Bruford: Difference between revisions
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*[[Dave Stewart]]: keyboards | *[[Dave Stewart]]: keyboards | ||
"Feels Good To | "Feels Good To Me" additionally featured [[Annette Peacock]] and [[Kenny Wheeler]]. | ||
=Quotes on Bruford= | =Quotes on Bruford= | ||
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==[[No Secrets (Facelift 1994)]]== | ==[[No Secrets (Facelift 1994)]]== | ||
So to Soft Machine and Gong. Given Allan Holdsworth’s links with Nucleus, with the musicians in Sunship, and later with '''Bruford''', I long ago came to the conclusion that here was a musician very much aware of the dynasty of bands and musicians which can be traced right back to the mid-Sixties with the Wilde Flowers. Surely it wasn’t a coincidence that Allan Holdsworth first played in the Soft Machine and then Gong. And yet: "In both cases I had no prior knowledge of the bands. In Gong I knew nothing about Daevid Allen or anything else that had gone before. I don’t mean that in a bad way - I’d never heard it. Same with Soft Machine - I hadn’t heard what had happened before, which may be a good thing, because then you’re not trying to keep something alive. But there was a guy who was also a huge help to me starting out called Brian Blain, who works for the Musicians Union. He was absolutely wonderful - he helped me a lot. I think he really liked me and tried to put me in different situations. I remember we did some clinics - that’s how I met John Marshall. I guess John told the rest of the band about me, and then Brian Blain hooked up a couple of clinics with the Soft Machine, but they added a guitar player because at that time they didn’t have a guitar player. | So to Soft Machine and Gong. Given Allan Holdsworth’s links with Nucleus, with the musicians in Sunship, and later with '''Bruford''', I long ago came to the conclusion that here was a musician very much aware of the dynasty of bands and musicians which can be traced right back to the mid-Sixties with the Wilde Flowers. Surely it wasn’t a coincidence that Allan Holdsworth first played in the Soft Machine and then Gong. And yet: "In both cases I had no prior knowledge of the bands. In Gong I knew nothing about Daevid Allen or anything else that had gone before. I don’t mean that in a bad way - I’d never heard it. Same with Soft Machine - I hadn’t heard what had happened before, which may be a good thing, because then you’re not trying to keep something alive. But there was a guy who was also a huge help to me starting out called Brian Blain, who works for the Musicians Union. He was absolutely wonderful - he helped me a lot. I think he really liked me and tried to put me in different situations. I remember we did some clinics - that’s how I met John Marshall. I guess John told the rest of the band about me, and then Brian Blain hooked up a couple of clinics with the Soft Machine, but they added a guitar player because at that time they didn’t have a guitar player. | ||
=Bill on Bruford= | |||
==Bill Bruford on Allan Holdsworth and Rock Goes to College== | |||
TCG: Your CD and DVD release of Rock Goes T. College seems like good timing to speak with you about the 30th anniversary of the Bruford band, were you planning to make RGTC a 30th anniversary CD/DVD? | |||
BB: Not really, getting stuff from the BBC is very difficult and expensive. We were just trying to make the numbers work and everybody could enjoy it. But it cost a lot of money to get that stuff from the BBC. They do a very good job so they're worth it. | |||
TCG: Can you reflect back on working with Allan Holdsworth and all the great players in your group between '77-79? | |||
BB: Just going back to the time, I was figuring what I wanted to do after I left Genesis in '76- ‘77 was start my own recording career. To do that you need to call some people, I found Jeff Berlin in Long Island where he was living. And I knew I wanted Allan Holdsworth. With Allan, you needed a bass player who could keep up. Against those two, you really needed a steady keyboard player who wasn't going to be a soloist so much. So Dave Stewart was the obvious keyboard choice for this thing. That was the core group, but we also added a jazz flugelhorn player here called Kenny Wheeler and Annette Peacock, who was Gary Peacock's wife, the bass player with DeJohnette. She was residing here in the U.K. at the time. So it was kind of a cool quartet with guests really. It was great. We hit if off right from the start. Allan was terrific. Around that time, America was pretty unfamiliar with Allan in the late '70s. We knew him here. And in a way, that was the bridge for Allan between the U.K. and the United States, | |||
TCG: You wrote some cool liner notices for Rock Goes To College where you say, "what we could do with that group now!" Can you speculate what might have been the next step with the Feels Good To Me lineup with Allan Holdsworth? | |||
BB: They were big albums and they're much talked about these days. It was great. I think that the comment in the liner notes is kind of facile probably. These things do have a moment in time when they are relevant. They were relevant in '77, '78 and '79 with U.K. and that band Bruford and everything. That was its period. By 1980 I was back in Crimson doing like electric world music. That was fine and that's the way it should be. | |||
TCG: Allan Holdsworth left after the Rock Goes To College show from March 7th, 1979. I saw Bruford play at My Father's Place in July 1979 and we were surprised that Allan wasn't playing guitar with you anymore! | |||
BB: Yeah, I was surprised Allan wasn't with me! When you get to know Allan, you get to know, he's a free spirit. Sometimes he comes and sometimes he doesn't. | |||
TCG: Is there any reason why you don't work with guitar players much these days? | |||
BB: I moved literally from electric rock to acoustic jazz, play pertly much acoustic jazz full time now with pianos, saxophones and basses. Any reason? No, not particularly. I'm more interested in people then the instruments they play. The people I want to play with right now play pianos and saxophones and basses. But hey, I spent a lot of time with guitarists, its nice to have a change. | |||
TCG: So there's no chance of a reunion with the Rock Goes R. College lineup'? BB: No, there's no chance of that Robert. There's no more material with that band available! (laughter) I'm not sitting on boxes of material that was never released. | |||
TCG: So will there be any more vintage material on your Winterfold label? | |||
BB: I'm not sure, you just have to wait and see, as I will, I've probably said everything I can about Rock Goes to College, I really liked it. I loved the band. I loved being the leader of the band. I consider it a privilege to have worked with those people at that time. And of course it was my first effort, to compose music that would attract these people. To give them something to play. It's not easy to find something for somebody as good as Allan Holdsworth to play. You had to think like a guitar player, which I wasn't really doing. You need to under write because Allan's going to fill for much and that's what you want to hear. And of course, lover wrote everything. So, in a way when he got pissed off at being boxed in by the music, I think he was probably right to feel that way. In a way, I did nail him to the ground a bit, but on the other hand he was used sparingly but to devastating effect. | |||
Check out Rock Goes to College and the the Bruford solo CDs and DVDs @ www.billbruford.com | |||
