Shadows In The Air...
an interview with JACK BRUCE
written and produced by
Robert Silverstein for mwe3.com
mwe3.com
spoke with Cream blues-rock bass legend Jack Bruce on November 19,
2010 about a number of topics including his new double live CD, Jack
Bruce And The Cuicoland Express Live At The Milky Way 2001 as
well as the 2010 DVD release of Jacks historic Rope
Ladder To The Moon movie, directed by Tony Palmer. Admittedlyprobably
an unintentional slip up on my partbefore the interview date
mwe3.com did not get to hear the Live At The Milky Way double
CD set so when, as the interview unwrapped, Jack asked if I did, I
looked dumb and it became a self-effacing moment. Of course the CD
showed up a few days later (Jack and I were always ahead of our time)
andin spite of the fact that my deficit inducing work load prohibited
me from finishing the interview right awayit has ultimately
dawned on me that this live document from 2001 is every bit as good
as Jack has said. Originally recorded on special digital tapes that
lay dormant for years, the release of Live At The Milky Way 2001
finally happened in 2010 when producer Kip Hanrahan completed the
remix of the concert from that night at the famous Milky Way club
in Amsterdam. The welcome release of the colorfully adorned and superbly
mastered double CD set of this show finally give fans of Jack Brucemulti-instrumentalist,
vocalist and composerthe chance to experience this game changing
concert imbued with a number of the best-loved Cream and Bruce classics,
each tastefully reworked into a sizzling, energetic fusion of rock
and Latin flavored jazz. Featuring Vernon Reid on guitar (Living Colour),
Bernie Worrell on organ (Parliament / Funkadelic), Richie Flores on
congas (Tito Puente / Cachao), Horacio El Negro Hernandez
on drums (Roy Hargrove / Carlos Santana) and Robby Ameen (Dizzy Gillespie
/ Paul Simon) also on drums, Live At The Milky Way 2001enhanced
by sonic mastering from audio expert Greg Calbi also offers
a fascinating look back at music from Jacks 2001 solo album
Shadows In The Air. As fans will remember, several months later
Jack fell ill and indeed we almost lost him to the ages, but we didnt.
A case of more God then Jack? I like to think so, yet since the historic
October 2005 Cream reunion, Jack has remade his mark as a pioneering,
now elder statesman of classic rock. From recent years, of course
we have that great Cream reunion CD/DVD set from the 05 Albert
Hall shows and, one can also cite Jacks brilliant work with
Robin Trower on the 2008 Seven Moons CD and subsequent live
DVD and CD. Now, with the 2011 double CD release of Jack's classic
October 20th, 2001 Cuicoland Express concert in Holland, we see yet
another side of Jacksonic genius and rock architect reexamining
the essence of his art at a critical turning point in his careerthen
and now. Another now part of the tale included in this interview are
even more recent pictures of Jack Bruce performing at the Blue Note
in Manhattan between January 27-30, 2011, leading a band with acclaimed
guitarist and Cuicoland Express comrade, Vernon Reid.
JB: Hello?
mwe3.com: Hey Jack!
JB: Is that Robert?
mwe3.com: Yeah, Robert Silverstein from mwe3.com in New York. Howre
you doing man?
JB: (laughter) Im good. How you doing Robert, nice to talk to
you again.
mwe3.com: Great to speak to you again. Cant believe its
been two years since we spoke. Seems like the whole world went by
huh?
JB: Two years?...it doesnt seem possible. The time is going
so fast these days, isnt it? (laughter)
mwe3.com: I remember speaking to you about the Seven Moons album.
Hows your family these days?
JB: My familys all fine, thank you. All well (laughter) Thats
the main thing isnt it?
mwe3.com: Youre getting ready for the winter over there?
JB: Yeah, its been pretty cold already but we can always escape.
Weve got a good place to escape to in the Canary Islands, so
were lucky. The climates nice all year round. You can
swim and stuff, its good.
mwe3.com: Youre gonna stay the winter down there?
JB: Well, no we just go there when we cant handle it anymore.
