Grab it!

Grab it!

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Duration 9:44

Originally composed for tenor sax in  November 1999 for Arno Bornkamp with financial support from the Dutch PFA, its world premiere took place at a concert called ‘Who’s afraid of…” at Vredenburg, Utrecht season 1999-2000. After a performance by Arno at the World Sax Congress in Montreal, July 2000 however, Grab it! became a repertoire piece for the tenor sax and was by request arranged for several other instruments and combinations.
Growing up in the 60s with blues, jazz and rock, American music had a strong impact on JacobTV.  Language is one of the origins of music, which is for instance obvious in blues. In Grab it!, the ‘no-man’s-land’ between speech and music is explored. Speech becomes music, when people get emotional. Like crying and singing can become one…

Grab It! is based on speech samples from life-sentenced prisoners. Their verbal vitality and aggression matches the harsh sound of the tenor sax. Grab it! is a competing duet, a ‘battle’ if you like, for tenor sax and speech grooves in unison. The sax ‘competes’ with a non-stop range of syllables, words and one liners, demanding endurance from the performer.  In jail suicide is not uncommon: ‘He tied one end around the pipe, and he hung himself. So he went out the back door rapped up in a green sheet with a tag on his toe….You lose everything! But Grab it! is not just sad, it can also be understood as a ‘memento vivere’. Death row as a metaphor for life: Life is worth living. ‘Grab it!’
A variety of versions are available. Lately, a quintet version was added.
A set of 2 concert videos contain videos by both M.Zegers and JacobTV and come as mp4 files.
Bass & drums accompaniment parts can be ordered separately and added to any solo version.

For these small & large ensemble versions ( visit Grab it! XXL)

GRAB IT! EK* rock band 2006 version
GRAB IT! XL * for a ‘one of each’ ensemble
GRAB IT! XXL for big band + string orchestra
GRAB IT! X12 * for saxophone ensemble & drums

Grab it!: the original version for tenor sax solo, feat. Arno Bornkamp:

Grab it! on electric guitar feat. Kevin Gallagher:

Tenor sax with bass & drums from Mexico, by Juan Gabriel Hernández (Drums), Omar Adalberto (Bass), Octavio Yñigo (Tenor Sax):

Grab it! for percussion, feat. Delia Stevens www.conundrums.net


Grab it! on tuba, by Néstor Martínez Jara:

Grab it! Quintet version by members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orch.