Jack Bruce

[AllenLowe]

I don't think anyone has mentioned, btw, how important another early group he was in was - Graham Bond's Organization, I think it was, and it was also originally with Ginger Baker on drums (and apparently they fought, physically, all the time). Bond was an interesting guy, great bandleader, and also a pretty good saxophonist originally.

[felser]

I don't think anyone has mentioned, btw, how important another early group he was in was - Graham Bond's Organization, I think it was, and it was also originally with Ginger Baker on drums (and apparently they fought, physically, all the time). Bond was an interesting guy, great bandleader, and also a pretty good saxophonist originally.

Also my understanding that they fought all the time, yet they moved together to Cream. I was astonished at how artistically successful the Cream reunion concert DVD was, and I play it a good bit.

[kinuta]

I'm sorry to hear of his passing. I saw him many times, several with Graham Bond, and once had the pleasure of chatting with him over a pint.

He was a gentleman and fine musician.

[Hardbopjazz]

RIP Jack..

[mikeweil]

Very sad news. To me, the greatest rock bassist ever. R.I.P.

How many rock musicians have crossed over into jazz like he did, and with similarly great results? The Tony Williams Lifetime and Escalator Over The Hill, just to name two. Well, no wonder cinsidering his jazz roots. Maybe now we will see reissues of some of his LPs.

[ep1str0phy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVXNg5QdEt0

Speaking a bit with regard to Bruce's jazz roots--I'm consistently astounded by the dynamic interaction between the three principals on Harmony Row (Bruce, Chris Spedding, and John Marshall--the later two alumni of the Mike Westbrook bands and very notable players in the nascent British jazz-rock).

There is a dirtiness to much of this early British jazz rock (Soft Machine, Nucleus, etc.) that is more akin to Lifetime or electric Miles than the chops heavy fusion of Mahavishnu or the overt funk inflections of Headhunters and later Weather Report--Bruce tapped into the jazz-rock continuum in a very notable, decidedly un-proggy way. The Spedding iterations of the Bruce band are really idiosyncratic in that the bass is the more forward soloistic instrument, even though it's ostensibly playing improvised counterpoint--it gives the ensembles a decidedly bottom-heavy feel that is nonetheless very fluid and complex. It's sort of the rock equivalent of the Evans-LaFaro-Motian trio, and I can't think of anything quite like it. (The Who operated similarly at times, but Townsend was way more forward than Spedding ever was--Spedding is a "rhythm guitarist" in the truest sense.)

For this innovation alone, Bruce earns a place in the vanguard of rock bassists--but as often as he was criticized for business and bluster, he is an astonishingly un-noodle-y bassist. His jazz playing points to this--he's definitely loud and tough on Things We Like, but he's not a "shredder" in the post-LaFaro continuum--he's much more akin to Wilbur Ware or Garrison (or Harry Miller, for that matter), just really thick and present. He may have been complex for the rock bass of the time, but in retrospect, he's remarkably tasty and deeply compositional in a way that just surpasses his peer group.

[GA Russell]

RIP.

It's not widely known here in the US, although perhaps everyone in the UK is aware of it...Bruce played bass on Manfred Mann's 1966 hit Pretty Flamingo. A photo of that group, including Bruce and Henry Lowther, was used for the cover of the See for Miles mid-'80s LP called Soul of Mann.

Is there a specific Jack Bruce album that can be called "jazz" rather than "jazz-influenced"? I'd like a recommendation or two!

[Shawn]

Is there a specific Jack Bruce album that can be called "jazz" rather than "jazz-influenced"? I'd like a recommendation or two!

I just discovered this album for the first time this afternoon. Outward leaning post bop, a few of the tracks are trio (acoustic bass, sax, drums), the others add John McLaughlin.

Here's a live performance by the trio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrmAqHL6Rh8

Edited October 26, 2014 by Shawn

[clifford_thornton]

Things We Like is an excellent LP.

[GA Russell]

Thanks, Shawn! I've put that on my wishlist.

[sidewinder]

RIP.

