The most original British jazz band comes in Serbia

Monday, 14 May 2012 10:30

Get The Blessing at Nišville

One of the most original and exciting bands to emerge in years Get The Blessing comes at Nisville 2012. "The heavyweights of the contemporary jazz scene" (Indipendent , London) is going to perform at last evening of the festival, at Sunday, August 19th.

Rarely has a band taken the jazz scene by the scruff of the neck and given it such a good shaking as Get the Blessing. Winners of the BBC Jazz Award 2008 for their debut album "All Is Yes," Get The Blessing are one of the UK’s most exciting live bands.

Get The Blessing formed in 2000 to share a fascination with improvised music, a pathological distrust of chords and a passion for cake and North African cuisine. Although they started out playing Ornette Coleman they steadily began slowly to make music of their own. Their new approach has much in common with the current crop of ‘postjazz’ trailblazers - bands such as EST, Polar Bear and Acoustic Ladyland – but also draws from influences as diverse as the Kings of Leon, Tortoise, Morphine, Elvis Costello, The Ramones, Red Snapper and Albert Ayler, with jazz, rock, punk and avant-garde all colliding in a joyous celebration of sound.

Bassist Jim Barr and drummer Clive Deamer from trip-hop legends Portishead joined forces with the twin horns & electronics of saxophonist Jake McMurchie and trumpeter Pete Judge, GTB have forged a unique signature sound that defies easy classification, yet never loses sight of thumping tunes, monstrously infectious beats, or joyous collective spontaneity.

Get The Blessing released their debut album All Is Yes in February 2008 to universal acclaim. Get The Blessing have stormed onto the scene, taking riffs and rhythms from rock and dance music and artfully welding them onto fearsomely inventive improvisation, winning rave reviews and legions of fans of all ages and tastes along the way.

Their latest album, OC:DC, is released ahead of a European and North American tour. With influences ranging from Ornette Coleman and Tortoise, to Blondie and Samuel Beckett, GTB consistently confound expectation. Prepare to be teased, beguiled, soothed, spooked, jolted, and ultimately uplifted.

Barr played previously with the Jukes and Peter Gabriel, while Deamer's (who is replaced by Dylan Howe for this zer tour) extensive and wildly diverse credits include Hawkwind, Jeff Beck, Loreena McKennitt, Alison Moyet, Champion Jack Dupree, Dr. John, Tom Jones, Jools Holland, and Robert Plant. Trumpeter Pete Judge and saxophonist Jake McMurchie both have played with Super Furry Animals. Judge is known for his work on movie soundtracks and with Portishead, while McMurchie leads his own jazz quartet, and was a member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra.

LINKS:

www.gettheblessing.co.uk

http://soundcloud.com/naimedge/sets/get-the-blessing-oc-dc/s-R7JRk (new album)

http://www.airartistagency.com/web/gtb-tour-dates.html (announced tour dates)

http://youtu.be/PFtnpQUsmic (Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brcpslv_6O4 (Video)

PRESS:

"they may well be the most original and exciting band on the British scene at the moment" (Jazzwise);

"GTB harness rock and jazz with uncompromising power"; (Time Out)

"the heavyweights of the contemporary jazz scene"; (The Independent)

Praise for OCDC

“… mixes scorching rock with Ornette Coleman-like sax and much more besides to thrilling effect …” The Guardian

“OCDC reveals Get The Blessing as a contemporary music combo with even more delicious potential than we realised” Venue Magazine

Praise for GTB live

“…they may well be the most original and exciting band on the British scene at the moment.” – Jazzwise (review of Cheltenham Jazz Festival)

“GTB harness rock and jazz with uncompromising power” – Time Out

“…the band’s cool, stylish heat is irresistible.” – The Telegraph

“És un so diferent que deixa els sibarites del jazz convençuts d’una gran troballa, potser la mateixa sensació que va tenir el primer europeu que va tastar a Amèrica la xocolata.” – Ara Estiu, Spain

Praise for Bugs In Amber

“… this outfit will surely recharge the jazz world.” – BBC Music Magazine

“… the heavyweights of the contemporary jazz scene” – The Independent

“… a really varied and inventive genre-crossing set” – The Guardian

“Occasionally you hear a jazz album that you know would shift truckloads of units if only it weren’t labelled ‘jazz’. Bugs in Amber is just such a disc.” – Metro

Praise for All Is Yes

“Gloriously powerful”

BBC Music Magazine.

“Seamless and startling”

The Times.

“The Blessing are a blast”

Mojo

“A revelation”

London Evening Standard