Jack Bruce
Encyclopedia
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." 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."
, 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. 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."
, 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
. 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.
After he left, Bruce recorded a solo single
, "I'm Gettin Tired", for Polydor Records
. 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
" 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. 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.
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. 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.
In August 1968, before Cream split, Bruce recorded an acoustic
free jazz
album with John McLaughlin
, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Jon Hiseman
. 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. 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.
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' Kickins 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), 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. 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.
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. 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 lyric
ist 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 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. 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 organ
ist 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.
, 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. 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
, 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.
'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.
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.
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
power trio
Power trio
A power trio is a rock and roll band format where the traditional power trio has a lineup of guitar, bass and drums, leaving out the rhythm guitar or keyboard that are used in other rock music to fill out the sound with chords...
, Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
, 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
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and Latin musician and one of popular music's most distinctive and evocative voices." He is also trained as a classical cellist
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
.
The Sunday Times stated "... many consider him to be one of the greatest bass players of all time."
Early life
Bruce was born on 14 May 1943, in BishopbriggsBishopbriggs
Bishopbriggs is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. The area was once part of the historic parish of Cadder - originally lands granted by King William the Lion to the Bishop of Glasgow, Jocelin, in 1180. It was later part of the county of Lanarkshire and subsequently an independent burgh from...
, East Dunbartonshire
East Dunbartonshire
This article is about the East Dunbartonshire council area of Scotland. See also East Dunbartonshire .East Dunbartonshire is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders onto the north-west of the City of Glasgow. It contains many of the suburbs of Glasgow as well as containing many of...
to musical parents who moved frequently, resulting in the young Bruce attending 14 different schools, ending up at Bellahouston Academy
Bellahouston Academy
Bellahouston Academy is a non-denominational state-run secondary school in Bellahouston, south-west Glasgow, Scotland.-History:Bellahouston Academy first opened in 1876 as a private school, run by Alexander Sim. It was taken over by the Govan School Board in 1885, and has been a state school ever...
. Bruce began playing the jazz bass in his teens, and won a scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
to study cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
and musical composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is a conservatoire of music, drama, and dance in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Educational Association, it is the busiest performing arts venue in Scotland...
, while playing in Jim McHarg's Scotsville Jazzband to support himself. 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."
Career
After leaving school, he toured Italy, playing double bass with the Murray Campbell Big Band. In 1962, Jack Bruce became a member of the London-based band Blues IncorporatedBlues Incorporated
Blues Incorporated were a British R&B band in the early 1960s, led by Alexis Korner and featuring at various times Jack Bruce, Charlie Watts, Terry Cox, Ginger Baker, Long John Baldry, Ronnie Jones, Danny Thompson, Graham Bond, Cyril Davies, Malcolm Cecil and Dick Heckstall-Smith.-History:Korner ...
, led by Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...
, in which he played the double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
. The band also included organist
Electric organ
In biology, the electric organ is an organ common to all electric fish used for the purposes of creating an electric field. The electric organ is derived from modified nerve or muscle tissue...
Graham Bond
Graham Bond
Graham John Clifton Bond was an English musician, considered a founding father of the English rhythm and blues boom of the 1960s....
, saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
Dick Heckstall-Smith
Dick Heckstall-Smith
Dick Heckstall-Smith was an English jazz and blues saxophonist. He played with some of the most important English blues-rock and jazz fusion bands of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...
and drummer Ginger Baker
Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
. In 1963, the group broke up and Bruce went on to form the Graham Bond Quartet with Bond, Baker, and guitarist John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
. They played an eclectic range of music genres, including, bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
. As a result of session
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
work at this time, Bruce switched from double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
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
Keith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...
