| Jack Bruce | |
|---|---|
Bruce performing in Frankfurt, Germany 28 October 2006 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Symon Asher Bruce |
| Born | 14 May 1943 Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Blues rock, psychedelic rock, jazz fusion, hard rock, acid rock |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, bass, double bass, cello, piano, harmonica, guitar, keyboards |
| Years active | 1962–present |
| Labels | EMI, RSO |
| Associated acts | Cream, Blues Incorporated, The Graham Bond Organization, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Manfred Mann, West, Bruce and Laing, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, Kip Hanrahan, BBM, Rocket 88 |
| Website | jackbruce.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Fender Bass VI, Danelectro Longhorn, Gibson EB-3, Gibson EB-1, Warwick Thumb Signature, Warwick Jack Bruce CRB | |
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce (b. 1943) is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles. Best recognized as a memorable vocalist and bass guitarist, Bruce has been referred to as a "World-class pioneer in his main instrument; a composer of some of the most endurable and recognisable rock songs of our time; an accomplished classical, jazz and Latin musician and one of popular music's most distinctive and evocative voices."[1] He is also trained as a classical cellist. The Sunday Times stated "... many consider him to be one of the greatest bass players of all time."[2]
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Bruce was born on 14 May 1943, in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire to musical parents who moved frequently, resulting in the young Bruce attending 14 different schools, ending up at Bellahouston Academy. Bruce began playing the jazz bass in his teens, and won a scholarship to study cello and musical composition at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, while playing in Jim McHarg's Scotsville Jazzband to support himself.[3] The Academy disapproved of its students playing jazz, however. "They found out," Bruce told Musician correspondent Jim Macnie, "and said 'you either stop, or leave college.' So I left college."
After leaving school, he toured Italy, playing double bass with the Murray Campbell Big Band.[4] In 1962, Jack Bruce became a member of the London-based band Blues Incorporated,[5] led by Alexis Korner, in which he played the double bass. The band also included organist Graham Bond, saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith and drummer Ginger Baker. In 1963, the group broke up and Bruce went on to form the Graham Bond Quartet with Bond, Baker, and guitarist John McLaughlin.[3] They played an eclectic range of music genres, including, bebop, blues and rhythm and blues. As a result of session work at this time, Bruce switched from double bass to electric bass. The move to electric bass happened as McLaughlin was dropped from the band; he was replaced by Heckstall-Smith on sax and the band pursued a more concise R&B sound and changed its name to the Graham Bond Organization. They released two studio albums and several singles, but were not commercially successful. They did, however, influence a number of other musicians, such as Keith Emerson, Jon Lord and Bill Bruford. In 1960, Jack Bruce married his first wife at age seventeen. He failed to mention her name in interviews citing the short-lived nature of the union. One son was born but he was estranged from his father. In 1964, Jack Bruce married Janet Godfrey, his second wife. They had two children together and divorced in 1973.
During the time Bruce and Baker played with the Graham Bond Organization, they were known for their hostility towards each other. There were numerous stories of the two sabotaging each other's equipment and fighting on stage. Hostility grew so much between the two that Bruce was forced to leave the group in August 1965.[6]
After he left, Bruce recorded a solo single, "I'm Gettin Tired", for Polydor Records.[3] He joined John Mayall and his John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers group, which featured guitarist Eric Clapton. Although his stay was brief; the Universal Deluxe double album Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton contains all the known tracks featuring Bruce.
After the Bluesbreakers, Bruce tasted his first commercial success as a member of Manfred Mann in 1966, including a No.1 single, "Pretty Flamingo"[3] as well as the freewheeling and ground-breaking jazz-rock of Instrumental Asylum. When interviewed on the episode of the VH1 show, Classic Albums, which featured Disraeli Gears, Mayall stated that Bruce had been lured away by the lucrative commercial success of Manfred Mann while Mann himself recalled that Bruce attended recording sessions without having rehearsed but played songs straight through without error, opining that perhaps the chord changes seemed obvious to Bruce.[7] The complete Manfred Mann recordings with Jack Bruce are available on the 4-CD EMI box set Down the Road Apiece.
Whilst with Manfred Mann, Bruce again collaborated with Eric Clapton as a member of Powerhouse, which also featured Spencer Davis Groups's vocalist credited as Steve Anglo Steve Winwood. The 3 tracks were featured on the Elektra sampler album What's Shakin'. Two of the songs, "Crossroads" and "Steppin' Out", were to become staples in the live set of his next band.