(laughter) But Im working so much that I wont be able
to get there very much this winter. So, there you go.
mwe3.com:
So youre not living in Scotland, youre living in England?
JB: Im in England you might say. (laughter)
mwe3.com: I get confused between the two places.
JB: Between Scotland and England? You wouldnt be confused if
you were here or there! (laughter)
mwe3.com: Scotland is part of England right?
JB: No its not. Its another country. Thats like
saying Canada is part of America. As a Scotsman, you get very insulted
if people say that. But Im one of those unfortunate people who
considers themselves a citizen of the world. (laughter)
mwe3.com: Youve always been....worldly.
JB: Well, I think its just I left my homeland when I was very
young.
mwe3.com: You moved to Canada at one time and then you came back to
Scotland.
JB: Yeah, but I was very young when that happened. But I still remember
it.
mwe3.com: So have you spoken with Eric and Ginger recently?
JB: Ive seen a little bit of contact with Ginger (coughs). Excuse
me, Ive been singing a lot, Im very hoarse. I havent
spoken to Eric recently, no.
mwe3.com: I think after the Cream reunion everybody was kind of hoping
that something may happen, even a single or something. I wish Eric
would kind of...own up to it a little bit. I know hes so worldly
popular now. Hes always been the most popular...all over the
world.
JB: But hes had to pay a terrible price for that. (laughter)
Hes had to play some terrible music in my opinion. But thats
his choice. He always wanted to be very successful, and hes
achieved that. Good luck to him.
mwe3.com: I think it would be nice if hed call you up...even
make a Cream single every year, just like the old days.
JB: That band is finished now. That was a band of its time and we
had a reunion. And that was kind of all right but thats what
you do and then you move on. Im not really interested in the
past.
mwe3.com: I always considered Cream, after the Beatles, to be the
most innovative of all the rock bands.
JB: We had our time. And that time is gone. (laughter) And the memory
lingers on kind of thing. But for all of us, its a bit of a
double edge sword because we tried to do new things but people always
remember Cream, which is fair enough, but individually, I think we
want to move on. Not just live in the past. There you go...
mwe3.com: I did see on Erics web site, a big Cream page still,
so theres obviously a lot of interest in Cream.
JB: Right, oh yeah sure.
mwe3.com: Hows Robin Trower doing? Have you spoken with him
recently?
JB: I havent spoken to Robin, either, no. I havent. Id
like to. I think I will call at some point but we tend to get together
when were gonna do something you know? A lot of musicians are
like that. You dont tend to hang out. We dont all live
in the same...building. Some people (laughter) think we live in a
kind of big block of flats or something. (laughter) I live my life
and he lives his life. And when we work together, were together.
And were very happy to do that. And maybe well do another
record. That would be great. I did enjoy doing the (Seven Moons)
record. It was real fun to do. And the gigs were fun too. Really
excellent.
mwe3.com: Were you happy with the Seven Moons Live CD and DVD?
JB: Yeah, it was pretty good I thought, yeah. Im talking about
the Cuicoland Express. Is that not what this is about? (laughter)
mwe3.com: Yeah! Tell me about that one because I was familiar with
the Cuicoland band album you did, Shadows In The Air from the
early 2000s. So this new one, the live concert. How did the
album come together now?
JB: That was in 2002, I think it was. We recorded when we played at
the Milky Way. It got recorded. But it was recorded in a very strange
way on DAT machines. So it took a long time to actually get it finished
and mixed. I really always wanted to do that because its such
a great concert. Really good energy. Really good band. It was a good
example of that band. And so its taken me all that time to assemble
it with the help of Kip Hanrahan who managed to get it finished. And
now its gonna come out. So, Im really pleased about that
because there never was a Cuicoland Express record. There was just
my own solo record you know? Two solo records with those guys, but
this is actually a band record. So its good. The live thing.
mwe3.com: Those records with those guys, including the Shadows
In The Air album was really different. It had a kind of Latin
jazz vibe. Putting the Cream sound into that was pretty daring.