, Jon Lord
Jon Lord
Jonathan Douglas "Jon" Lord is an English composer, pianist and Hammond organ player.Jon Lord, also known as 'Hammond Lord', is a classically trained piano player. He is recognised for his Hammond organ blues-rock sound and for his pioneering work in fusing rock and classical or baroque forms...
and Bill Bruford
Bill Bruford
William Scott "Bill" Bruford is an English drummer, percussionist, composer, producer, and record label owner. He was the original drummer for the progressive rock group Yes, from 1968-1972. Bruford has performed for numerous popular acts since the early 1970s, including a stint as touring...
. 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.
After he left, Bruce recorded a solo single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "I'm Gettin Tired", for Polydor Records
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
. He joined John Mayall
John Mayall
John Mayall, OBE is an English blues singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, whose musical career spans over fifty years...
and his John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are a pioneering English blues band, led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall, OBE. Mayall used the band name between 1963 and 1967, but then dropped it for some fifteen years. However, in 1982 a 'Return of the Bluesbreakers' was announced and...
group, which featured guitarist Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
. Although his stay was brief, the Universal Deluxe double album Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton
Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton
Blues Breakers is a 1966 electric blues album credited to John Mayall with Eric Clapton.The band name John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers that was used by the band consequently is derived from the title of this album; no original issues mention the Bluesbreakers as band name...
contains all the known tracks featuring Bruce.
After the Bluesbreakers, Bruce tasted his first commercial success as a member of Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
in 1966, including a No.1 single, "Pretty Flamingo
Pretty Flamingo
"Pretty Flamingo" is a song written by Mark Barkan, which became a hit in 1966 when Manfred Mann's recording of it was released as a single. The single reached number one in the UK singles chart on 5 May 1966....
" as well as the freewheeling and ground-breaking jazz-rock of Instrumental Asylum
Instrumental Asylum
Instrumental Asylum is an EP by Manfred Mann, released in 1966. The EP is a 7-inch vinyl record and released in mono with the catalogue number His Master's Voice-EMI 7EG 8949.-Background:The band recorded this as they were in the process of re-organizing...
. When interviewed on the episode of the VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
show, Classic Albums
Classic Albums
Classic Albums is a documentary series about pop and rock albums that are considered the best or most distinctive of a well-known band or musician or that exemplify a stage in the history of music.-Format:...
, which featured Disraeli Gears
Disraeli Gears
Disraeli Gears is the second album by British supergroup Cream. It was released in November 1967 and went on to reach #5 on the UK Albums Chart. It was also their American breakthrough, becoming a massive seller there in 1968, reaching #4 on the American charts...
, 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. 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
Eric Clapton's Powerhouse
Eric Clapton and the Powerhouse was a British blues studio supergroup formed in 1966.-History:The Powerhouse was formed with full intention of being a short-lived studio project...
, which also featured Spencer Davis Groups's vocalist credited as Steve Anglo Steve Winwood. The 3 tracks were featured on the Elektra
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
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.
Cream
In July 1966 Bruce, Eric ClaptonEric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
and drummer Ginger Baker
Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
founded the power trio
Power trio
A power trio is a rock and roll band format where the traditional power trio has a lineup of guitar, bass and drums, leaving out the rhythm guitar or keyboard that are used in other rock music to fill out the sound with chords...
Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
, 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
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
. With his Gibson EB-3
Gibson EB-3
The Gibson EB-3 is an electric bass guitar model produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation.Introduced in 1961, the EB-3 was one of the bass guitar equivalents of the popular Gibson SG...
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. Jack co-wrote most of Cream's single releases with lyricist Pete Brown
Pete Brown
Peter Ronald Brown is an English performance poet and lyricist.Best known for his collaborations with Jack Bruce, Brown also worked with The Battered Ornaments, formed his own group Pete Brown & Piblokto!, and worked with Graham Bond and Phil Ryan. Brown also writes film scores and formed a film...
, including the hits, "Sunshine of Your Love
Sunshine of Your Love
"Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British supergroup Cream. The song was originally released on the album Disraeli Gears in November 1967, and was later released as a single in January 1968. It is Cream's only gold-selling single in the United States. It features a distinctive...
