By: Andrew Cothern

GLOWS IN THE DARK

http://www.myspace.com/glowsinthedarkmusic

This instrumental jazz band has been playing everywhere you can imagine
in the city. “Music To Listen To Glows In The Dark By” is full of
catchy hooks and an assortment of talent crammed into one album.
Members of Glows in the Dark are also part of other Richmond bands
including No BS Brass Band and Fight The Big Bull, so you always have a
chance to check out this music.

Original Article Here: inRich.com

Music to Listen to Glows in the Dark By
Glows in the Dark (2008)

By Dean Christeson


Guitarist Scott Burton's compositions are as natural and uncontrived as his guitar playing: they work seamlessly with meaning and breadth. The debut record from his quintet, Glows in the Dark, features eight originals by the guitarist. Often shifting from dire marches to vicious free jazz to driving punk beats, the music never freezes. It would be unfair to categorize the album by these extremes alone, for there is so much more in between.

Burton's arrangements for his group—Reginald Pace (trombone/percussion), Jason Arce (saxophone), Cameron Ralston (bass), Scott Clark (drums—frequently follow very logical patterns. He often writes for partnerships of instruments, letting two timbres play the same thing—or harmonies of the same thing—to create a distinct sound. When there are two pairs of these instrument marriages playing different things, the overlapping of the lines works effortlessly.

On "Through a Glass Darkly," a hypnotic guitar and sax line syncopates under a driving bass and trombone rhythm before a relentless guitar dramatically struggles to fight off drums and bass. As the album's insert suggests, images of a giant snake being slain by a cartoonish adventurer come to mind while listening.

Head-bobbing to the James Brown-like beat and cyclonic bass and guitar unison of "Turtle" is unavoidable. The beat decomposes into a cacophonic discussion free of meter. Burton here sounds like a child picked up a guitar for the first time in between spurts of bluesy runs as the rhythm section shares the same spirit. The result is wonderfully playful.

The compositions never rush to find a new groove or a new set of harmony to work with. The time spent on a section lets each solo develop and build a bridge to the next theme. The soloists use each solo to work with what he's been given, expand on that effectively, and lead the group head first into whatever is next.

Pace branches out on "Warren Oates" and paves a path for the next movement of the suite dedicated to the late actor. Arce is electrifying over the energetic groundwork set by the rhythm section.

On "Up and Down," the saxophone floats over the tranquil scene set by the bass's unadulterated long tones, the guitar's finger picking ostinato, and the touch of brushes on the drums. Perhaps suggesting the tune's title, trombone and saxophone share a solo trading section. Pace's playing is ultimately driven by sharp rhythmic phrases, and Arce here joins Pace with exploratory melodic playing over exciting rhythms.

At some points, especially at the top of some tracks, the hum of electronics slightly mars the output of a mostly acoustic band. When the music gets going, though, it rarely retracts from the sound that this band has made it's own. This album beautifully captures the tone given by the band live. Taking the group's name perhaps too literally, it really does sound like an unlit room illuminated by only a chemical glow.



Track listing: Nero; Security Lock; Winterlight; Through a Glass Darkly; Ipanema Weeknight; Turtle; Up and Down; Warren Oates.

Personnel: Scott Burton: guitar; Reginald Pace: trombone, percussion; Jason Arce: saxophone; Scott Clark: drums; Cameron Ralston: bass.

So back a piece, I mentioned that Glows would be performing on a local web news show called MashupRVA. Well, we did and it went really well! We performed 2 songs: Through a Glass Darkly and The Silence, and did a short interview. Right now everything is hosted on the MashupRVA site, which you can check here:

Glows on MashupRVA

The experience was great. We rolled into the RTD building at around 10am, and met with Karen Newton and Corey Amado, then carted our equipment all the way down to the basement where they had a small studio set up at the end of a newsroom area. Everyone was super nice, and they even had some muffins and drinks laid out for us! We ran through a tune, and figured out a couple technical problems, then played each song twice, and watched them to see which one turned out best. Everything went really well, and I was surprised by the band's tightness given the early time slot. Everyone played great and got through it. Reggie's solo on The Silence, and Jason's on the same tune really stood out. It was great to get the opportunity to document this stuff with video cameras that aren't mine for once! We knew that the Mashup crew had probably never heard any type of free jazz and improvised music, and it was fun to surprise them with something different. Particularly during our soundcheck, when Scott Clark launched into a loud free jazz explosion that caught everyone off guard. Hopefully we'll get to work with them again!

Here's a great article on Glows, and the great Richmond music scene...

Improv is foundation for Richmond group

By ALICIA LUMA, The Virginian-Pilot
© November 15, 2007

Improvisation is a key ingredient to jazz, but a group of Richmond area musicians has gone from improvising its music to improvising with its lineup.

The Patchwork Collective is a group of musicians dedicated to expanding the regional palate for the avant-garde.

Since the beginning of the summer, The Boot, the Ghent restaurant/nightspot, has hosted close to 20 events featuring Collective-associated bands. Most of them have at least one shared member, and it seems every band member has at least two side projects.

The musicians say this lends coherence to the ideas and ideals of the Collective while encouraging innovation in the music to keep it fresh.

Ilad, which plays sonic, jazzy prog-rock, was the original group. Its members have had a hand in forming Fight the Big Bull (a nine-piece, blazing flamenco-fiasco), Glows-in-the-Dark (original, lyrical jazz compositions) and No B.S. Brass Band (yes, the name says it all).

The bands don't go in for old standards and extended soloing, preferring diverse material choices. A recent Fight the Big Bull show at The Boot, for example, featured the group playing its variation of Weezer's seminal "Blue Album" from start to finish to a capacity crowd.

The most recent jazzcentric evening at The Boot featured Norfolk blues chanteuse Sonya Lorelle and Glows-in-the-Dark, a five-piece outfit consisting of guitar, drums, sax, trombone and bass. The band also performs at The Boot on Saturday night.
Want to go?

Scott Burton, Glows-in-the-Dark's guitarist/primary composer, majored in mass communications at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. He started playing guitar when he was a young teen but got really serious about jazz in college, continuing to study the guitar while finishing his degree.

Burton's experience making short films and working with visual media infuses Glows-in-the-Dark's compositions with a storytelling, soundtrackish vibe. "We're all doing different things, but we all cooperate, which is a reflection of the Richmond scene. It's not very big - people that are interested in this kind of music - so everyone just kind of finds each other and works together."

Josh Wright is co-owner of The Boot with David Hausmann; they previously owned Relative Theory Records on Granby Street in Norfolk. Wright said The Boot plans to continue to book these bands regularly in hopes that local followings will grow.

"We'd definitely do it more often if we could find the support for it and not just the Patchwork bands. I'm talking about all jazz in general."

The restaurant offers about four shows a week, Wright said, and has committed at least one night a month to hosting a local jazz lineup.