It’s cool seeing a true great musician share his awe for another great musician.
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Jeff Berlin shares his inner fanboy.
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
It’s cool seeing a true great musician share his awe for another great musician.
I always enjoyed playing in 3 piece Rock/Blues band so I could release my inner Jack Bruce
Basically would have rather been a Lead Guitar player than Bass; Got to play many Cream songs over the years but not this one but love doing live version of Crossroads
Basically would have rather been a Lead Guitar player than Bass; Got to play many Cream songs over the years but not this one but love doing live version of Crossroads
He’s been preaching the virtues of Jack Bruce for as long as he’s been playing
Gives you a different perspective on him.
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I really dig the album of Bruce tunes he did, usually I'm not a fan of tribute albums but Jeff really knows this material.
I agree with Jeff that the Live Cream version of "Sweet Wine” might be the best live performance they recorded. It’s not much of a song, none of Ginger’s tunes were. They get through the song form and then just jam. They aren’t even trying to follow the form. I never got to see them, so I have no idea how often they reached that level of improvisation. I wonder how often they played better than they did on that performance.
I actually prefer the first Live Cream LP over the live LP of Wheels Of Fire. Why they even bothered to release Traintime when they had superior material to use instead is beyond me. Toad isn’t something I can listen to very often, either.
I actually prefer the first Live Cream LP over the live LP of Wheels Of Fire. Why they even bothered to release Traintime when they had superior material to use instead is beyond me. Toad isn’t something I can listen to very often, either.
I am always disappointed and somewhat saddened when almost every discussion of Jack Bruce seems limited to his work with Cream when his solo albums are where his musical creativity really shone. Elements of rock, jazz, prog, folk, and even bits of classical music all blended together in a unique way. Yet it seems that the vast majority of people only care about his work in Cream, good though it was.
He also worked with other talented musicians: Tony Williams, John McLaughlin, Leslie West, Carla Bley, Mick Taylor, Robin Trower, Gary Moore, HR Big Band, Bernie Worrell, Kip Hanrahan, Mark Nauseef & Miroslav Tadic, Lou Reed.... the list goes on and on. {sigh}
He also worked with other talented musicians: Tony Williams, John McLaughlin, Leslie West, Carla Bley, Mick Taylor, Robin Trower, Gary Moore, HR Big Band, Bernie Worrell, Kip Hanrahan, Mark Nauseef & Miroslav Tadic, Lou Reed.... the list goes on and on. {sigh}
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When I break out a Bruce album, its almost always his solo stuff or his work with Kip Hanarahan.
I'm equally fond of all the Jack Bruce music I've heard from all eras. The Kip Hanrahan stuff with him, Steve Swallow and Andy Gonzales is remarkable! And there's a gravitas to Jack's voice that just makes me listen.
I was watching a "reaction" video the other day -- two college kids reacting to a Cream recording -- and even there, you had, "This is the great band with Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and ... uhhh..."
It's really criminal. This even went beyond the thing of knowing Jack ONLY from Cream, which is the all-too-typical thing.
He actually declared that he never sought to be a big commercial success, and his high artistic standards and restlessness apparently held him back (if you want to look at it that way) from "household name" status.
Personally, I think he was simply too brilliant for mass consumption!
It's really criminal. This even went beyond the thing of knowing Jack ONLY from Cream, which is the all-too-typical thing.
He actually declared that he never sought to be a big commercial success, and his high artistic standards and restlessness apparently held him back (if you want to look at it that way) from "household name" status.
Personally, I think he was simply too brilliant for mass consumption!
In all fairness to Jeff Berlin, he heard Cream as young bassist in his early teens and it changed his life. Stanley Clarke’s School Days or Larry Graham’s Ain’t No Bout A Doubt It blew away as a kid and it changed my life. I know these artists went on to do other things, but those records changed my life.
Yep
One of my favorite albums is his Things We Like album…
I love "Things We Like." I'd even say that it was my gateway into jazz, which completely occupied me in the '70s.
Yes!
My dad was a jazz musician and we always had Jazz and music in general around the house. As I grew I was into the music of my generation, all the rock of the day. I was into a lot of it but like most no internet to learn about the artists. Just album covers, some magazines later on, album reviews would lead to new information for a kid. My thing was if I hit on something I liked I would get anything associated with it. I was into Cream and Jack in particular and found that album. It has his name on it so I got it. Eye opener and my dad knew of Dick Heckstall-Smith. And because of Jack I got into the other musicians on this recording. Got a copy of John’s Extrapolation and down that murky road
Then Jon and Colosseum and on and on.Anyway, good times
I also got into some "Afro-beat" music solely due to Ginger's album with Fela.