", "White Room
White Room
"White Room" is a song by British "supergroup" Cream. The song was a psychedelic rock number written by bassist Jack Bruce and poet Pete Brown. It originally appeared on the US release of their double album, Wheels of Fire, by Atco Records in July 1968 and was released as a single in September 1968...
", and "I Feel Free
I Feel Free
"I Feel Free" is a song first recorded by British rock group Cream. The song's lyrics were written by Pete Brown, its music by Jack Bruce. It was the first track on the US issue of their debut album, Fresh Cream , and the band's second hit single...
".
By 1968, Cream were hugely successful; they grossed more than the next top six live acts of the day added together (including Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
and The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
). 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.
The solo years 1970s
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
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
album with John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Jon Hiseman
Jon Hiseman
Jon Hiseman is an English drummer, recording engineer, record producer and music publisher.-Career:...
. This was issued in 1970 as Bruce's second solo album, Things We Like
Things We Like
Things We Like is a jazz album by bassist Jack Bruce.The album was Bruce's second solo album to reach the marketplace; it was released in the U.K. in late 1970, and in the United States in early 1971...
. The album was a precursor to the jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
boom in the early 1970s, and more recently has been sampled by many hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
artists.
Bruce's first solo release, Songs for a Tailor
Songs for a Tailor
Songs for a Tailor is the 1969 solo studio album debut of musician, composer and singer Jack Bruce, who was already famous at the time of its release for his work with the supergroup Cream...
, was issued in September 1969, and also featured Heckstall-Smith and Hiseman. It was a worldwide hit, but, after a brief supporting tour backed by Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell is an American jazz fusion guitarist.-Biography:Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas. He graduated from Richland High School, in Richland, Washington, where he played in local bands The Jailers, The Rumblers, The Royals, and The Flames. He also played with The Checkers from nearby...
and Mitch Mitchell
Mitch Mitchell
John Ronald "Mitch" Mitchell was an English drummer, best known for his work in The Jimi Hendrix Experience.-Early life and the Jimi Hendrix Experience:...
, Bruce joined the jazz fusion group Lifetime
The Tony Williams Lifetime
The Tony Williams Lifetime was a jazz-rock fusion group led by jazz drummer Tony Williams.-Original line-up:The Tony Williams Lifetime was founded in 1969 as a power trio with John McLaughlin on electric guitar, and Larry Young on organ. The band was possibly named for Williams' debut album as a...
. With drummer Tony Williams, guitarist John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
, 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
Harmony Row
Harmony Row is Jack Bruce's third album, originally released in July 1971.The album takes its title from a tenement street in Glasgow, near where Bruce grew up. The street, since demolished, was famous as the largest unbroken houserow in Europe, stretching for over a mile...
, but this was not as commercially successful as Songs for a Tailor.
In 1972, Bruce formed a blues rock power trio
Power trio
A power trio is a rock and roll band format where the traditional power trio has a lineup of guitar, bass and drums, leaving out the rhythm guitar or keyboard that are used in other rock music to fill out the sound with chords...
, West, Bruce and Laing
West, Bruce and Laing
West, Bruce and Laing were a blues-rock power trio super-group consisting of Leslie West , Jack Bruce and Corky Laing . In 2009 West and Laing teamed up with Jack Bruce's son, Malcolm, and began touring as West, Bruce Jr...
. Besides Bruce, the group included singer/guitarist Leslie West
Leslie West
Leslie West is an American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter.-Biography:Originally named Leslie Weinstein, West was born in New York City, grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey, and in East Meadow, Forest Hills and Lawrence. After his parents divorced, he changed his surname to West...
and drummer Corky Laing
Corky Laing
Laurence Gordon "Corky" Laing is a Canadian rock drummer, best known as a longtime member of pioneering American hard rock band Mountain...