JB: Like a lot of musicians, I dont tend to think in terms of
labels. What I would say is, I dont play jazz, I play
Jack. And I dont think theres really any Latin jazz
on that. Its just me playing with a bunch of guys. (laughter)
Because whoever you play with, they bring their experience to the
event and thats what it is.
mwe3.com: So that CD is out now?
JB: It comes out, I think in February. Thats when its
due to come out.
mwe3.com: Live At The Milky Way 2001.
JB: Thats the one. Have you not got that at all?
mwe3.com: I spoke to Peter and he said hed sent it...
JB: Maybe itd be better if you want to talk about it you should
have a listen and then youd know what we were talking about
really.
mwe3.com: I have the PDF...
JB: But youre not going to hear it, are you? Youre just
reading something. Thats only words...
mwe3.com: Well I can ask a few more questions about something else
then maybe call back about the Milky Way CD...
JB: That would be good. I mean, obviously you should hear it. Because,
although you can read whats on there, its the beauty of
the actual playing thats important, you know? Not just the fact
that its me and them and the songs. Its the way its
done.
mwe3.com: I know Bernie Worrell plays on the Live At The Milky
Way 2001 and you have a really long relationship with him going
back quite a while, to the Monkjack album...
JB: Oh yeah. Well the first time he played with me was, on my record,
was on that record called A Question Of Time. Its also
the first time I played with Vernon Reid.
mwe3.com: Vernon played on A Question Of Time too?
JB: He did indeed, and Bernie.
mwe3.com: Well, then Ill wait to get the record for sure...
JB: If you get a chance, send me an email and we can have a talk about
the actual record, cause as I said, its not officially
out until February. So weve got time. Anything else you want
to talk about, we can talk about that. We can talk about the price
of fish. (laughter)
mwe3.com:
I was going to talk about politics with you. I was wondering what
England thought about whats going on in America now. People
are just fighting here all the time so its a really stressful
time to be an American.
JB: Well I did do a tour in America last summer so I was quite aware
of some of those things. Cause I went, more or less, all over.
I was in Detroit...all over. You can see some of the problems. And
as they always say, in politics, When America sneezes, Britain
catches cold.
mwe3.com: That sounds about right. I thought America gave Britain
a cold.
JB: I think originally, Britain, or England gave (laughter) America
a cold. So weve got it back, from America I guess.
mwe3.com: No matter what Obama does, they just want to knock him down.
Theres no...togetherness.
JB: Well, obviously its very easy to be disappointed with Obama
because we all expected so much from him. But I think we tend to find
in America, American politics, its quite often, the left wing
politicians, achieve the most. The left wing ones. Like Clinton for
instance, they tend to get bogged down with all the shit that gets
slung at them. Someone like Lyndon Johnson, when it comes down to
it, is probably a better president in many ways. He achieved quite
a lot cause he was able to. Its a scary thought. But maybe
when Sarah Palins president (laughter) itll be great.
We can all enjoy her achievements. Im only joking when I say
that by the way. You know me well enough by now not to take anything
I say seriously I hope. (laughter)
mwe3.com: From you I understand it but when I watch her on television,
its just like a...it just wont go away.
JB: Shes not about to go away. I do believe in the intrinsic
common sense of the American public that they wont allow...but
then (laughter) then they had two terms of Bush, of W...so maybe Im
a bit optimistic. (laughter) Weve got the same thing happening
here. Weve got a pretty strange government, what they call a
coalition government. And basically what it is, is a government that
declared war on the poor. And they give tremendous benefits to the
very rich and very wealthy bankers, whereas the poorer people are
going to have to pay seventy two percent tax. So this is a very dangerous
time. Its a difficult time for a lot of people. And the terrible
thing is, that the rich people here knock the poor people. They just
say, youve never had it so good. Its tragic
whats happening here.
mwe3.com: The main thing I really wanted to talk to you about today,
if you dont mind, is that great new DVD that just came out of
the Tony Palmer Rope Ladder To The Moon DVD that Tony directed
back in 1969 all about your music. Its just totally an eye-opening
work of genius in my estimation.
