Glasshopper welcome being undefined. However, their band leader and Glaswegian saxophonist Jonathan Chung would label their music simply as “Jazz”. The London based trio (a partnership with James Kitchman on guitar and Corrie Dick on drums) have gained wide critical acclaim for their captivating and euphoric live performances since their formation in 2014.

Described as having “a sound and aesthetic that is very much their own”, these three musical voices make music with great gravity which is at once heavy as hell and soaring weightless.  The trio are proudly compared to pioneering British jazz bands like Acoustic Ladyland and Polar Bear, and carry a torch of personal influences from the likes of; Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, Radiohead, Paul Motian, John Scofield, John Coltrane to Robert Stillman.

Their latest 2024 album release “I’m Not Telling You Anything” (on the Clonmell Jazz Social Label) crackles with their trademark exuberance but contains considerable emotional heft, even the occasional gut punch. In this album they showcase their fresh brand of interweaving composition and improvisation with complete reverence and abandon. Haring off at tangents, sparking off one another, intersecting, overlapping into something that delivers a unique jazz noise.

Although only wee, this three-piece are fearless in challenging perceptions of what jazz is and draw audiences into moments pure of sonic bliss to high octane rock-outs. The bass-less line up builds on influences from Celtic folk to global grooves and across jazz, adding brasher beats and tones from indie and rock. Seldom settling, always searching.