At their last appearance in Prague in 2002, James "Blood" Ulmer's band The Raw Blues Experience looked and sounded great. Ulmer himself, wearing a long white robe, led the band with his sublime fuzz-tone guitar work and raspy growl.

The small crowd that night at Baráčnická rychta went wild, just as an even-smaller crowd had at Rock Café the year before, when he performed with the amazing Brooklyn-based singer Queen Esther. But in a backstage interview after the 2002 show, what Ulmer had to say was, "I'm tired of playing these little clubs, man. ... I wanna play festivals. That's what I'm playing in America."

For most American jazz musicians, it's the other way around — small clubs and dismal crowds in the States, big crowds at huge festivals in Europe. Ulmer still seems to be a foot soldier in Europe, though at home he long ago earned the rank of four-star general in both jazz and blues.

As a first-rate guitarist and singer, Ulmer (born 1942) is in many ways a descendent of Jimi Hendrix. But early on he took the avant-garde jazz path instead of rock 'n' roll, collaborating in the '70s with free jazz legend Ornette Coleman.

Since then he's best-known for his own recordings, such as Tales of Captain Black (1978, produced by Coleman) and Odyssey (1983), combining his aggressive, jagged guitar sound with free jazz and hard funk. When punk and the no-wave scene took off in New York City in the mid-'70s, Ulmer also fronted the first black group, The James Blood Band, to play punk-funk no wave. His influence is still heard today in New York–based avant–garde jazz and indie rock guitarists like Marc Ribot.

But in Europe, it's a different story. "I play big venues in America, major festivals," he said in 2002. "Here in Europe, I'm still playing in these [small clubs]. Ain't nothing wrong with this place; I'm glad this place exists. But I haven't played in these little places for years, and I'm ready to play somewhere bigger."

Since then Ulmer has been juggling a number of musical projects — his rock band, The Raw Blues Experience, a jazz group, The New Art Jazz Quartet, and a blues group, Memphis Blood. The Memphis Blood group with co-guitarist Vernon Reid, formerly of Living Color, recorded classic blues songs in the legendary Sun Studios in 2001.

And Memphis Blood is the vehicle for Ulmer's return to Prague after a four-year gap. He'll get his wish to play a festival when the band performs at Stromovka Park this weekend — one of several music festivals being held in the city rather than the countryside this year, and with a solid lineup. Along with Ulmer and Reid, Maceo Parker, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Sinead O'Connor are on the bill.

"If you want to play to more people, you've gotta play the festivals," Ulmer said during his last visit. "If you play the festivals, you don't even have to worry about the people. I'll play all kinds of festivals — blues, jazz, rock, whatever you got."