JB: Right, okay. We can talk about that.
mwe3.com: Number one, Songs For A Tailor was probably my favorite
album of 1969...
JB: Right...with that DVD. Im trying to finish it. The quality
is better than it was, because it was very poor quality. So it will
be coming out. Im going to do some more work on it. Weve
done an interview, along with Pete Brown which will also be included
on it, when its properly released. But I cant give you
a date for that. I did allow versions of it, that have kind of, emerged,
but theyre not the finished version. Unfortunately, in this
day and age, bootlegging is very difficult to control of those things,
although you can get out anything on the internet and hope it gets
released. A bootleg is quite shady sometimes. But it will come out.
The proper one will come out I think.
mwe3.com: So are you saying the DVD I have now, which is excellent
in my estimation, is not the real one?
JB: Its not the real one.
mwe3.com: Geez...
JB: In fact, I think youll be able to return that one and get
a proper one. Thats what Im working on. So that when the
proper one comes out, you can send that one in and get another one!
mwe3.com: Ill have to mail it back to you and you can destroy
it. But I was just blown away with the Rope Ladder movie that
Tony made and your story is, at least from what this version of the
DVD features, I was really impressed with it. Because on the back
of this DVD of Rope Ladder To The Moon, it says the sound was
actually remixed and that your daughter Kyla did the cover...
JB: Yeah, all of that is true. Its just that, that was not the
proper version. That was released by Tony Palmer without my consent.
And at the moment, theyre remixing the music. Not the live stuff.
The live stuff is fine. But theres a lot of editing that goes
on there which is very suspect. So Im hoping to be able to repair
that and then therell be a better version. Its a bit of
a fuck-up, but there you go. What isnt these days? (laughter)
Im glad that you like it. If you like it, thats good.
mwe3.com: I was pretty impressed also with the live footage on there,
which you said was okay.
JB: Yeah. I think thats the reason why I want that to come out,
because its a long time ago and some of it is quite embarrassing
to me, (laughter), but the reason I wanted it to come out was that
its historically very interesting because it shows the Glasgow,
as I grew up. Its different now, Glasgow. Its a little
changed. Theyve moved all the slums out. (laughter) But I wanted
that to be on record...the horrific wreckage where I grew up. And
also, the live playing, I think is very good. So those are the two
reasons why I wanted it to come out, despite the fact that I find
a lot of it quite embarrassing. A bit of embarrassment is not necessarily
a bad thing for somebody in my condition. (laughter) Its about
time I got well embarrassed. (laughter)
mwe3.com: It was such a long time ago, but I remember the day I bought
the original Lp of Songs For A Tailor back in 1969 and
so I can remember how much it shaped my musical...
JB: Im really glad because I think its a pretty good little
record yeah.
mwe3.com: In the Rope Ladder movie, I was amazed that Tony
actually included footage of the actual bombing of Glasgow by the
Germans in World War Two.
JB: I think he did that to show that during the second World War,
a lot of Glasgow got bombed, but that it was still like that, and
that was in 1969, as you said. 1969 and then in 1970 when that was
made...and it was still like that. (laughter) So that was the point
I wanted to make. That all of the time, when I grew up in Glasgow
mostly, that was what we had...the degradation. And the fact that
the London government of Britain didnt give a shit about Glasgow,
so it festered away like that. Now its a little better but theres
still a lot of problems in that city, you know, my city. So its
an interesting thing that shouldnt be forgotten in a historical
sense because we tend to know, history is always written by the victors,
isnt it? And sometimes its good, when someone like myself
is able to show a little bit of proper social history which, I think
is interesting and important that people are aware of those things.
When I first worked with Tony Williams, and I took him to Glasgow...Tony
had this idea that white folks all lived in (laughter) kind of all
lived in lovely surroundings and were well off. When I took him and
showed him where I grew up, he couldnt believe it because there
was nowhere like that in America. Nowhere as bad as that. In New York
or Boston, where he grew up. So I mean, I just think its an
interesting little piece of history. And thats why I agreed
for it to come out really. That, and the really nice live playing
which there is.
mwe3.com: You said you brought Tony Palmer there?