, both formerly of the Cream-influenced American band Mountain
Mountain (band)
Mountain is an American hard rock band that formed in Long Island, New York in 1969. Originally comprising vocalist and guitarist Leslie West, bassist Felix Pappalardi and drummer N. D. Smart, the band broke up in 1972 before reuniting in 1974 and remaining active until today...
. West, Bruce and Laing produced two studio albums, Why Dontcha
Why Dontcha
Why Dontcha is the first studio album by power trio West, Bruce and Laing.The album features "The Doctor," which received heavy FM radio airplay upon the album's release and became a signature song in live performance for the band...
and Whatever Turns You On
Whatever Turns You On (album)
Whatever Turns You On is the second and last studio album by blues-rock power trio/supergroup West, Bruce and Laing.The album features a black-and-white comic strip on its front and back covers depicting the alleged "turn-ons" of the band's members - Leslie West's is food, Jack Bruce's alcohol, and...
, and one live album, Live 'n' Kickin'
Live 'n' Kickin'
Live 'n' Kickin' is a live album by the power trio West, Bruce and Laing, released in 1974. It was the band's final album, as they disbanded shortly before its release....
. The band broke up shortly before Live 'n' Kickins release in early 1974, and Bruce released his fourth solo album Out of the Storm
Out of the Storm (album)
Out of the Storm is the fourth studio album by British bassist Jack Bruce. The album, Bruce's first solo effort in over three years, was recorded and released in 1974, following the dissolution of Bruce's power trio West, Bruce and Laing....
later that year. Also in 1974 he made a guest appearance on the title track of Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
's album Apostrophe (')
Apostrophe (')
Apostrophe is an album by Frank Zappa, his eighteenth, released on March 22, 1974 in both stereo and quadraphonic formats. An edited version of its lead-off track, "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow", was Zappa's first chart single, reaching position 86. Apostrophe remains Zappa's biggest commercial...
. 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
Mick Taylor
Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
keyboard player Carla Bley
Carla Bley
Carla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...
, with whom he had collaborated in 1971 on Escalator over the Hill
Escalator over the Hill
Escalator over the Hill is mostly referred to as a jazz opera, but it was released as a "chronotransduction" with "words by Paul Haines, adaptation and music by Carla Bley, production and coordination by Michael Mantler", performed by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra.-History:Escalator over the Hill...
. The tour was documented on Live '75 (at the Manchester Free Trade Hall), 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
Simon Phillips
Simon Phillips is an English jazz, pop and rock drummer.-Career:Phillips began to play professionally at the age of twelve in his father's Dixieland band for four years. He was then offered the chance to play in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar...
and keyboardist Tony Hymas
Tony Hymas
Anthony 'Tony' Hymas is an English keyboard player, pianist, composer and is well known for being a founding member of Ph.D. He is a very versatile musician and contributes in different styles of music....
. The group recorded an album, called How's Tricks
How's Tricks
How's Tricks is a 1977 album by the Jack Bruce Band. It was Bruce's fifth album as a solo/bandleader.The album peaked at #153 on the Billboard album chart in May 1977...
. A world tour followed, but the album was a commercial failure. The follow-up album Jet Set Jewel was put on hold when Bruce was dropped by his record label, RSO
RSO Records
RSO Records was a record label, formed by rock and roll and musical theatre impresario Robert Stigwood in 1973. The "RSO" stands for the Robert Stigwood Organisation. The company's main headquarters were at 67 Brook Street, in London's Mayfair...
. In 1979, Bruce toured with members from the Mahavishnu Orchestra, reuniting him with John McLaughlin, and introducing him to drummer Billy Cobham
Billy Cobham
William C. Cobham is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who has called Switzerland home since the late 1970s....
. A 3-CD collection of his 1970s BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
recordings called Spirit was released in 2008.
The solo years 1980s
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 musicianSession musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
to recordings by Cozy Powell
Cozy Powell
Colin Flooks , better known as Cozy Powell, was an English rock drummer who made his name with many major rock bands.-Early history:...
