Get The Blessing

Get The Blessing

Get The Blessing are a British jazz fusion group from the United Kingdom, active since 2000. The quartet is made up of Jim Barr on bass, Clive Deamer on drums, Pete Judge on trumpet and Jake McMurchie on saxophone. Before using the name Get The Blessing, the group is known as The Blessing.

Background

The group forms in Bristol, England, when Barr and Deamer, the rhythm section from Portishead, join with McMurchie and Judge. Their formation comes from a shared interest in Ornette Coleman. Their music is mainly instrumental, but guest vocals appear on some tracks, including Tammy Payne on “The Unnameable” and “Music Style Product”. Deamer also performs a vocal live version of “Bugs in Amber”, titled “Moot”.

Recordings and recognition

Get The Blessing release four albums to date. Their debut album, All is Yes, wins Best Album at the 2008 BBC Jazz Awards. Lope and Antilope is their most recent album. The group is associated with a wider generation of acts that mix jazz and rock, alongside Esbjörn Svensson Trio, Led Bib, Polar Bear and Acoustic Ladyland.

Live presentation

The band’s live performances are noted for their instrumental focus and for combining hard rock volume with jazz horn writing. They dress uniformly in white shirts and dark grey suits and often cover their heads in promotional images and on record sleeves, most notably with brown paper bags. Jim Barr’s deadpan spoken introductions are part of the audience interaction at their shows.