JB: Tony Williams. When I played with Tony Williams in the early 70s,
I took him, because we played in Glasgow. So I took him and showed
him those places where I grew up and he was really shocked. As a black
man he felt that white people were pretty well off, rich or whatever.
But then he realized that its not always as simple as that.
And I think it was quite a learning experience for him.
mwe3.com: So you were born just at the height of the war. Its
amazing so many great English musicians were born during that 1940
to 1943 period back when adversity was really the order of the day.
JB: Yeah, well I was born in 1943 and 1943 was the turning point of
the war in Britain. That was when things started to improve slightly.
From 1939, when war was declared, up until 1943, I think it was all
going the way of Germany, of Hitler you know? But by 1943, America
had come into war, which was hugely (laughter) helpful. But more importantly,
things were happening in the Soviet Union, which made it really difficult
for Hitler to achieve his evil ends. So by the time I was born, there
was a turning point in the war, although there was still a lot of
terrible things that were going to happen in Britain. Flying bombs
and all those terrible things that would happen later on. But theres
no good things you can say about a war...nothing good about it. Any
war. Theres people suffering, even now, as they increase the
amount of payloads that theyre using in Afghanistan for instance.
People are suffering and dying. Even now.
mwe3.com: I still cant believe what happened with Bushs
wars. Everything changed so quickly. I was always a huge Al Gore supporter.
I really believe that the stolen election of 2000 was the worst moment
in American history. How the Supreme court could just choose some
guy to run the country when things were going so great. And then to
see how my points were proven.
JB: Yeah, I mean I totally agree with you. I was actually working
on the West Coast when the election happened. I was working with Andy
Summers and we were in Venice, in California. In Santa Monica, we
were in the studio. And we actually were recording that night. And
we did some recording and they announced that Al Gore had won. (laughter)
And we went back into the studio relieved and happy. And we did some
more recording, cause we were really happy and then when we
went back (laughter) they said it wasnt Al Gore who won...
mwe3.com: It was terrible. It was like the worst...
JB: At the worst moment you can imagine when they stole that election.
mwe3.com: It was the most tragic thing Id experienced since
the night John Lennon died. Cause I was living a few blocks
away from where that happened.
JB: Again, I was actually in the States. I cant remember exactly
what city I was in. I think it may have been Detroit or somewhere
in the Midwest. And I was actually watching TV with my wife and Clem
Clemson. We happened to be sitting down watching TV and they announced
that John Lennon had been killed. And of course, we were totally shocked,
because Id been quite a friend of John in like 1974, in L.A.
Apart from that, its just...its a tragedy. And then the
next announcement they made was that Reagan had gone to fly and land
in New York, which he did the same night. And somehow the two events
became entwined. I couldnt separate John Lennons death
from Ronald Reagans first visit to New York as president. And
to me, it almost seemed like they were saying, like John Lennons
dead, here comes the future. And the future is Reagan. I find that
very frightening. Of course you can get hung up in conspiracy theories...and
so on. At the time, in the state of shock that I was in, it did seem
to be connected.
mwe3.com:
In your book Composing Himself, theres a picture of you
backstage at your concert at the Palladium in New York, the night
after Johns assassination.
JB: I dont think it was the night after he was killed. It was
the same week. I remember that we didnt really want to play
the show. We were in a state of shock. I remember Clem Clemson and
myself, the day after John was killed, we went on this talk show.
Ive got a feeling it was Boston, actually where we were. We
went on this talk show and the guy said (mimics big mouth show host)
Oh! So how do you feel now that John Lennons been killed?
We just both got up without saying anything and left from this live
TV show. We werent sure if we wanted to play, like...that concert
but then I thought, well, why not? People were wandering
around in New York in a sort of a daze. And in fact, it was a great
concert and the people were very moved. It was a sellout concert.
People just wanted to go somewhere and be together, you know? So,
I was glad I did it in the end.
mwe3.com: I was living on 66th street at the time. I was always working
around there but I never wanted to bother him. I never dreamed about
bothering him.