, Gary Moore
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
and Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...
to raise money. By 1980 his career was back on track with his new band, consisting of drummer Billy Cobham
Billy Cobham
William C. Cobham is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who has called Switzerland home since the late 1970s....
, guitarist Clem Clempson
Clem Clempson
Clem Clempson is an English rock guitarist who has played in a number of bands including Colosseum and Humble Pie.-Career:...
, and keyboardist David Sancious
David Sancious
David Sancious is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on the 1992 album Human Touch. Sancious is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known as a keyboard player and...
. 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
Rocket 88 (band)
Rocket 88 is the name of a United Kingdom-based boogie-woogie band formed in the late 1970s by Ian "Stu" Stewart, Charlie Watts, Alexis Korner and Dick Morrissey....
, the back-to-the-roots band that Ian Stewart
Ian Stewart (musician)
Ian Andrew Robert Stewart was a Scottish keyboardist, co-founder of The Rolling Stones and inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
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
Audiophile
An audiophile is a person who enjoys listening to recorded music, usually in a home. Some audiophiles are more interested in collecting and listening to music, while others are more interested in collecting and listening to audio components, whose "sound quality" they consider as important as the...
record label, Jeton. That year he also collaborated on the Soft Machine
Soft Machine
Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...
album Land of Cockayne (1981).
In 1981, Bruce collaborated with guitarist Robin Trower
Robin Trower
Robin Leonard Trower , known professionally as Robin Trower, is an English rock guitarist who achieved success with Procol Harum during the 1960s, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio.-Biography:...
and released two power trio
Power trio
A power trio is a rock and roll band format where the traditional power trio has a lineup of guitar, bass and drums, leaving out the rhythm guitar or keyboard that are used in other rock music to fill out the sound with chords...
albums, BLT and Truce, the first of which was a minor hit in the United States. 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
Bruce Gary
Bruce Gary was best known as the drummer for the music group The Knack. He was nominated for two Grammy Awards as a stage performer, producer, and recording artist....
from The Knack
The Knack
The Knack was an American New Wave rock quartet based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with their first single, "My Sharona", an international number one hit in 1979.-Founding :...
(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
Allan Holdsworth
Allan Holdsworth is an English guitarist and composer. He has released twelve studio albums as a solo artist and played many different styles of music over a period of four decades, but first drew attention for his work in jazz fusion...
, Didier Lockwood and David Sancious at Montreux
Montreux
Montreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps and has a population, , of and nearly 90,000 in the agglomeration.- History :...
.
In 1983 Bruce began working with the Latin/world music producer Kip Hanrahan
Kip Hanrahan
Kip Hanrahan is an American jazz music impresario, record producer and percussionist.-Biography:Hanrahan was born in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in the Bronx to an Irish-Jewish family. He has an unusual role in the albums released under his name, one which he has analogized to that of a film...
, 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 lyric
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
ist 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
Allan Holdsworth
Allan Holdsworth is an English guitarist and composer. He has released twelve studio albums as a solo artist and played many different styles of music over a period of four decades, but first drew attention for his work in jazz fusion...
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
Renault 21
The Renault 21 is a large family car produced by French automaker Renault between 1986 and 1994. It was also sold in North America through American Motors dealers as the Renault Medallion and the Eagle Medallion...
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.
The solo years 1990s
In 1989, Bruce began recording material with Ginger Baker and released another solo album, A Question of Time. Baker and Bruce toured the United States at turn of the decade. Bruce played at the Montreux Jazz FestivalMontreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious in Europe; it is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva...
in 1991, and invited Irish blues rock performer, Rory Gallagher
Rory Gallagher
William Rory Gallagher, ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995, was an Irish blues-rock multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and bandleader. Born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland, and raised in Cork, Gallagher recorded solo albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s, after forming the band Taste...