In July 1966 Bruce, Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker founded the power trio Cream, which gained international recognition playing blues-rock and jazz inflected rock and roll music. Within the band, Bruce and Clapton shared lead vocal roles and Bruce became better known as a songwriter. With his Gibson EB-3 electric bass he became one of the most famous bassists in rock, winning musicians' polls and influencing the next generation of bassists such as Sting, Geddy Lee and Jeff Berlin.[8] Jack co-wrote most of Cream's single releases with lyricist Pete Brown, including the hits, "Sunshine of Your Love", "White Room", and "I Feel Free".
By 1968, Cream were hugely successful; they grossed more than the next top six live acts of the day added together (including Jimi Hendrix and The Doors). They topped album charts all over the world, and received the first platinum discs for record sales, but the old enmity of Bruce and Baker resurfaced in 1968, and after a final tour, Cream broke up.
Collaborative efforts with musicians, in many genres - heavy rock, jazz, blues, fusion, avant-garde, world music, third stream classical and R&B have all been a continuing theme of Bruce's career. Alongside these he has produced a long line of highly regarded solo albums. In contrast to his collaborative works the solo albums usually maintain a common theme; melodic songs with a complex musical structure, songs with lyrics frequently penned by Pete Brown, and a core band of world class musicians. This structure is loosened on his live solo albums and DVDs, where extended improvisations similar to those employed by Cream in live performance are sometimes still used.
In August 1968, before Cream split, Bruce recorded an acoustic free jazz album with John McLaughlin, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Jon Hiseman.[3] This was issued in 1970 as Bruce's second solo album, Things We Like. The album was a precursor to the jazz fusion boom in the early 1970s, and more recently has been sampled by many hip hop artists.
Bruce's first solo release, Songs for a Tailor, was issued in September 1969, and also featured Heckstall-Smith and Hiseman.[3] It was a worldwide hit, but, after a brief supporting tour backed by Larry Coryell and Mitch Mitchell, Bruce joined the jazz fusion group Lifetime. With drummer Tony Williams, guitarist John McLaughlin, and organist Larry Young, the group recorded two albums. Bruce joined on the second album, Turn It Over. However, Lifetime did not receive much critical or commercial acclaim at the time, and the band broke up in 1971. Bruce then recorded his third solo album Harmony Row, but this was not as commercially successful as Songs for a Tailor.[3]
In 1972, Bruce formed a blues rock power trio, West, Bruce and Laing. Besides Bruce, the group included singer/guitarist Leslie West and drummer Corky Laing, both formerly of the Cream-influenced American band Mountain. West, Bruce and Laing produced two studio albums, Why Dontcha and Whatever Turns You On, and one live album, Live 'n' Kickin'. The band broke up shortly before Live 'n' Kickin's release in early 1974, and Bruce released his fourth solo album Out of the Storm later that year. Also in 1974 he made a guest appearance on the title track of Frank Zappa's album Apostrophe ('). Bruce was credited with bass and for co-writing the song. However, when asked about Zappa in 1992 interview Bruce tried to change the subject and jokingly insisted that he had played only cello parts.
In 1973, Bruce recorded bass for Lou Reed's Berlin album playing on all but two tracks.
A 1975 tour was lined up to support the Out of the Storm album with a band featuring former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor and jazz keyboard player Carla Bley, with whom he had collaborated in 1971 on Escalator over the Hill. The tour was documented on Live '75 (at the Manchester Free Trade Hall),[9] but it ended with Taylor's departure, and no studio album was completed. Also, in 1975, Jack Bruce married his third wife, Rose Taylor, the former wife of Mick Taylor. The marriage did not last, and the two divorced in 1976.
In 1977, Bruce formed a new band with drummer Simon Phillips and keyboardist Tony Hymas. The group recorded an album, called How's Tricks. A world tour followed, but the album was a commercial failure.[3] The follow-up album Jet Set Jewel was put on hold when Bruce was dropped by his record label, RSO. In 1979, Bruce toured with members from the Mahavishnu Orchestra, reuniting him with John McLaughlin, and introducing him to drummer Billy Cobham. A 3-CD collection of his 1970s BBC recordings called Spirit was released in 2008.