JB: Its the same with a lot of people in New York...up until
that point, everybody thought you could walk around in New York. Its
the one city in the world probably, that you can just walk around
and people will leave you alone. I remember seeing all sorts of people
in New York walking...James Stewart. I remember seeing him walking
down Madison Avenue once. And you would never go up to him. He just
sort of smiled and walked by. And I think thats the way that
John felt. But...he was wrong. Id spent some time with him in
L.A. It wasnt a good time for him and it wasnt a good
time for me. But we did hang out a bit. And...he wasnt very
careful. He didnt have any security or anything like that. He
was a working class guy. I think he felt it was all right. He loved
America and felt he was okay. He loved New York in particular. But
he was wrong. Because it didnt work out for him, you know? And
then, I remember working with Yoko, a little while, oh, quite a while
afterwards and I saw the amount of security that she had to have with
her too...with her kid there. And I thought, what a shame that was...everything
that came from that. It has...it did. The way of the world has changed.
We have to live in the world we live in now. Its not all doom
and gloom! I guess. (laughter)
mwe3.com: It was just such a blow to New York... Living in the same
neighborhood as John and Yoko...it was all over much too soon...
JB: Yeah, well I used to live a lot in the Mayflower...Hotel. I dont
know if thats still there. I dont believe it is...61st,
62nd, Columbus. Central Park West really.
mwe3.com: My father owned the coffee shop in that hotel back then.
JB: Did he really? (laughter) I used to live there quite a lot in
the 80s really. I remember I had a nice suite there. It was
convenient.
mwe3.com: Thirty years already that hes gone... Being that Cream
and the Beatles were so intertwined. Especially what happened with
Eric. And even George Harrison...
JB: What happened with Eric?
mwe3.com: Eric...after Cream, sort of after Goodbye Cream...Even
on Goodbye Cream, George got involved with Eric. All of a sudden
he became almost part of the Beatles community, playing on the White
Album and then with the live Plastic Ono Band.
JB: I dont think the Beatles community, because I dont
think they had a community. I think he was a friend of Georges
but I dont think he was a friend of Johns or Pauls
or Ringos really. He was a friend of George. There was no Beatles
community. In fact, the Beatles were quite often at loggerheads. They
were not very friendly, on very friendly terms. Even at that point.
But certainly, yeah Eric was a friend of Georges.
mwe3.com: Eric kind of played on the White Album and he joined
that Plastic Ono...he was like the first guitar player in Lennons
Plastic Ono Band.
JB: And then of course, George played on the Goodbye album
and then he also played on Songs For A Tailor.
mwe3.com:
I remember reading about that in your fascinating book. Andy Johns
recalled how George came into the studio and was kind of nervous about
actually playing with you on Never Tell Your Mother Shes
Out Of Tune.
JB: I think he was just a little nervous of playing in a live situation
because it probably wasnt something hed done in the studio
very much. I had the whole band there. Horns... I had everything (laughter)
going live and he had to play in a live situation with people he didnt
know. I think everybody would be nervous in that situation. I think
he was very professional. He showed up in good time...and then when
everybody else arrived, like the usual kind of (laughter) guys, who
I use, who didnt show up in time for the session...he was well
ready to go. And the whole thing went just like clockwork. He was
more than professional. He gave a great deal to that record which
is still one of my favorite recordings that Ive done.
mwe3.com: Its probably one of the greatest albums ever made.
JB: Yeah, but that particular track that he played on. I think thats
a good track. Ive done it in many...quite a few times till recently.
With big bands and so on (laughter) and it still works very well.
And somebody always plays Georges rhythm guitar part. (sings
rhythm to track)
mwe3.com: Seems to my ears, George got a little too buried in the
mix...I was also reading that Apple wouldnt even let George
use his real name on the Songs For A Tailor Lp. Of course that
finally got fixed on the 03 CD remasters.
