Get The Blessing – OCDC (2012) (Music Review)

Get The Blessing – OCDC (2012) I’m not a fan of pure jazz. I admit, it’s too complicated and twisted for me. But of course I can’t deny that this musical movement is the father, the grandfather, the ancestor of modern music, which is often considered simpler and less complicated by purists. In short! As far as I’m concerned, I like it when Jazz is mixed with other styles such as Funk Jazz, mostly from America and popularised through musicians like Herbie Hancock and which more or less started with artists like Miles Davis.

Fun fact: Jazz-funk dancing is directly related to the genre, with Jennifer Lopez popularising it in the sketch comedy TV series In Living Color. There’s also been Punk Jazz with bands like Minutemen. And then, of course, there’s Jazz Rock with the great Frank Zappa. But that hasn’t stopped him from doing Rock, Progressive Rock, Blues, Experimental Jazz, Fusion, Classical Pop, Avant-garde and even Doo-wop! Get The Blessing is also a Jazz Rock band. Most of their songs are instrumental, although there have been singers like Tammy Payne on songs like “The Unnameable” and “Music Style Product” and Deamer on “Bugs in Amber”.

Get the Blessing (previously known as Blessing) are a quartet based in Bristol, England. The band formed in 2000 when Jim Barr (bass guitar) and Clive Deamer (drums), who had played with Portishead, joined Jake McMurchie (saxophone) and Pete Judge (trumpet) in their appreciation. For promotional photos and album covers, they often cover their heads with orange cellophane. Get the Blessing have released six albums; their debut All Is Yes won Best Album at the 2008 BBC Jazz Awards. Largely deserved, I think all their albums deserve awards.

Because, Yes, I’m a huge fan of this band. I’m not being objective at all, because I love everything they do. The name of this album refers to and means “Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre”. You can think of other bands when you listen to these albums. Pigbag as well as the more recent Too Many Zooz or Lucky Chops.

My Rating