The Grip - Celebrate - 1LP

This playful, freewheeling and energetic trio is comprised of three of Europe’s most in demand and respected jazz musicians. Joining Finn Peters on flutes and sax, we have the highly individual playing of Oren Marshall (Sons of Kemet) on tuba and Tom Skinner (Melt Yourself Down, Owiny Sigoma Band) on drums. Both musicians have previously released records on Slowfoot, Skinner most recently under his Hello Skinny moniker, and both have collaborated extensively with Finn over the years, most notably on his critically acclaimed ‘Music Of The Mind’ project.

In some respects The Grip is a reaction to the Music of the Mind project, that heavily featured live sampling, electronics and ‘…covered the stage with wires’. Wanting to bring the music down to earth again, this completely acoustic trio was born. Inspired by stories fictional and true, their telepathic compositions encompass music from hard blues to free bop and deep funk.

The name "The Grip" is taken from the classic free jazz album by Arthur Blythe. Finn worked with the legendary drummer from the album, Steve Reid, shortly before he died in 2009. Oren has also collaborated with Bob Stewart, the tuba player from that record. Blythe is a big influence on the musicians, but more importantly, the idea of making events (artistic, musical, social) happen within communities is crucial to The Grip's vision.

After a string of successful dates the group convened in label boss Frank Byng's South London studio and, true to their philosophy, recorded the album in a day. The resulting recording is fresh and spontaneous and their dynamic interplay clearly the result of years of mutual collaboration. The album is being released as a limited edition vinyl.