track listing

All compositions by James Blood Ulmer

1. "Law" – 5:36
2. "Suspect" – 7:10
3. "Devotion" – 4:30
4. "Sweet" – 5:18
5. "Proof" – 6:36
6. "My Prayer" – 9:14
7. "Evidence" – 7:59
8. "Backbeat" – 6:40

Personnel

• James Blood Ulmer – guitar
• Calvin "Hassan Truth" Jones – acoustic bass
• Cornell Rochester – drums
• John Zorn – alto saxophone (tracks 1, 3, 5 & 8)
• Pharoah Sanders – tenor saxophone (tracks 2, 4, 6 & 7)