Best of 2018 #30: Get the Blessing – “Bristopia”

Get the Blessing is Exhibit A that the modern jazz sound remains in a perpetual state of metamorphosis.  GTB have a fresh sound all their own.  It’s not post-bop or avant-garde or really belonging to any particular school… just their own formula and their own sound, inventive and innovative and, yet, a cursory appraisal returns an opinion of, yeah, this is jazz.  On their 2018 release Bristopia, the quartet of bassist Jim Barr, drummer Clive Deamer, saxophonist Jake McMurchie and trumpeter Pete Judge reveal that their own personal creative evolution is also still underway, as the melodic grooves of previous recordings gain a bit more edge, and, as a result, heavy electronic effects possess an immediacy all their own, frantic almost, as if the wings of a butterfly fresh out of the cocoon.  This is one of the most original groups on the scene, and every note they play proves that assertion.

Released on Kartel Music Group.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.  Also, for Bird is the Worm.

Music from Bristol, UK.

Available at:  Amazon | Bandcamp