(who had a long-standing relationship with Bruce, having supported Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
's farewell concert in the band Taste
Taste (band)
Taste was an Irish rock and blues band formed in 1966 that gained fame in large part because of their unique style, and the talent and charisma of the band's founder, songwriter and musician Rory Gallagher...
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
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
. 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
BBM
BBM is the name of the short-lived power trio formed in 1993, by long established artists, bassist Jack Bruce, drummer Ginger Baker and guitarist Gary Moore. They released just one album, entitled Around The Next Dream, which was released on the Virgin record label...
, and their subsequent (and only) album Around the Next Dream was a top ten hit in the UK. 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 organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
ist Bernie Worrell
Bernie Worrell
George Bernard "Bernie" Worrell, Jr. is an American keyboardist and composer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic...
.
Bruce then began work producing and arranging the soundtrack to the independently produced Scottish film The Slab Boys with Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
, Edwyn Collins
Edwyn Collins
Edwyn Stephen Collins is an Ivor Novello Award winning Scottish musician, playing mostly electric guitar-driven pop. Collins formed the musical group Nu-Sonics in 1976, which later became Orange Juice...
, Eddi Reader
Eddi Reader
Eddi Reader MBE is a Scottish singer-songwriter, known both for her work with Fairground Attraction and for an enduring solo career. She is the recipient of three BRIT Awards and has topped both the album and singles charts...
and The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers are a Scottish band composed of identical twin brothers, Charlie and Craig Reid . They are probably best known for the songs "Letter from America", "I'm On My Way" and "I'm Gonna Be ". The band tours extensively throughout Europe and other continents...
. The soundtrack album appeared in 1997. In 1997 he returned to touring as a member of Ringo Starr's
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
All-Starr Band
Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band
To date, Ringo Starr has toured with eleven versions of his All-Starr Band where "everybody on stage is a star in their own right." Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band is a concept that was created by producer David Fishof...
, which also featured Peter Frampton
Peter Frampton
Peter Kenneth Frampton is an English musician, singer, producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. He was previously associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. Frampton's international breakthrough album was his live release, Frampton Comes Alive!. The album sold over 6 million copies...
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.
The solo years 2000s
In 2001 Bruce reappeared with his most successful band of recent times featuring Bernie WorrellBernie Worrell
George Bernard "Bernie" Worrell, Jr. is an American keyboardist and composer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic...
, Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid is an English-born American guitarist, songwriter, composer, and bandleader. Best known as the founder and primary songwriter of the heavy metal band Living Colour, Reid was named #66 on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.Critic Steve Huey writes, "[Reid's]...
of Living Colour
Living Colour
Living Colour is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. Stylistically, the band's music is a creative fusion influenced by free jazz, funk, neo-psychedelia, hard rock, and heavy metal...
on guitar and Kip Hanrahan
Kip Hanrahan
Kip Hanrahan is an American jazz music impresario, record producer and percussionist.-Biography:Hanrahan was born in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in the Bronx to an Irish-Jewish family. He has an unusual role in the albums released under his name, one which he has analogized to that of a film...
's three-piece Latin rhythm section
Rhythm section
A rhythm section is a collection of musicians who make up a section of instruments which provides the accompaniment section of the music, giving the music its rhythmic texture and pulse, also serving as a rhythmic reference for the rest of the band...
. 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
Sunshine of Your Love
"Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British supergroup Cream. The song was originally released on the album Disraeli Gears in November 1967, and was later released as a single in January 1968. It is Cream's only gold-selling single in the United States. It features a distinctive...
". 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
Godfrey Townsend
Godfrey Thomas Townsend is an American singer, guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter who has worked extensively with John Entwistle of The Who, Jack Bruce of Cream, and Alan Parsons...
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
Godfrey Townsend
Godfrey Thomas Townsend is an American singer, guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter who has worked extensively with John Entwistle of The Who, Jack Bruce of Cream, and Alan Parsons...
