Jack Bruce

Jack Bruce
a.k.a. John Symon Asher Bruce

WAITING SO LONG
Jack Bruce In the Sunshine Again
When it comes to describing how he fits in the musical scheme of things, Jack Bruce has labeled himself a creative musician. Truer words have rarely been spoken, for this brilliant instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, and bandleader fits no set category. He moves from the worlds of rock to blues to jazz to new music to Latin and beyond with astonishing ease. In his time with the '60s supergroup Cream, playing alongside Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker, Bruce helped to define the role of the electric bass; Among the classic songs he cowrote for the band were "Sunshine of Your Love" and "White Room." In the 33 years since Cream dissolved, Bruce has been involved with some of the most significant figures in contemporary music, including Tony Williams, Larry Coryell, Leslie West, Michael Mantler, and John McLaughlin. His latest recording, Shadows in the Air, continues his collaboration with the innovative producer Kip Hanrahan and finds Bruce in exceptional form on both sharp new songs and durable older material, including revisits to "Sunshine" and "White Room" with his old Cream-mate Eric Clapton. The articulate and affable Scotsman spoke of his varied career with Barnes & Noble.com' s Steve Futterman.

Barnes & Noble.com: Did you envision Kip Hanrahan as the producer of Shadows in the Air from the start of the project?

Jack Bruce: It's been my dream to have Kip and the musicians he works with on a record of mine for a long time. I'd worked with him since Desire Develops an Edge , and I've played with [percussionist] Milton Cordona, who became my teacher, and the others on Kip's projects, but it's taken me this long to ask them to come to my direction. It was about bringing them to Glasgow, musically speaking.

B&N.com: How did you become interested in Afro-Cuban and African rhythms?

jb: My first exposure to Afro-Cuban rhythms was listening to Dizzy Gillespie's late-'40s big band with [percussionist] Chano Pozo. They were bringing African rhythms back into jazz. What I'm trying to do, in my own small way, is trying to bring African and Afro-Cuban rhythms into rock. But there's been instances of this before on my earlier solo records, like "Boston Ball Game" from Songs for a Tailor and "The Consul at Sunset" on Harmony Row. So it's been an ongoing thing. I just fell in love with Latin rhythms when I was asked to do Kip's records and eventually felt very comfortable doing more of it.

B&N.com: Did you and Ginger Baker work on African rhythms during the '60s?

jb: I've always been interested in any kind of great music, and African music is, I think, the source of it all. Ginger and I became acquainted with the great Nigerian musician Fela Kuti back in the early '60s and got to hang out with him. We actually met him when he was studying at the London School of Economics! Thinking about it now, one of the most African parts of the new record is during the 4/5 time section on "White Room."

B&N.com: How did the Clapton collaboration come about?

jb: When I started the record the only agenda I had was to do versions of "Sunshine of Your Love" and "White Room." I hadn't even thought of Eric yet, but when we did the tracks they were so magical, so authentic, that I thought what a wonderful thing it would be to have Eric singing and playing on these new versions. Wouldn't it be great to hear us play together after all the life experiences Eric and I have been through -- the good times and bad times, which we all go through in life. Just to see what would happen. I asked him; he liked the tracks and said yes.
The whole project was basically finished in about three weeks. Then we had the idea to use Eric and Gary Moore. It took a few months to get that together, they're busy guys, but it was worth waiting for.

B&N.com: After doing this eclectic music, do you feel a pull to play straight rock 'n' roll?

jb: It's not that I need it, I love playing rock. It doesn't feel strange at all. I can go from singing an atonal opera with Mike Mantler to playing with Ulli Roth and Michael Schenker. I'll soon have a band with Vernon Reid and Bernie Worrell, and we'll certainly rock out. I just love doing all these different things.
It's a kind of restlessness that comes from the kind of musical background that I had. I was 16 when I got a scholarship to study classical composition at a conservatory. By that time I had already listened to Scottish folksong with my mother, sung in church choirs, and had sung solo with Benjamin Britten conducting. So I had a lot of musical experience even as a child -- it just seemed natural to continue to do that all my life.

B&N.com: What's the first rock 'n' roll that spoke to you?

jb: It probably was Ray Charles; either " One Mint Julep" or "What'd I Say" -- hearing those riffs -- that was for me!

B&N.com: What are you listening to these days?

jb: I really liked Massive Attack, I found them very eclectic. I liked Tupac, and Cypress Hill, and have been listening a great deal to Jeff Buckley. And the Louis Armstrong Hot Fives and Hot Sevens box set -- it's all coming from there, I don't care what it is!