By 1979, Bruce's drug habit had reached such a level that he had lost a lot of his money. In that year he married his fourth wife, Margrit Seyffer. She began to organise the business aspects of his career, and became his manager in September 2003, when Bruce terminated Mick Carter as his manager. Bruce contributed as a session musician to recordings by Cozy Powell, Gary Moore and Jon Anderson to raise money. By 1980 his career was back on track with his new band, consisting of drummer Billy Cobham, guitarist Clem Clempson, and keyboardist David Sancious. After releasing an album, I've Always Wanted to Do This at the end of 1980, they undertook a long tour to support the record, but it was not a commercial success and they disbanded. In the early 1980s, he also joined up to play with friends from the Alexis Korner days in Rocket 88, the back-to-the-roots band that Ian Stewart had arranged, and Bruce appears on the album of the same name, recorded live in Germany in 1980. They also recorded a "live in the studio" album called Blues & Boogie Explosion for the German audiophile record label, Jeton. That year he also collaborated on the Soft Machine album Land of Cockayne (1981).
In 1981, Bruce collaborated with guitarist Robin Trower and released two power trio albums, BLT and Truce, the first of which was a minor hit in the United States.[3] By 1983 Bruce was out of contract with the major record companies, and he released his next solo album Automatic only on a minor German label, Intercord INT 145.069. A European tour followed to promote the album enlisting Bruce Gary from The Knack (who had also played in Jack Bruce's 1975 band) on drums and Sancious from his 1980 release on guitar and keyboards.
In 1982 he played with a short-lived ensemble "A Gathering Of Minds" comprising Billy Cobham, Allan Holdsworth, Didier Lockwood and David Sancious at Montreux.
In 1983 Bruce began working with the Latin/world music producer Kip Hanrahan, and released the collaborative albums Desire Develops an Edge, Vertical's Currency, A Few short Notes from the End Run, Exotica and All Roads are made of the Flesh. They were all critically successful, and in 2001 he went onto form his own band using Hanrahan's famous Cuban rhythm section. Other than his partnership with lyricist Pete Brown, the musical relationship with Hanrahan has been the most consistent and long-lasting of his career.
In 1983 he sang on tracks 5–6 of the Allan Holdsworth Album 'Road Games'
In 1985 he sang lead and played harp on the song "Silver Bullet" with Anton Fier's Golden Palominos. It appears on the album "Visions of Excess".
In 1986 he re-recorded his famous Cream song "I Feel Free" and released it as a single to support an advertising campaign for the Renault 21 motor car.
A solo album, Something Else, recorded in Germany between 1986 and 1992, reunited him with Eric Clapton, and brought belated, but widespread critical acclaim.
His German TV concerts of this 1980s period have been collected on a two-DVD set, Live at RockPalast.
In 1989, Bruce began recording material with Ginger Baker and released another solo album, A Question of Time.[3] Baker and Bruce toured the United States at turn of the decade. Bruce played at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1991, and invited Irish blues rock performer, Rory Gallagher (who had a long-standing relationship with Bruce, having supported Cream's farewell concert in the band Taste in 1968) to perform a song with Bruce onstage. In 1993 Baker appeared, along with a host of former Bruce band colleagues, at a special concert in Cologne to celebrate Bruce's 50th birthday. A special guest was another Irish blues-rock guitarist Gary Moore. The concert recordings with Moore were released as the live double album Cities of the Heart. On the back of this successful gig Bruce, Baker and Moore formed the power trio BBM, and their subsequent (and only) album Around the Next Dream was a top ten hit in the UK.[3] However, the old Bruce/Baker arguments arose again and the subsequent tour was cut short and the band broke up. A low-key solo album, Monkjack, followed in 1995, featuring Bruce on piano and vocals accompanied by Funkadelic organist Bernie Worrell.
Bruce then began work producing and arranging the soundtrack to the independently produced Scottish film The Slab Boys with Lulu, Edwyn Collins, Eddi Reader and The Proclaimers. The soundtrack album appeared in 1997. In 1997 he returned to touring as a member of Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band, which also featured Peter Frampton on guitar. At the gig in Denver, Colorado the band was joined on stage by Ginger Baker, and Bruce, Baker and Frampton played a short set of Cream classics. He continued to tour with Ringo through 2000.
