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→Discography: If Summer Had Its Ghosts is not an Earthworks album (made a new heading in the discography for it). Also added his appearances on albums by David Torn and Kazumi Watanabe.
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*''[[Cloud About Mercury]]'' ([[1986]])
*''[[Cloud About Mercury]]'' ([[1986]])
'''Kazumi Watanabe'''
'''Kazumi Watanabe'''
*''[[The Spice Of Life]]'' ([[1991]])
*''[[The Spice Of Life]]'' ([[1987]])
*''[[The Spice Of Life Too]]'' ([[1991]])
*''[[The Spice Of Life Too]]'' ([[1988]])


==External links==
==External links==

Revision as of 06:43, 27 June 2006

File:Bruford.jpg
Bill Bruford on the cover of his album, Feels Good to Me

William Scott Bruford (born May 17, 1949 in Sevenoaks, Kent, England), better known as Bill Bruford, is an influential British drummer known for his forceful, highly precise, polyrhythmic style. He was the original drummer for legendary progressive rock group Yes.

Bruford was first given a snare drum by his parents at the age of 13, learning how to play in the attic of his house, and continued adding more pieces until he had a full drum set. He was heavily influenced by Miles Davis, and gave Yes a jazzy musical element during his time with the band. Bruford, noting the alliterative qualities of both names, would sometimes wear a Boston Bruins tank-top that had a large "B" on the front.

He has been a prominent figure in the art rock movement since the early 1970s. He has been in many bands and collaborated on numerous projects, the most famous of which have been Yes, King Crimson and his own fusion band Bruford.

He shot to fame in the early Seventies as the original drummer for Yes, playing on their first two albums as well as the seminal LPs The Yes Album, Fragile and Close To The Edge, and he stunned fans by quitting the band at the height of their success in 1972.

The drums

Bruford has no idea why he chose to play drums, but tries to explain it so in an [All about Jazz]interview:

"Seeing all the great American jazz drummers of the 60's on BBC TV weekly on Saturday nights at 6.25 pm. They were extremely well-made programmes that turned the head of a 13-year-old. I found all the instrumentalists to be fascinating and mysterious, why - particularly the drummer - I have no idea. Then my sister gave me a pair of brushes. I then had a few lessons at school from Lou Pocock of the Royal Philharmonic at school, but after that I picked up the rest wherever I found it lying about. I have never acquired drum technique for the sake of acquiring it but rather as a solution to a particular problem. If I heard something I couldn't do, I would figure out how to do it. That applies to keyboard playing as well. So I have the classic amateur's technique; I know some very tricky bits and I have large gaping holes. This amateurism however, can sometimes be helpful in forging a style; you have to work around your weaknesses."

The Yes years

Bruford speaks at length about his time in Yes:

"We all lived in the same house, or most of us did. And as far as I can make out we were confined to the property, because at twenty-four hours' notice we'd have to do a gig somewhere. So you couldn't leave the building for more than twelve hours in case a gig came through...We used to be like firemen, living in a firehouse...with a greasy pole and when the bell rang you did a concert."

Although seemingly a close-knit band, there were other sides to Yes:

"I do remember the whole thing as being very argumentative, hot blooded... a permanent state of friction between Jon and Chris, Chris and me, me and Jon. A permanent state of argument, really. We were from totally different social backgrounds. This is what is very hard for an American to understand, but we could have been five guys from Mars. I mean I'd never met anyone like Jon Anderson in my life! I couldn't understand physically what he was saying; he had a very strange accent from the north of England. He speaks in strange sentences that nobody can understand. It was chaos..."

Yes´ band members were no strangers to alcohol:

"I don't really remember a whole lot of sex, drugs and rock n' roll, really. I'm always one of these guys who never notices. I hated rooming with anybody. Sometimes I had to room with Tony Kaye and that was awful. At the end of the whole day of working with people you want some privacy. We used to drink an awful lot of alcohol. There was a club here in London called the Speakeasy that the band's manager (Roy Flynn) was managing as well. The Speakeasy stayed open late, until two or three in the morning. So you could pretty much play a gig in England within a hundred-and-fifty mile radius and still make it back to the Speakeasy at about two o'clock. And we'd drink huge amounts of scotch and coke, which is a ghastly sweet drink...And now people don't drink nearly as much, for good reason. We're all a little wiser."

