Jack Bruce: another interview by Tony Bacon

[Dave W]

Jack Bruce Talks Cream, Ornette Coleman & Self-Expression | Bacon's Archive

[Pilgrim]

Interesting piece.  I didn't know Jack's musical background.

[westen44]

That's quite a good Jack Bruce interview.  Definitely one of the best.  Jack was open and went into detail more than usual.  Most likely he felt comfortable talking to someone like Tony Bacon. 

BTW, when he talks about Eric Clapton playing for a long time by himself I think he is referring to "Steppin' Out."  He may have done it on other songs, too, but that's the only one I know of where that was done like that.  I think it lasted about fifteen minutes. 

[amptech]

Good one!

[clankenstein]

Cool, thank you.

[uwe]

I thought this fits here, it's from a Don Airey interview:

  Deep Purple and Rainbow too worked extensively with Martin Birch over the years and he sadly died a few weeks ago.  Did you ever work with Martin?

I worked with him on Cozy Powell's Over The Top and on Bernie Marsden's first solo album.  You didn't really notice him in the studio.  He was very quiet and the opposite to Bob Ezrin.  He was very firm and ready for the take and when it came, he'd get it.  I remember when we did Over The Top, Cozy and I decided to get Jack Bruce from Cream to come and play bass and he's such an incredible player.  He'd been having a lot trouble with a couple of producers in the studio who said his bass playing wasn't good and his sound was too old fashioned and he came to us a bit nervous.  Jack came in and Martin asked him to play a few notes which he did and Martin just said "OK, thanks" and Jack went "Was that it?" and by doing that Martin  was able to reassure Jack and in 10 seconds he gave him his confidence back. He did another wonderful thing as Cozy wanted to use an orchestra but it was going to cost ten grand.  I offered to do it for the price of a pint on a synthesizer.  So, me and Martin worked over night on the "1812 Overture" and we put the orchestration onto the album and it sounded fantastic.



It kinda confirms what I always say: Our heroes here - Jack, JAE, Chris Squire, you name them -, if you stripped them of their name, they would have a hard time not being admonished in the studio by a producer in the last, say, 40 years for simply not sounding and playing like a bassist is "supposed to".

[Grog]

Good article. Now Jack is missed in the same way as fellow musicians he talked about in the interview....

[doombass]

I thought this fits here, it's from a Don Airey interview:

  Deep Purple and Rainbow too worked extensively with Martin Birch.........

You forgot to mention the guitarslinger in the video once auditioned for Deep Purple and lost to Tommy Bolin. I'm surprised you missed that opportunity. 

[uwe]

Clempson was too introvert in his stage presence for Purple. They needed someone with star quality and Bolin seemed to fit the bill. But he had demons of his own.

I really liked Clempson with Rough Diamond. Too bad that band didn't last. Byron did some wonderful crooning there. Great keyboard playing too.

[gearHed289]

That Powell clip is great. Love Max Middleton.

[uwe]

  Oh my, you are a PROG-baby if there ever was one. One-track-but-multiple-time-signatures-mind! 

[gearHed289]

Oh my, you are a PROG-baby if there ever was one. One-track-but-multiple-time-signatures-mind! 

I know what I like... And I like what I know. 

[uwe]

The Wardrobian!