Jack Bruce

John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce (born May 14, 1943) is a Scottish musician; a multi-instumentalist, composer, singer and, most importantly, a very influential electric bassist, especially when he was a member of seminal rock band Cream.

Early history

Born in Bishopbriggs, Lanarkshire, near Glasgow, Scotland, he first came to attention playing double bass with Graham Bond in the early 1960s. That group covered a range of music, from bebop to rhythm and blues, and blues. The Graham Bond Organisation also included drummer Ginger Baker.

During the time Bruce and Baker played with Bond, they were known for their hostility towards each other. Stories of the two sabotaging each other's equipment and physically fighting on stage were numerous, and eventually Baker, having de facto control of the group, fired Bruce.

He played with the John Mayall group and Manfred Mann before moving on to his most famous role as bass player and lead vocalist in the power trio (some would say the first "supergroup") Cream with Baker and guitarist Eric Clapton. Despite their hostility towards each other, Bruce and Baker were able to put aside their differences for the sake of the band.

Bruce wrote the most of Cream's original material with lyricist Pete Brown, including the classics "Sunshine of Your Love" (which they co-wrote with Clapton), "White Room," "Politician," and "I Feel Free." Bruce also wrote a number of compositions by himself, including "N.S.U." and "We're Going Wrong."

Jack's playing was clearly based on his classical training and he has said that Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the greatest bass-lines ever. Bruce's bass playing influences also include James Jamerson and Charles Mingus.

Recent history

Over the years since Cream, Jack has worked with many fine musicians. For a number of years he played in Robin Trower's band. (The album 'BLT' gets its name from the initial letters of the musicians Jack Bruce, Bill Lordan and Robin Trower, who recorded it. It is a pun on 'BLT sandwich', i.e., bacon, lettuce, and tomato.)

In 1972-73, he joined with Leslie West and Corky Laing (formerly of the hard rock band Mountain) to form the trio West, Bruce and Laing. They produced two studio albums, Why Dontcha and Whatever turns you on, and a live album called Live 'N' Kickin'.

He has also collaborated with jazz greats like Tony Williams, John McLaughlin, and Carla Bley (on the Escalator Over The Hill album). His initial solo albums after Cream were Songs For a Tailor (with players like Chris Spedding, John Hiseman, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Art Themen and George Harrison), Harmony Row and Into The Storm, then he diversified into jazz again. He later spent time playing as part of Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band.

Bruce continued touring and recording through the late 1990s. In the early 2000s he had a sustained period of declining health, and in the summer of 2003 was diagnosed with liver cancer. Bruce underwent a liver transplant in September of 2003 which nearly proved fatal as his body initially rejected the new organ. He has since recovered from this setback and in May 2005 reunited with former Cream bandmates Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker for a series of concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall (published as the album Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6 2005) and New York's Madison Square Garden. “Jack – The Biography of Jack Bruce” by Steven Myatt is due for an autumn 2005 release.

Discography

Songs For A Tailor (September 1969)
Things We Like (January 1971)
Harmony Row (September 1971)
Out of the Storm (November 1974)
Live 75 (recorded 1975, released 2003)
How's Tricks (March 1977)
Jet Set Jewel (recorded 1978, released 2003)
I've Always Wanted To Do This (December 1980)
Automatic (January 1987)
A Question of Time (January 1990)
Something Els (March 1993)
Cities Of The Heart (1993)
Monkjack (September 1995)
Shadows In The Air (July 2001)
More Jack Than God (September 2003)
Bird Alone (March 2005)

Trivia

He and Cream bandmates Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton have all played with each other in different groups. Bruce and Baker played together in the Graham Bond Organisation and Blues Incorporated, Clapton and Bruce played together near the end of Clapton's tenure with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and Baker and Clapton would played together in the short-lived supergroup Blind Faith shortly after Cream's breakup.
"Rollin' & Tumblin'," "Traintime," and the studio versions of "Spoonful," "Take It Back," and "Four Until Late" are the few Cream songs in which he plays the harmonica.
He once owned the island of Sanda in Scotland.
When deciding on the set list for the Cream reunion, Bruce wanted to include "I Feel Free."
His first Cream composition was "N.S.U." According to the Eric Clapton biography Crossroads: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton, the initials stand for "Non-Specific Urethritis," a sexually transmitted disease.
Jack Bruce says in Chris Welch's book, The Legendary Sixties Supergroup, that he "has no regrets that didn't join Led Zeppelin when they asked [him." This suggests that Bruce was Zeppelin founder and guitarist Jimmy Page's original choice for bassist/lead singer ( John Paul Jones would eventually join Page's band as bassist and Robert Plant joined as lead vocalist.)
Bruce wrote the Cream song "We're Going Wrong" after having a fight with his wife.

External links

1943 births | Living people | Scottish bass guitarists | British blues musicians | Scottish diarists

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Early history

Recent history

Discography

Trivia

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