Jack Bruce

Jack Bruce (born May 14, 1943) is a musician (bass guitar, cello and occasional piano), singer and songwriter.

He played with the John Mayall group and Manfred Mann before moving on to his most famous role as bass player in the power trio (some would say the first "supergroup") Cream. He wrote the majority of Cream's material, with lyricist Pete Brown[?].

Jack's playing was clearly based on his classical training and he is reputed to have said that Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the greatest bass-lines ever.

In the early days of Cream, Jack played a Fender VI (6 string) bass whose narrow string spacing, and shorter than average scale-length, made it the ideal vehicle for a nimble-thinking and nimble-fingered innovator like Jack.

His next bass was another short-scale model, but this time a more normal looking four-string - the Gibson EB3. This had two powerful pickups, and was (at least in part) responsible for the thick, brooding bass sound that Jack used on albums like Wheels of Fire.

Over the years since Cream, Jack has worked with many fine musicians and collaborated with jazz greats like 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[?], John Hiseman[?], Dick Heskstall-Smith[?], Art Themen[?] and George Harrison), Harmony Row and Into The Storm, then he diversified into jazz again. He later spent time playing as part of Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band[?].

He is still touring and recording, these days playing a Warwick fretless bass.

External Links

jackbruce.com (http://www.jackbruce.com/) - official artist website