What drives Jack Bruce?
If you asked Jack what he was, what he is, first and foremost he would say he’s a composer. He wouldn’t say he’s a singer or a bass player or a bandleader. He’d say he’s a composer, and from that point of view, you can be composing new songs, new albums, forever until you can’t do it anymore. And a good chunk of why I wrote this book, what I was trying to get across to people—in amongst all the stories about rock ‘n’ roll mayhem, which people like to read and that’s fair enough—is the fact that this guy had a forty-year music career. Cream was less than two years. And he has this hugely impressive catalogue of music that I really want people to just go out and listen to. Get a feel for some of the things that are mentioned, some of the musicians he worked with, some of the routes he took. Even reasonably well-versed Jack Bruce fans might not have picked on the albums that he did with Kip Hanrahan and all the Latin guys, which is completely different from the West, Bruce, and Laing and the BBM and the heavy rock kind of thing. He’s done opera, he’s done avant-garde jazz, he’s done big-band stuff. He’s just got this huge breadth, which means in some ways it’s been difficult for people who enjoy his music to keep up, really, because he just dives away into all these different highways and tangents. If something sounds interesting and different, he goes for it. As with all very intelligent, creative people, Jack gets bored very quickly with things and wants to move on to other things.
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Jack Bruce: Composing Himself - The Authorised Biography by Harry Shapiro is published by Jawbone Press, 2010.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
sounds like an interesting read. I am sure it would be a logistical hassle, but it would be cool to include a greatest hits CD of his other work with the book
2 - Brian Parker
It has always been facinating about the legends, the article depicts the intresting story of Jack Bruce's biography.A Must read.
3 - maxx
I was one of the very few fortunate to be at the Royal Albert Hall for the second night of the 4 night stand. I was too young to appreciate Cream when they first appeared on the scene but as I matured I came to appreciate their music, their artistry for what it truly was - that of legends. The show I saw served to re-confirm what I already knew - they were the first and best super group ever.
4 - chris
Very sad to lose a son, especially to something like an asthma attack...
5 - Parsons
Jack Bruce:Composing himself was a very good book and Jack Bruce is candid in a lot of respects regarding his private life. Jack really excelled in Cream, and I thought that his bass playing on Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side" was classic. No treatment of Jack Bruce's life is complete without mentioning his fourth wife, Margrit Seyffir. The two have been married since 1980, and also had their first child, Natascha, that same year. They also had two other children, Kyra and Corin. Margrit has really stood by Jack Bruce through thick and thin. He is clearly a complicated man and Margrit has done a great job in influenincng him in a positive way. In the first year of their marriage, Margrit took over Bruce's finances, straightening out a number of issues for him. Her assistance was invaluable. And in September of 2003, when Jack Bruce fired his then manager, Mick Carter, Margrit took over, becoming his manager. Carter, who had become disgraced in the industry, by misrepresenting his clients information, abusing his authority, and even coming under fire for embezzlement regarding two clients, attempted to sue Bruce for loans that he had never made him. By then, Carter was desparate, one former friend referring to him as a "loose cannon" and was hoping his scheme would work in that Jack Bruce would pay him the unowed loans in order to just make him go away. That did not work. Margrit retained legal counsel on her husbands behalf and the matter was dispensed with. On a final sorry note, Mick Carter showed up at Jack Bruce's Rancho Bernardo estate when he knew that Jack was in residence and attempted to threaten him, telling Jack Bruce that he was "connected" and that he had better pay him if he knew what was good for him. Naturally, Jack had him thrown off the premises. Margrit then applied for a temporary TRO prohibiting Carter from coming within 1000 feet of her husband that was granted. Jack Bruce has been doing really great these days, touring with his band named Jack Bruce's Big Blues Band. I have heard them and they are great. Jack Bruce is a truly gifted musician and he just gets better over the years. As long is he is on the scene, I will be a fan of his.
6 - Leroy
I am writing a thesis on the untimely deaths of pop stars and I am just amazed how Mick Carter (or is it Cater) managed to escape the long arm of the law in respect of his actions.