Glass is a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

trio from the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

. The group consists of Greg Sherman (born 1954) on

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, vibes &

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

, his brother Jeff Sherman (b. 1952) on

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

bass pedals Bass pedals are an electronic musical instrument with a foot-operated pedal keyboard with a range of one or more octaves. The earliest bass pedals from the 1970s consisted of a pedalboard and analog synthesizer tone generation circuitry packaged ...

and keyboards, and their childhood friend Jerry Cook (b. 1953) on

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

History

Glass began in the 1960s as a

Port Townsend Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,148 at the 2020 United States Census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County. In addition to ...

-based rock band called The Vaguest Notion, playing covers and the occasional original piece. On September 6, 1968, they attended a

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

concert at the

Seattle Center Coliseum Climate Pledge Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located north of Downtown Seattle in the entertainment complex known as Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, for which it was or ...

(Section 13 Row J Seat 6) where the opening act was the British band The

Soft Machine Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966–196 ...

. They were transfixed by The Soft Machine, a guitar-less power trio. Shortly thereafter The Vaguest Notion changed their name to Glass and began playing originals exclusively. In 1970 Jeff and Greg attended the Famous Arrangers Clinic in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, further refining their song-writing skills. Moving to

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. European ...

in 1971 to attend The

Evergreen State College The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a p ...

, they quickly became favorites on-campus for their spirited performances. Numerous live performances in and around Olympia, Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham, Port Townsend and other Pacific Northwest venues (including the first-ever live broadcast concert on KAOS-FM) gave them considerable local attention and accolades. They received their best reception at the first Jimi Hendrix Memorial Concert in Seattle (January 22, 1971 at the Eagles Auditorium Building) where they were the only band to play totally original material. Professional studio recordings were made in 1975, which they then shopped around to various record labels in an attempt to land a record contract.

Dissolution

Unfortunately the mid-1970s was not a good time for rehearsal-intensive progressive rock. The music industry was being taken over by punk rock and

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

to the point where even well-established rock acts were being dropped from their labels. Despite their well-honed local reputation, Glass was not offered a contract by any of the dozens of labels they approached on the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

and in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Two members even undertook a trip to London in the summer of 1975 to speak with industry representatives in the birthplace of progressive rock, but if anything the economic and musical depression was even worse in England. In 1977 additional recordings were made at Seattle's premiere Kaye-Smith Studios, but despite very positive comments from everyone who heard them, no recording contract was forthcoming. Not for lack of trying. Disappointed and disillusioned, the band officially went into remission rather than compromise. The band members went their separate ways, to pursue solo careers (see Jeff Sherman), start families and generally pretend to be normal people.

Re-emergence

Twenty years passed. By the mid-1990s a full-scale progressive rock revival was brewing, thanks to the internet and the new economics of CD releases. Glass began contemplating a comeback and started testing the waters, contacting old fans, making new business connections. In 1999 rehearsals began, and the old spark was still there. Their old tapes were dusted off and

digitized DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer- ...

. Glass started their own small-run record label, the appropriately-named Relentless Pursuit Records, to release Glass music and solo recordings by the band members. After considerable digital cleanup and editing, a 2-CD boxed set of all of their professional (and some amateur) recordings from 1973 to 1977 was released, entitled ''No Stranger To The Skies''. Following the resounding success of that release a third volume was released the following year. Several concerts were arranged and performed, not only in the Pacific Northwest but also in Mexico ( BajaProg Festival in 2002 and 2004), ProgWest Festival (Claremont CA, 2001), and

Progman Cometh Progman Cometh Music Festivals were two Canterbury scene music concerts held at the Moore Theatre in Seattle, Washington, USA, in 2002 and 2003. Progman Cometh 2002 Friday, August 16 * 7:00pm Glass (with friends) * 8:30pm Hughscore * 10:00pm Pip ...

Festival (Seattle 2002 and 2003).

Contract At Last

The acclaim garnered by their live performances attracted the attention of French independent progressive rock label Musea Records, who in 2004 offered to re-release ''No Stranger To The Skies'' and give it worldwide distribution. This release finally brought Glass global recognition. Simultaneously the Sherman brothers were brimming with ideas for new music, and began writing and rehearsing new material for their "first all-original album in 27 years." That album, ''Illuminations'', was produced by keyboardist Greg Sherman and featured a cover photo by Glass's long-time engineer and sound man Erik Poulsen. It was released by Musea in 2005 to uniformly great reviews. Bringing the music full circle, ''Illuminations'' features guest appearances by some of the

Canterbury scene The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury sound) was a musical scene centred on the town of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Associated with progressive rock, the term describes a loosely-defined, improvisational styl ...

's best musicians—the same movement that had originally sparked the formation of Glass some 37 years earlier—including

Hugh Hopper Hugh Colin Hopper (29 April 1945 – 7 June 2009) was a British progressive rock and jazz fusion bass guitarist. He was a prominent member of the Canterbury scene, as a member of Soft Machine and other bands. Biography Early career Starting in ...

(ex-Soft Machine),

Richard Sinclair Richard Stephen Sinclair (born 6 June 1948) is an English progressive rock bassist, guitarist, and vocalist who has been a member of several bands of the Canterbury scene. Biography Born in Canterbury, England, both his father (Dick Sinclair) ...

and

Phil Miller Philip Paul Miller (22 January 1949 – 18 October 2017) was an English progressive rock/jazz guitarist and a central part of the Canterbury scene. He was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire. Self-taught on guitar, Miller formed his first band, Del ...

