With an unclassifiable sound alike the grandchild of a Morricone soundtrack, the Canterbury scene, melancholic trip hop and krautrock, quirky Bristolian quartet GTB's new album OC DC marks a more mature, exploratory sound that is so much more what the media have branded ‘punk jazz'.
The
romantic rumours that the BBC Jazz Award-winning contemporary quartet Get The
Blessing met at an Ornette Coleman Appreciation Society in Bristol, could
easily be true. Get The Blessing's unique performances hark of the rich Bristolian
melancholy that revolutionised British pop music in the 90s, yet reflecting esoteric
variations on where jazz as-we-know-it has come from and is heading.
Maybe
it is the same Bristolianism, that
makes Get The Blessing so special; because it is the independence of the city's
music scene and hence glorious ignorance of what everyone else is into at the
time, that leads to the level of introspection required to make something truly
groundbreaking.
The
bi-polar suggestions of new album ‘OC DC', their third album as a group and the
first for new home Naim Jazz Records, is summed up crisply by bass player Jim
Barr: "OC DC is when you flip between being obsessive compulsive...and not", a
fitting summation of the personality disorder that has Get The Blessing musing
over jazz traditions whilst simultaneously wrestling the inner rock n' roll
beast which has previously labelled them ‘punk-jazz'
by the media. The quartet's unique sound, however, amalgamates much, much
more...
As
much the grandchild of a long lost Morricone spaghetti soundtrack, the Canterbury
scene of old and Kraut-rock, as it is Bristolian, Get The Blessing are much
beloved for taking the ‘j' word by the scruff of the neck and giving it a good
shake. Not least because of their image. Brightly coloured cellophane masks and
dead-pan obscurity set them apart from their contemporaries in the brit-jazz
scene. It is easy to comprehend how they've become a hit across concert halls
and underground clubs across Europe. Get The Blessing, true-to-form, demonstrate
how to obsessive over serious music, without taking themselves too seriously.
The
backbone of Get The Blessing is bass player Jim Barr and drummer Clive Deamer, who
double as the rhythm section for trip-hop legends Portishead. The parallel
assault of trumpeter Pete Judge and saxophonist Jake McMurchie, complete with pedal
boards and electronics befitting a lead guitarist, complete the signature sound
that defies classification. Don't be surprised to see a retro-horror movie titled 'Invasion Of The Bristolian Bagheads' in which Get The Blessing write, star and also perform the music...