In 2001 Bruce reappeared with his most successful band of recent times featuring Bernie Worrell, Vernon Reid of Living Colour on guitar and Kip Hanrahan's three-piece Latin rhythm section. Hanrahan also produced the accompanying album Shadows in the Air, which included a reunion with Eric Clapton on a new version of "Sunshine of Your Love". The band released another Hanrahan produced studio album, More Jack than God, in 2003, and a live DVD, Live at Canterbury Fayre. In the summer of 2002, Jack appeared as one of the headliners on a star-studded tribute to The Beatles tour called, "A Walk Down Abbey Road". Lead guitarist/vocalist Godfrey Townsend performed with Jack as well as drummer/vocalist Steve Murphy. After the summer tour was over, Jack asked Godfrey and Steve to play a few gigs at New York's BB King Blues Club that October. Godfrey Townsend also played guitar on the track "Kelly's Blues" on "More Jack Than God".
Bruce had suffered a period of declining health, and in the summer of 2003 was diagnosed with liver cancer. In July 2003, he underwent a liver transplant, which was almost fatal, as his body initially rejected the new organ.[10] He has since recovered, and in 2004 reappeared to perform "Sunshine of Your Love" at a Rock Legends concert in Germany organised by the singer Mandoki.
In May, 2005, he reunited with former Cream bandmates Clapton and Baker for a series of well-received concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall,[11] released as the album Royal Albert Hall London May 2–3–5–6 2005, and New York's Madison Square Garden.
In between the UK and US Cream dates he also played live with Gary Moore and drummer Gary Husband at the Dick Heckstall-Smith tribute concert in London.
Subsequent concert appearances were sparse because of recovery after the transplant, but in 2006 Bruce returned to the live arena with a show of Cream and solo classics performed with the German HR (Hessischer Rundfunk) Big Band. This was released on CD in Germany in 2007 to critical acclaim. In 2007, he made a brief concert appearance, opening a new rehearsal hall named in his honour at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow with Clem Clempson, keyboard player Ronnie Leahy and Husband.
In 2008, Bruce collaborated again with guitarist Robin Trower on the album Seven Moons. It also featured Husband.
In May 2008 Bruce was 65 years old and to commemorate this milestone two box sets of recordings were released. Spirit is a three-CD collection of Bruce's BBC recordings from the 1970s. Can You Follow? is a six-CD retrospective anthology released by the Esoteric label in the UK. This anthology is a wide ranging collection covering his music from 1963 to 2003 and, aside from his work with Kip Hanrahan, is a comprehensive overview of his career.
Improved health led to Bruce playing a series of live outdoor concerts across the US starting in July 2008 as part of the Hippiefest Tour, working again with Godfrey Townsend and Steve Murphy...adding keyboardist, Manny Focarazzo to his band. Later that year, he was supported by members of the late Who bassist's The John Entwistle Band, and headlined at a tribute concert to the bassist.
In November 2008 he recorded a concert in Birmingham, England for Radio Broadcast with the BBC Big Band, where he again played the Big Band arrangements of his classic songs. In December he was reunited with Ginger Baker at the drummer's Lifetime Achievement Award concert in London. They played jazz classics with saxophonist Courtney Pine and for the first time in 40 years played the Graham Bond–Cream classic "Traintime".
The same month, Bruce, with guitarist Vernon Reid, drummer Cindy Blackman and organist John Medeski played a series of Blue Note Club tribute concerts to The Tony Williams Lifetime in Japan. These shows were broadcast High Definition on television in Japan.
In spring 2009 a series of concerts was performed with Trower and Husband in Europe. Proposed dates in the US in April were cancelled because of a further bout of ill health. Bruce recovered and the band played summer concerts in Italy, Norway and the UK during 2009. This promoted the release of the Seven Moons live CD and DVD, recorded in February during the European leg of the tour in Nijmegen, Netherlands.
During the Scottish dates of the 2009 tour Bruce was presented with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Glasgow Caledonian University for services to the culture of Glasgow and music in general.
In August 2009, the 1983 Jack Bruce solo album Automatic was released on CD. With this release, all his solo albums from his 1969 debut Songs for a Tailor onwards have become available on CD as well. In addition, all the discs up to and including How's Tricks contain added, previously unreleased material.
In October 2009, Bruce performed at the 50th anniversary of Ronnie Scott's Club with The Ronnie Scott's Blues Band. After garnering good reviews, three further dates at the club were added in March 2010.