In October 2007 Glass embarked on their first-ever European tour to support their newly released live recording on Musea, ''Glass Live at

''. Glass returned to the recording studio in 2008 and 2009 to record their 4th album for Musea, entitled ''Spectrum Principle''. It was released worldwide on October 15, 2010. Produced by drummer Jerry Cook, it is a departure from their previous studio album ''Illuminations'', featuring a wilder, more experimental sound. In April 2011 Glass came back to their hometown of

Port Townsend, Washington Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,148 at the 2020 United States Census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County. In addition to ...

to record a "live in-the-studio" album. They booked the old Arcadia Barn, where they had recorded thirty-eight years earlier, now renovated and called "The Palindrome." Produced by bassist Jeff Sherman, the album was recorded in

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

style; the band did not undergo the usual months of pre-recording preparations but instead came together in the studio and played whatever ideas came to mind. These recordings were made largely on period instruments, in the old-fashioned way, directly to a two-track analog tape recorder, just as they had in 1973. They were also given permission to record inside The First Presbyterian Church of Port Townsend on their magnificent 1849 Whalley-Genung pipe organ. The album, titled ''Palindrome'', was mastered by Michael King (engineer and author of "Wrong Movements: A

Robert Wyatt Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is a retired English musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming para ...

Biography") and released in 2014 on Musea Records. During March and April 2015 Glass laid down basic tracks for a new album, entitled ''Emergence''. Produced by Greg Sherman, the album went through a long two-year gestation of being honed and edited, eventually adding some sax and vocals by three guest musicians. The album was released January 5, 2018. Glass has a short cameo in the 2015 film about the

, '' Romantic Warriors III: Canterbury Tales'', and appears more extensively (over 26 minutes of performance footage, plus two interviews) in the companion disc ''Romantic Warriors III: Special Features DVD'', both from Zeitgeist Media. With the decline in physical media, in 2022 Glass began making their back catalog available on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

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YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Pandora (service) Pandora is a subscription-based music streaming service owned by Sirius XM Holdings based in Oakland, California, United States. The service carries a focus on recommendations based on the "Music Genome Project" — a means of classifying indiv ...

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

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and others.

Discography

* 2001: ''No Stranger To The Skies, Vol.s I & II'' (Relentless Pursuit Records RD4128) and

* 2002: ''No Stranger To The Skies, Vol. III'' (Relentless Pursuit Records RD4128-III) * 2004: ''No Stranger To The Skies'' (re-issue, Musea Records FGBG 4516.AR) * 2005: ''Illuminations'' (Musea Records FGBG 4594.AR) (feat.

) * 2007: ''Glass Live At

'' (Musea Records FGBG 4736.AR) (feat.

Elton Dean Elton Dean (28 October 1945 – 8 February 2006) was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello (a variant of the soprano saxophone) and occasionally keyboards. Part of the Canterbury scene, he featured in, among oth ...

William Kopecky William Kopecky (born November 17, 1969) is an American musician from Racine, Wisconsin, United States. He currently resides in France and, in 2011, work with Haiku Funeral featured his spoken-word delivery of dark poetry. He is known for playing ...

, Paul Kopecky) * 2010: ''Spectrum Principle'' (Musea Records FGBG 4854) * 2014: ''Palindrome'' (Musea Records FGBG 4935) * 2018: ''Emergence'' (Musea Records FGBG 4994) (feat.

on one track) * 2022: ''BajaProg 2004'' (feat.

) (

) * 2022: ''Out Of Time: The Wayne Barker Session'' (recorded 1971) (

) * 2022: ''No Stranger to the Skies, Vol. IV'' (recorded 1972-1976) (

) * 2022: ''After Playing at Lester's'' (recorded 1969) (

) * 2022: ''The Arcadia Tapes'' (recorded 1973 & 1975) (

) * 2022: ''Going Far Away'' (recorded 1988) (

) * 2022: ''The Border'' (by Greg Sherman) (

) * 2022: ''Canterburied in Seattle 2002'' (excerpts from the 2002

concerts) (

) * 2022: ''

Peninsula College Peninsula College is a public community college in Port Angeles, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. It is part of the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system and offers a Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Management degree, tr ...

'' (recorded 1978) (

) * 2022: '' PTHS'' (recorded 1972, 1973 & 1975) (

) * 2022: ''Progman 2003'' (the complete 2003

festival) (

) * 2022: ''Glassampler'' (a free sampler from the band's 50-year history) (

) * 2022: ''Zeitgeist'' (recorded 2016) (

) * 2022: ''The Robert Lang Session'' (featuring

and

in 2003 after

) (

) * 2022: ''Live in Europe'' (recorded 2007) (

) * 2022: ''The Lost Rehearsals'' (recorded in 1973) (

) * 2022: ''The HHR Tape'' (recorded 1975,remixed 1999) (

) * 2023: ''Chaos Insight'' (

) * 2023: ''Lecture Hall 1'' (recorded 1972) (

) * 2023: ''NSCC'' (recorded 1973) (

) * 2023: ''The Europa Suite'' (recorded 2002) (

)

Filmography

* 2015: '' Romantic Warriors III: Canterbury Tales'' (DVD) * 2016: ''Got Canterbury? Romantic Warriors III: Special Features DVD'' (DVD)

References

External links

Glass official websiteRelentless Pursuit official websiteMusea Records official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glass American progressive rock groups