Bruford, by 1972, had felt that Yes had come as far as it could, at least as far as he could contribute to it. He didn't want to spend what he felt was an inordinate amount of time in the studio debating chords and producing records that he felt would only be the "Son of ´Close To The Edge´." Another reason for quitting Yes was his conflict with the band's singer Jon Anderson; particularly during the recording sessions for Close To The Edge. Fellow band-members nicknamed Anderson "Napoleon". During a session regarding the title track, Bruford memorably asked of Anderson "What does 'Total Mass Retain' mean??"; raising a question about the second part of the 18-minute song.

His main reason for leaving the band, however, was the fact that his rehearsals with bassist Chris Squire were always delayed. "Waiting for him (Squire) to turn-up was the worst thing I had to endure", [1] he is reported as saying. It was also reported that he once had a fist-fight with Squire after a concert, because they violently disagreed about who had played badly.

Bruford´s comments concerning Chris Squire:

"I mean, Chris is, I'm sure, a wonderful guy. But in those days he also very, very late. For all appointments and departures and arrivals and sound checks and anything. That, in a way, is the most grievous form of offense that one musician can visit upon another. Because it's simply keeping everybody waiting. Like the last guy who enters the room is the "biggest guy." So there was a lot of that about him and eventually... you know, I was a hot-blooded guy back then and I'd had enough of waiting for him, really. He used to keep Yes waiting for almost everything. And I would guess they are still waiting for everything." [2]

It seems that Bruford was right about his reasons for leaving, as Yes had reached their peak, and they never enjoyed the success that they had previously had, apart from one hit single: Owner of a lonely heart.

After Yes, Bruford "Spent a lot of time waiting for the phone to ring, and wondering if it ever would" - in a Melody Maker interview - until he was asked to work with Gong, and National Health with Dave Stewart who played keyboards, and would later play on Bruford´s solo albums.

King Crimson

Bruford later accepted an invitation from Robert Fripp to join King Crimson, which he had wanted to join for quite some time. His instinct to remember complicated drum parts was shown when he learned how to play the long percussion/guitar part in the middle of 21st Century Schizoid Man, "by listening to it and just learning it". He admits - to this day - that his note-reading skills are slower than he would like. "I learned how to read the horizontal lines, but not the vertical notes"; although he has succesfully composed lots of (written) compositions over the years, albeit slowly. [3]

Bruford was more interested in artistic pursuits, and the framework of King Crimson appealed to that sensibility in him. Violin, viola and keyboard player David Cross was selected to flesh out the sound of the new band. Rehearsals and touring began in late 1972, and Larks' Tongues in Aspic was released early the next year, and the group spent the remainder of 1973 touring Britain, Europe, and America. Fripp's guitar playing was loud and aggressive, and Bruford's propulsive drumming meshed with Wetton's often powerful bass guitar. [4]

Genesis live

Bruford also spent a year touring with Genesis in 1976. He explains how he joined/worked with the band:

"Well… it’s a story much told, but I’ll tell it again. Phil Collins and I were working together in Brand X. I was playing percussion to his drum set. We were doing a few English dates in that format. He was explaining the problem that Gabriel was leaving Genesis. He had auditioned tons of singers, and I remember him saying that he thought he was better than any of the people that he was auditioning. I think I vaguely remember saying, “Why don´t you stand up front and sing, and I’ll cover for you on the drums? Then, you know, it won’t fall apart. Which is, of course, a singer’s nightmare... that the music will fall apart behind him. He seemed to think that was OK. I said, “I’ll do it for a bit until you get comfortable and then you can get someone else.”

Bruford, being "hot-blooded" (quote) is never afraid to state his own opinion. It was said that he, "behaved badly, sniped critically and impotently from the side lines", whilst working with Genesis. He was asked if that was untrue: "No, I don’t think so. I think that speaks very eloquently." [5]

He had this to say about Phil Collins:

"He struck me as a good drummer and singer. He was certainly driven in the sense that he wanted Genesis to be a success. I don’t recall how successful they were at the time of Trick of The Tail or if they got on the charts. I honestly can’t remember, and it certainly wasn’t my concern, really. I was just concerned with doing a good job on drums as a kind of ‘hired gun’ as you say. He is (Collins) overly sensitive to criticism, I think. He seems to be overly concerned about what the "Gardening Correspondent" on the "New Jersey Gazette" thinks." [6]

Solo

Bill Bruford led his own band in the late 1970s, called simply "Bruford".