Composing Himself: Jack Bruce The Authorised Biography by Harry Shapiro was released by Jawbone Press in February 2010. Shapiro has previously written biographies of Bruce collaborators Alexis Korner, Graham Bond and Eric Clapton. The book followed biographies from his Cream bandmates Clapton (Clapton 2007) and Baker (Hellraiser 2009.) His Songwriting partner, Pete Brown's, biography "White Rooms & Imaginary Westerns" was published in September 2010. They each have differing recollections of forming Cream, playing and writing together. The separate accounts are not totally consistent, or complimentary, but considering their admitted drug use during the period in the biographies, that is hardly surprising.
Jack toured America again in the Summer of 2010 with the Hippiefest tour with the usual lineup of Godfrey Townsend, Steve Murphy and keyboardist, Manny Focarazzo. Whilst on tour, his children organised the internet release of previously unissued Bruce performances "The Lost Tapes" via CD and download from his own website.
On Friday, January 14, at the 2011 North American Music Merchants Show, Bruce became only the third recipient of the International Bassist Award, a lifetime achievement award for bassists, after Jaco Pastorius and Nathan Watts. Larry Hartke co-founder of Hartke Systems, manufacturers of bass guitar amplifiers and speaker cabinets, presented the award.“Simply put, Jack Bruce is the reason I became interested in the bass,” says Hartke. “Jack changed the role of bass in music and made playing the instrument look like fun. It was my greatest honor to present the International Bassist Award to my hero and friend.”
The first website CD release, Live at the Milkyway, Amsterdam 2001, featuring his Latin-based band of the time,was issued in October 2010. The double album received an official UK release, distributed by EMI in February 2011. To support this release Bruce again played 4 dates in London at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club with the Ronnie Scott's Blues Experience, followed by a further ten dates across the UK with the band. This is Bruce's third successive year playing a series of gigs at Ronnie Scotts, and is reminiscent of Eric Clapton's annual series of Albert Hall blues concerts.
Prior to the UK dates the Lifetime Tribute Band; featuring Bruce, guitarist Vernon Reid, drummer Cindy Blackman, and organist John Medeski reformed to play ten shows in high profile jazz clubs in North America. Unusually, the dates had early and evening shows, something most rock musicians stopped doing at the beginning of the 1970s.
Reaction to the U.S. Lifetime shows was so positive that the band re-named themselves Spectrum Road, after a track on 1969's first Lifetime album "Emergency", and are to go into the studio to record a new album for the U.S. jazz record label Palmetto Records.
On June 4, 2011 Bruce played a special concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary. The evening celebrated the 50th anniversary of the blues in Great Britain, and Jack played with his Big Blues Band and special guest Joe Bonamassa, replacing the late Gary Moore.
Festival appearances with his Big Blues Band continue throughout the UK and Europe during summer 2011. An exception is the Cornbury Festival, Great Tew Park, Oxfordshire on 3 July where Bruce appears as a special guest of the Stax label tribute band "The Staxs." The festival is being recorded by the famous Abbey Road studios for future CD release.
Bruce lives in Suffolk, England.[12]
The discographies of bands Jack Bruce has been a member of and the collaborations with other artists can be found in within their individual profiles.
Jack Bruce's solo albums are listed below in chronological recording date order. As of October 2009 they are all available on Compact Disc release. Those with an asterisk * feature bonus material not available on the original vinyl or CD release.
| Date | Album |
|---|---|
| September 1969 | Songs for a Tailor * |
| December 1970 | Things We Like * (recorded Aug 1968) |
| September 1971 | Harmony Row * |
| November 1974 | Out of the Storm * |
| (June 1975) | Live at Manchester Free Trade Hall '75 (2-CD released 2003) |
| March 1977 | How's Tricks * |
| (1971–1978) | Spirit- Live at the BBC 1971-1978 (3-CD released 2008) |
| (1978) | Jet Set Jewel (released 2003) |
| December 1980 | I've Always Wanted To Do This |
| January 1983 | Automatic |
| (1987) | Something Else (released March 1993) |
| January 1990 | A Question of Time |
| March 1994 | Cities of the Heart (live double album) |
| September 1995 | Monkjack |
| July 2001 | Shadows in the Air |
| (October 2001) | Live at the Milky Way (Released October 2010) |
| September 2003 | More Jack than God |
| December 2007 | Live with the HR Big Band |
| May 2008 | The Anthology - Can You Follow? (6-CD) |
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