Only Connect was the epigraph that the British author, E.M.Forster inscribed at the front of his novel, Howards End. Forster was known to place a high value on the vitality of personal relationships, but the phrase had a secondary personal significance: that of connecting passion to the intellect, or ‘the beast to the monk’, to use his words. 

This project, a loose collective of musicians and poets, is also called Only Connect. We also intend, like Forster, to imply both meanings.  When we play music we are connecting ‘the beast to the monk’. Improvisation is an on-going process, a kind of deep listening through which personal connections are forged and regulated, solely through the sounds generated by each person. 

Connection also implies its opposite, To Disconnect. So, what happens if a musician stays silent, if they disengage? Disconnections make this process more visible. It’s intended as a small act of theatre: the musicians/artists put their instrument down rather than hold it to the ready, they stand up, and either move to one side, or leave the space/stage altogether. The intention is to deliver a small visual charge to the audience—both to boost the engagement of the audience, and to force the musicians/artists themselves to make their decision making explicit. When a musician/artist decides to re-engage, the act is also deliberative, considered, and with exactly the same element of theatricality, the musician/artist returns to their instrument. 

It may sound like a trivial alteration. It’s not: performative gestures are somehow absent in the improvised music scene, almost as if they are disapproved of. Think of the effect of a musician standing up during their solo while a big band plays behind them. Pure theatre. Only Connect also intend to acknowledge this invisible connection with the audience, to place a specific value on their presence by introducing a small amount of visual drama to the making of improvised music. The musicians/artists connect with each other, but they also connect with the people who have come to listen and, also, to watch.