Jack Bruce Biography

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

Born in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire, 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, saying that one could learn all you needed to know about conventional harmony from his basslines. Bruce's bass playing influences also include James Jamerson and Charles Mingus.

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 Don't'cha 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, Jon Hiseman, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Art Themen and George Harrison), Harmony Row and Into The Storm, then he diversified into jazz again and spent time playing with Ian Stewart's back-to-the-roots fun band Rocket 88. He also played with notable jazz guitarist Allan Holdsworth on his album Question of Time. He later went on to work with 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 was published in 2005.