Glasshouse

“Silence is a Flower”

(Self Released)

John Franks – drums & percussion, Lee Relfe – saxophones, James Hancock-Evans – piano & keyboards

“Silence is a Flower” is the third full album release from the Carmarthen based trio Glasshouse. The band name was inspired by the Great Glasshouse at the nearby National Botanic Garden of Wales.

The idea for Glasshouse was first formulated in 2017 by drummer John Franks and saxophonist Lee Relfe with the current edition of the band coming together in late 2021 with the intention of playing “melodic instrumental pieces that are entirely improvised”

Franks and Relfe are both experienced musicians who have worked extensively over many years across a variety of musical genres, including classical, jazz, alt rock and world music. Hancock-Evans is considerably younger and is a classically trained musician who also plays in trad jazz bands. His wide range of keyboard skills made him the ideal choice for Glasshouse.

The ensemble’s early publicity material described them as “the band you’ll never be able to put in a box”. More recently they have used the strap-line “spontaneous melodic jazz improvisations”, which represents a neat summary of their approach.

“Composition is slow improvisation : improvisation is fast composition” the trio state in the liner notes to this latest album, which also summarises their approach very accurately. “All tracks improvised (composed) by Hancock-Evans, Relfe & Franks” captures it nicely too.

In March 2022, with Hancock-Evans still a fairly recent addition to the ranks, Glasshouse performed a well received show at The Muse in Brecon, an event covered by The Jazzmann, who described the trio’s music as;
“blurring the lines between composition and improvisation, this was ‘free jazz’ as you’ve never heard it before, with grooves you could tap your feet to and melodies you could whistle.”
The full review can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/glasshouse-brecon-jazz-club-the-muse-arts-centre-brecon-05-03-2022

In 2023 Glasshouse released their first full length album recording “Five Panes”, which represented an excellent introduction to the trio’s distinctive brand of melodic free improvisation. My review of “Five Panes” can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/glasshouse-five-panes

I was honoured that the members of Glasshouse then decided to choose a line from that Brecon review as the title of their second album, “Blurring The Lines”, which featured a series of eight spontaneous melodic improvisations documented at Greenhill Studio during December 2023 and January 2024.  My review of that recording, from which much of the above biographical detail has been sourced, can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/glasshouse-blurring-the-lines

“Silence is a Flower” sees the members of Glasshouse continuing to hone their approach and features nine freely improvised pieces documented at Greenhill Studio on 22nd May 2024. The following album notes, which appear on the album packaging and on the trio’s Bandcamp page, offer an insight into the making of the album;

“This album is a record of a single ‘live in the studio’ set performed by the band on 22nd May 2024. Nine tracks all improvised spontaneously in the moment, with no pre-planning, and presented here in the order in which they were played. The gaps between the pieces have been edited out, but the performances are all un-edited with no overdubs and no post-production treatment beyond ensuring a balanced mix of instruments. Unlike our previous albums which featured varied pieces selected from a number of recording sessions, this album captures the mood and atmosphere of one particular evening, and how we interpreted that in the nine pieces we played.
Silence is a Flower is a Japanese expression which means ‘shut up’. The relevance of this to improvisation is that each piece has to start with silence: moments of contemplation before one band member makes the opening musical gambit. Before joining in, the other two players must ‘shut up’ and listen to that opening in order to intuit how best they should respond to it.”

The 22nd May recording session was a typical one for Glasshouse but as John Franks has explained it’s rare for all three members of this democratic trio to agree that every piece from a single recording session should be publicly released. The previous album, “Blurring The Lines” featured a selection of favourite material sourced from three separate recording sessions. Franks sees the decision to release all nine pieces from a single session as evidence of the trio’s growing confidence and maturity, and on the evidence of this recording it’s difficult to disagree with him.

The new album commences with “Air Born”, a suitably atmospheric piece that begins with the sounds of acoustic piano combined with the ambient shimmer of electric keyboards and Franks’ deft cymbal and drum colourations. Relfe joins to add saxophone melodies as the music becomes less ethereal and more anthemic, with Relfe’s sax soaring above the piano, keyboards and drums in a manner that befits the chosen title. As with so many other of Glasshouse’s melodic improvisations it’s difficult to believe that the piece hasn’t been through composed. As the saxophone eventually fades away the piece concludes in the same ambient fashion that it began.

A salvo from Franks’ drums introduces “On Target”, his neatly constructed feature leading into an atmospheric passage featuring the sounds of electric piano and breathy saxophone. The combination of drums and electric piano imparts the music with a kind of cerebral funkiness as the momentum of the music increases, with Relfe delivering a powerful saxophone solo. The energy then dissipates, the music becoming gentler, but still exploratory, as the trio navigate their way towards a resolution.