Members of the band were initially Dave Stewart (keyboards), Jeff Berlin (bass), Allan Holdsworth (guitar) and Bruford (drums). The first album also had Annette Peacockon vocals, and Kenny Wheeler on flugelhorn. The second album - One of a Kind - was mostly instrumental, and on the live album "The Bruford Tapes" (a live show originally broadcast for radio station WLIR) and associated tour, the guitarist John Clark replaced Holdsworth. Bass-player Berlin sang the vocals on Gradually Going Tornado." [7]

UK

Following his first solo album, he was involved in a reunion with King Crimson bassist/vocalist John Wetton in the progressive-rock group UK. During his time in the band, 1977-78, the band released its eponymous debut album and conducted a small tour of the United States and Canada. He later went back to making two more solo albums (see above).

King Crimson again

Bruford rejoined King Crimson again with a different line-up. He recorded Discipline, Beat, and Three of a Perfect Pair.

This was the time when he would move to electronic drums and use his renowned polyrhythmic style.

His reasons for abandoning the double-trio were a result of his frustration with rehearsals:

"Well, I think the King Crimson double-trio project sank fabulously without a trace. There were just a few bubbles left on the surface, and the Almighty swallowed it up. It was difficult period certainly for both me and Robert (Fripp). I couldn’t see the purpose in these rehearsals at all, which were getting very expensive. We didn’t seem to be going anywhere with it. I wanted to move forward, and I couldn’t understand why we couldn’t be going forward. Robert, obviously, wasn’t happy with the music either. There was just an excruciatingly awful ten days or so of rehearsals. At the end of which, I said, ´Well, I’ve had enough! I can’t contribute here at all.´ The music was going nowhere, I had nothing to say about it, and nothing to contribute. So, it was best that I then proceeded with a full-time jazz career." [8]

Never say Yes again

He would rejoin Yes briefly in 1991 and 1992 for the "Union" album and tour. His comments about the album and tour:

Bruford: "Well, the more money you pay for a record, the more money you interfere with it – and this was a big budget record. So, they eventually decided that the guys in France (Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe) needed the assistance of all the other Yes guys in California (Chris Squire, Tony Kaye, Trevor Rabin and Alan White). So, our work was duly e-mailed, I guess, to them. They were then put on and found lacking. Then, also put on was a cast of a thousand studio musicians. So, the whole thing turned into the most God awful, auto-corrected mess you could possibly imagine! The worst record I’ve ever been on."

About the tour:

"Well, the "Union" tour was pretty horrible, really. I mean it was just a sort of a summer vacation. It was um... fun to do in the sense there were some "old pals" and it was possible to do because we didn't have to give rise to any new music. So in as much as the band was just playing repertoire material, there was kind of a ´ticket buy´ in the idea of all those, you know, the entire cast of "Dallas" on stage at once, kind of thing. And there was some kind of attraction to that. But that was really all it was, I think. And I think I was probably an unnecessary spare part. So I didn't enjoy it terribly. But those gigs can be quite fun as performing in huge stadiums can be quite fun on a kind of purely visceral level. Just kind of being there and enjoying it. I don't venture, however, you'd want to give up your day job to do it." [9]

Judging by his erratic recording career, one is led to think that Bruford himself is erratic, but this is not the case. Bruford, again:

"It may be that you get paid very well, which is great, because then you can use the money to do more creative things."

Earthworks

Bruford is perhaps most famous for having revolutionized drumming through the use of Simmons electronic drums and his melodic drumming. While Bruford has gone on to form his own jazz band, Earthworks, he continues to collaborate with many musicians, including one-time Yes keyboardist Patrick Moraz and bassist Tony Levin. Earthworks has been his primary focus in recent years, particularly after his departure from the latest incarnation of King Crimson in 1999 (which ended the band's "double trio" experiment).

In an interview for The San Diego Union-Tribune (15 May 2003), he said, "I have this image that I might be a 'rock guy on vacation.' That idea is anathema to me—and I've cured it by making eight albums with Earthworks."

Los Angeles Times (16 May 2003), "Earthworks? it means seeing music as a social encounter, where you look another guy in the eyes across the room, say 'one-two-three-four' and the music begins. That's where my pleasure lies, for sure."

Family life

Bruford met his wife, Carolyn, when they were 15; marrying at 22. They have three children, Alex (born circa 1978, also a drummer and in the band The Infadels), Holly (born circa 1980) and John (born circa 1987).

Notable bands

Discography

Yes

King Crimson

Chris Squire

UK

Bruford

Genesis

Duo with Patrick Moraz

Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe

Earthworks

Bruford with Ralph Towner and Eddie Gomez

Bruford and Tony Levin

With Tim Garland

With Michiel Bortslap

David Torn

Kazumi Watanabe

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