It's not widely known here in the US, although perhaps everyone in the UK is aware of it...Bruce played bass on Manfred Mann's 1966 hit Pretty Flamingo. A photo of that group, including Bruce and Henry Lowther, was used for the cover of the See for Miles mid-'80s LP called Soul of Mann.

Is there a specific Jack Bruce album that can be called "jazz" rather than "jazz-influenced"? I'd like a recommendation or two!

The first one which comes immediately to mind is Mike Taylor 'Trio', where he shares acoustic bass duties with Ron Rubin. A brilliant album. New Jazz Orchestra 'Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe' also features Bruce.

Very sorry to hear this news - RIP.

[ep1str0phy]

There are a ton of bootlegs circulating of Bruce playing more straightforward jazz/improv material--not just stuff by Lifetime, but also a quartet with John McLaughlin, Stu Goldberg, and Billy Cobham, a trio with John Surman and Jon Hiseman, and a band called "Head" (a group with both Heckstall-Smith and Surman).

My favorite of Bruce's "jazz" releases is This That (Bruce w/Dick Heckstall-Smith & John Stevens). You'd think that the presence of John Stevens would head things off into total abstraction, but the music has the character of a classic hard bop date collapsing in on itself. Stevens is playing more "traditional" free jazz kit here, and Heckstall-Smith has a sound reminiscent of doom-y, post-Bridge Rollins. The most important detail, however, is that Jack actually plays electric bass on the album. There is a ton of nuance and character to Bruce on electric bass, and this is often lost in the cathartic thrash of his power trio-y music--there is nothing like This That elsewhere in his discography, and it's surely one of the loveliest albums I've ever heard in terms of treating the electric bass as a principally melodic, rather than rhythmic or contrapuntal, instrument.

Edited October 26, 2014 by ep1str0phy

[RogerF]

Jack Bruce was a pivotal influence on me musically. I always thought his first solo albums for Polydor were amazingly good and particularly Things We Like [this was a 'pure' and instrumental jazz album, with Bruce playing double bass, so was only released after the other two solo albums despite having been recorded earlier]. His contributions to Carla Bley's Escalator Over The Hill were immense. His contributions to albums by Mike Gibbs, Tony Williams Lifetime and the New Jazz Orchestra (Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe) were essential. I only saw him playing twice, once with Nucleus in London in the early 1970s and then much later at the tribue gig for Dick Heckstall Smith (A Story Ended) where he played in a trio with Gary Husband and Gary Moore (another one gone too soon). He made an immese contribution to music generally and his sphere of influence was very wide ranging (from Soft Machine's Land of Cockayne to Frank Zappa's Apostrophe) and everything in between. He will be sorely missed by many including me, R.I.P. Jack.

ps check out the jazz supergroup tracks on his box set Spirit (Live at the BBC 1971-1978) with John Surman and Jon Hiseman. Poignantly feature the track Jack's Gone (this is also on YouTube)

Edited October 26, 2014 by RogerF

[clifford_thornton]

I've not heard This That, but would like to.

[MomsMobley]

[Rooster_Ties]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hIKrRrprvs

Had no idea there was any original EOTH-related footage out there! Damn!

[7/4]

I've been hearing him my whole life, since I started listening to the AM radio in the late '60s. Cream was probably still together. I think the first riff I learned on the guitar was Sunshine of Your Love and one of the first albums in my collection was the Heavy Cream comp.

He was a busy, melodic bassist and what a singing voice, all quite unique. The only band I actually got to hear was one with Billy Cobham at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ when they were touring the I've Always Wanted To Do This album in December '80.

A sad day for music, RIP Jack.

Edited October 26, 2014 by 7/4

[7/4]

Jack Bruce

photo by Michael Antoniou, July 2011

[7/4]

[7/4]

[7/4]

[7/4]

[7/4]

Sunset Strip, Cream at the Whisky A Go Go in 1967.

Edited October 26, 2014 by 7/4

[sgcim]

Back when we were all playing in garage bands playing Cream covers, I had no idea Bruce and Baker had such strong jazz backgrounds.

Rick Laird was another one who made the same transition Baker and Bruce made.

RIP, JB

[mjzee]

http://liveforlivemusic.com/news/eric-clapton-shares-acoustic-song-for-jack/