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
Hepatocellular carcinoma
Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of liver cancer. Most cases of HCC are secondary to either a viral hepatitide infection or cirrhosis .Compared to other cancers, HCC is quite a rare tumor in the United States...
. In July 2003, he underwent a liver transplant, which was almost fatal, as his body initially rejected the new organ. 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
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
, released as the album Royal Albert Hall London May 2–3–5–6 2005, and New York's Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
.
In between the UK and US Cream dates he also played live with Gary Moore
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
and drummer Gary Husband
Gary Husband
Gary Husband is a British jazz and rock drummer, pianist and composer.- Short biography:Gary Husband is an English jazz and rock drummer, pianist and composer...
at the Dick Heckstall-Smith
Dick Heckstall-Smith
Dick Heckstall-Smith was an English jazz and blues saxophonist. He played with some of the most important English blues-rock and jazz fusion bands of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...
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
Hessischer Rundfunk
Hessischer Rundfunk is the public broadcaster for the German state of Hesse. The main offices of HR are in Frankfurt am Main. HR is a member of the ARD.- Studios :...
) 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
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is a conservatoire of music, drama, and dance in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Educational Association, it is the busiest performing arts venue in Scotland...
, Glasgow with Clem Clempson
Clem Clempson
Clem Clempson is an English rock guitarist who has played in a number of bands including Colosseum and Humble Pie.-Career:...
, keyboard player Ronnie Leahy
Ronnie Leahy
Ronald 'Ronnie' Leahy is a keyboard player best known for his work with Jack Bruce, Jon Anderson, and Nazareth . He first gained recognition as keyboardist in the second line-up of Scottish band Stone the Crows. He also played in White Trash...
and Husband.
In 2008, Bruce collaborated again with guitarist Robin Trower
Robin Trower
Robin Leonard Trower , known professionally as Robin Trower, is an English rock guitarist who achieved success with Procol Harum during the 1960s, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio.-Biography:...
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
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
bassist's The John Entwistle
John Entwistle
John Alec Entwistle was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players...
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
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
Courtney Pine
Courtney Pine
Courtney Pine CBE is an English jazz musician. At school he studied the clarinet, although he is known primarily for his saxophone playing. Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also playing the flute, clarinet, bass Clarinet and keyboards...
and for the first time in 40 years played the Graham Bond–Cream classic "Traintime".
The same month, Bruce, with guitarist Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid is an English-born American guitarist, songwriter, composer, and bandleader. Best known as the founder and primary songwriter of the heavy metal band Living Colour, Reid was named #66 on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.Critic Steve Huey writes, "[Reid's]...
, drummer Cindy Blackman
Cindy Blackman
Cindy Blackman is an American jazz and rock drummer. Blackman is best-known for recording and touring with Lenny Kravitz...
and organist John Medeski
John Medeski
Anthony John Medeski is an American jazz keyboards player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood...
played a series of Blue Note Club
Blue Note (jazz clubs)
The Blue Note is a jazz club and restaurant located at in Greenwich Village, New York City. Opened in 1981 by owner and founder Danny Bensusan, the club is now considered one of the world's most famous jazz venues...
tribute concerts to The Tony Williams Lifetime
The Tony Williams Lifetime
The Tony Williams Lifetime was a jazz-rock fusion group led by jazz drummer Tony Williams.-Original line-up:The Tony Williams Lifetime was founded in 1969 as a power trio with John McLaughlin on electric guitar, and Larry Young on organ. The band was possibly named for Williams' debut album as a...
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
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
from Glasgow Caledonian University
Glasgow Caledonian University
Glasgow Caledonian University is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland.The university was constituted by an Act of Parliament on 1 April 1993 as a result of a merger between Glasgow Polytechnic and The Queen's College, Glasgow....
for services to the culture of Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
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.
