[2] According to Blue Note producer Alfred Lion, who went to the apartment one day, "There was a piano there and [Powell] played me some new things.
"[2] Alternative explanations for the title have been proposed by critic Kevin Whitehead: it could have been for the announcer's booth that was beside the stage at Birdland, "or maybe the invisible box that walled Bud off like a trapped mime.
Author Francis Davis states that "'Glass Enclosure' juxtaposes to harrowing effect an agitated blues riff and a ten-bar fanfare".
[4] The musicians for the original performance were Powell (piano), George Duvivier (bass), and Art Taylor (drums).
[6][7] Saxophonist Wayne Shorter was influenced by the more advanced harmonies used in "Glass Enclosure" and other Powell compositions from the 1950s in his own writing of music.