“Six Direction” is introduced by a Hancock-Evans piano figure that helps to set the course for the piece, with Franks providing terse drum commentary. Relfe’s sax is tentative at first but subsequently soars once more above the insistent rhythms generated by piano and drums. The intensity levels continue to rise and fall during this near right minute track, one of the album’s lengthiest, as the trio continue to make effective use of contrasting dynamics.

The rustle of percussion introduces “Circling”, subsequently augmented by low end piano rumblings and wispy sax melodies. Hancock-Evans also introduces electric keyboard sounds as the music continues to unfold, with Franks’ drums and percussion continuing to play a prominent role as Relfe’s sax gradually become more assertive. There’s a lot going on rhythmically and texturally on one of the album’s most dramatic pieces, with the trio again making effective use of dynamic contrasts during the course of an improvisation with a strong narrative arc.

Introduced by gently chiming electric piano and the dramatic shimmering of Franks’ percussion “Changeling” begins in suitably ethereal fashion with Relfe’s sax winding its way through the exotic textures created by the combination of keys and percussion. There were moments here when I was reminded of Miles Davis / Joe Zawinul’s “In A Silent Way”.  It’s notable that Glasshouse’s improvisations invariably embrace a range of moods and dynamics – and not in the usual idiomatic ‘free improv’ way of extreme contrasts. With Glasshouse it feels both more organised and more organic and when Franks eventually establishes a groove it’s the key for Relfe’s sax to soar once more as Hancock-Evans’ keys again impart an element of funkiness. The key is that it all sounds so natural and unforced, the kind of ‘spontaneous composition’ that this trio strives for.

Unaccompanied piano introduces “Barquentine”, the gently rippling arpeggios inviting a response from Franks, who delivers some typically exquisite cymbal work, in turn prompting a melodic response from Relfe. Despite a gradual increase in momentum this remains one of the album’s gentlest, most lyrical pieces, the spontaneous creation of beauty in the moment.

More dramatic percussion from Franks at the start of “Moon Pale”, his multi-layered cymbal shimmers evoking similarly atmospheric responses from Hancock-Evans on keys and Relfe on sax. Here I’m reminded of Jan Garbarek, even though Relfe’s tone on saxophone is very different. In fact I think that what I’m really thinking of is the ECM aesthetic in general, which I can also detect something of in Glasshouse’s music as a whole.

A Morse code like piano motif introduce “Tren”, complemented by the patter of Franks’ drums. Hancock-Evans slams out the motif more insistently with the left hand while adding left hand embellishments, this in turn prompting a further melodic response from Relfe. This is a compelling piece with that insistent motif swimming in and out of focus as the trio improvise around it, with Relfe’s sax taking the melodic lead. Again there’s plenty of variation during the course of a piece that represents another excellent example of the art of composing in the moment.

The album concludes with the title track, introduced by a gentle passage of acoustic piano and later featuring the sounds of softly brushed drums and gently probing tenor sax. It’s an elegiac performance that is very much in keeping with the title and which again embraces something of the ECM aesthetic. In its latter stages the playing becomes more assertive with Hancock-Evans and Relfe exchanging melodic ideas, before the music subsides again leaving sax and piano to deliver a gently lyrical conclusion.

I continue to be amazed by Glasshouse’s “spontaneous melodic improvisations”. It’s consistently astonishing that they are able to create such moments of beauty out of thin air and even more so that they are able to do it on such a regular basis. And, of course, it’s not just a studio thing, having seen the band perform live I know that they can do this in front of an audience too.

Which brings us to the “Elephant in the Room”. Franks tells me that he is still finding it difficult to find gigs for the band. It’s possible that promoters and audiences are frightened of the “I” word. ‘Free improvisation’ has become so closely associated with confrontation and belligerence that promoters are probably afraid that their audiences will be regaled by Peter Brotzmann style barrages of noise. Glasshouse, of course are completely different. As I have previously observed I feel that this is a group that is capable of building a considerable following – providing that they are given sufficient exposure. There’s nothing overly frightening or difficult about Glasshouse’s music but it is consistently interesting and varied and much of it is genuinely beautiful. I really do urge promoters to give this band a chance and music fans to hear this album. In the world of spontaneous music Glasshouse are doing something different, something that deserves greater recognition.

Glasshouse recordings are available via
https://glasshouse4.bandcamp.com/music

 

 

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