The solo years 2010s
In October 2009, Bruce performed at the 50th anniversary of Ronnie ScottRonnie Scott
Ronnie Scott was an English jazz tenor saxophonist and jazz club owner.-Life and career:Ronnie Scott was born in Aldgate, east London, into a family of Russian Jewish descent on his father's side, and Portuguese antecedents on his mother's. Scott began playing in small jazz clubs at the age of...
'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
Harry Shapiro
Harry Shapiro may refer to:* Harry Shapiro , who has written very widely on the subject of drugs* Harry Shapiro , convicted and served time for using explosive device in a Florida synagogue to prevent former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres from speaking* Harry L. Shapiro Doctor of anthropology...
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
Godfrey Townsend
Godfrey Thomas Townsend is an American singer, guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter who has worked extensively with John Entwistle of The Who, Jack Bruce of Cream, and Alan Parsons...
, 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
Jaco Pastorius
John Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player....
and Nathan Watts
Nathan Watts
Nathan Lamar Watts, born 1954 in Detroit, Michigan is an American session bass guitar player, best known for his work with Stevie Wonder from the 1970s to the present...
. 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
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club which has operated in London since 1959.The club opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street in London's Soho district. It was managed by musicians Ronnie Scott and Pete King. In 1965 it moved to a larger venue nearby at 47 Frith Street...
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
Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid is an English-born American guitarist, songwriter, composer, and bandleader. Best known as the founder and primary songwriter of the heavy metal band Living Colour, Reid was named #66 on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.Critic Steve Huey writes, "[Reid's]...
, drummer Cindy Blackman
Cindy Blackman
Cindy Blackman is an American jazz and rock drummer. Blackman is best-known for recording and touring with Lenny Kravitz...
, and organist John Medeski
John Medeski
Anthony John Medeski is an American jazz keyboards player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood...
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
Palmetto Records
Palmetto Records is an independent American jazz record label founded in 1990 by Matt Balitsaris. -Artists:*Ben Allison*Lili Anel*Matt Wilson*Fred Hersch*Ted Nash*Bill Mays*Larry Goldings*David Berkman*Dr...
.
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
Joe Bonamassa
Joe Bonamassa is an American blues rock guitarist and singer.-Early life:Bonamassa was born and raised in New Hartford, United States. His parents owned and ran a guitar shop. He is a fourth-generation musician...
, 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
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
for future CD release.
Discography
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.
Solo album discography
| Date | Album |
|---|---|
| September 1969 | Songs for a Tailor Songs for a Tailor Songs for a Tailor is the 1969 solo studio album debut of musician, composer and singer Jack Bruce, who was already famous at the time of its release for his work with the supergroup Cream... * |
| December 1970 | Things We Like Things We Like Things We Like is a jazz album by bassist Jack Bruce.The album was Bruce's second solo album to reach the marketplace; it was released in the U.K. in late 1970, and in the United States in early 1971... * (recorded Aug 1968) |
| September 1971 | Harmony Row Harmony Row Harmony Row is Jack Bruce's third album, originally released in July 1971.The album takes its title from a tenement street in Glasgow, near where Bruce grew up. The street, since demolished, was famous as the largest unbroken houserow in Europe, stretching for over a mile... * |
| November 1974 | Out of the Storm Out of the Storm (album) Out of the Storm is the fourth studio album by British bassist Jack Bruce. The album, Bruce's first solo effort in over three years, was recorded and released in 1974, following the dissolution of Bruce's power trio West, Bruce and Laing.... * |
| (June 1975) | Live at Manchester Free Trade Hall '75 (2-CD released 2003) |
| March 1977 | How's Tricks How's Tricks How's Tricks is a 1977 album by the Jack Bruce Band. It was Bruce's fifth album as a solo/bandleader.The album peaked at #153 on the Billboard album chart in May 1977... * |
| (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) |
External links
- Official website
- Original Smiles & Grins Jack Bruce Club
- Jack Bruce at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...