JB: Well I think they going through a lot of pressures of the times
because of whats his name who was taking over... There was a
lot of stuff going on. It wasnt George. They wanted to charge
an unreasonably, ridiculous amount for him playing rhythm guitar on
one track. And they wanted like a percentage of the whole album (laughter)
which is not very reasonable. I didnt want him for his name,
I wanted him for his playing. No names were actually on that album
when it came out. Nobody was credited...
mwe3.com: Yeah but on the remaster George is finally credited with
his real name.
JB: Yeah, of course. Its all done in retrospect. I always like
the albums that just come out, with no information (laughter) what
so ever. (laughter) Im a fan of those.
mwe3.com: I was also reading in the Harry Shapiro book that after
Cream went their separate ways, actually Hank Marvin contacted you.
Is that true?
JB: Yeah. Hank Marvin, and Led Zeppelin and Crosby, Stills & Nash.
mwe3.com: Wow.
JB: I should have joined all of them at the same time! (laughter)
mwe3.com: It would have been interesting to see you and Hank Marvin
play something together. The Shadows had just broken up at that time
and Hank was entering his neo-prog guitar phase recording with his
first solo album.
JB: I said, Id love to do it but I dont know the
footsteps. The footwalk.
mwe3.com: The Shadow walk!
JB: I think I was caught for about a month at that point. (laughter)
mwe3.com: Yeah, Hanks first solo album was a highlight of 1969.
Funny, The Shadows and Cream kind of broke up around the same time.
JB: I think Cream led to the breakup of a lot of bands. (laughter)
It became kind of the thing to do. To break up, wasnt it? Because
we broke up, then The Beatles broke up I think? (laughter) And then
Hendrix broke up. And The Shadows. I didnt know they had broken
up.
{thanks to some inept editing on my part, I accidentally recorded
over the first 5 minutes of side two of the tape! But as I recall,
flipping over the tape I was telling Jack that I currently live in
Little Neck, at the northeast tip of NYC, and he commented on Little
Neck being famous for clams, which we are... I guess that's why we
started talking about clams! - editor - March 2011}
mwe3.com: How about Pete Browns book, White Rooms And Imaginary
Westerns. Everyone gets a shot at writing a book. It seems like
Pete copied you.
JB: Its like after the war isnt it? All the generals write
down their versions of the battles. General Montgomery writes his
book. In 1943, in fact when the great victories of the British army
and all that. So, everybody writes their version of it, of what happened.
What did you do in the war daddy? You know? So you write
it down. Not actually what it is. Thats what Petes book
is. Hes as inaccurate as...I am. (laughter) He even gets my
stories wrong. (laughter) Never mind his own stories. I get my stories
wrong and he gets my stories wrong too! (laughter) I would take it
all with a pinch of salt but as a bit entertainment value, its
good! At least you can see I did a days work. (laughter)
mwe3.com: Its a lot of work. Those songs...
JB: Yeah! That makes me proud. The fact that I did that and the fact
that Im still doing it now. Theres a lot of gigs coming
up next year. Working in New York, Oakland, Seattle, all over Britain.
So, Im still doing it.
mwe3.com: Just a question about the Hippiefest. I really apologize
for missing that back in 2008. I was so busy taking care of my mom.
It was a hard time for me. Do you speak to Godfrey from time to time?
JB: Oh yeah, occasionally yeah. Again, we dont tend to communicate
unless its something to do with work. But Ive got a lot
of time for Godfrey. Hes a really good guy. I like him a lot.
And hes a great player but hes also a really great human
being.
mwe3.com: Well if you speak to him tell him I owe him lunch or dinner
at the Buddhist restaurant in Flushing here. I know hes vegetarian.
Im almost vegetarian...
JB: Eat some...what could you eat then? (laughter) Eat some clams!
Clams are almost vegetables! They dont move around a lot.
mwe3.com: I actually do eat clams sometimes...
JB: Well, if you live in Little Neck...you have no choice. Theres
nothing else to eat, is there? (laughter)
mwe3.com: Well, theres a lot of Asian people here...
JB: They ate all the clams, Ill bet. The clams are probably
all gone now.
mwe3.com: They eat a lot of clams, those Chinese.
JB: (laughter) They eat a lot of everything, just watch out for your
poodle!
mwe3.com: My wife is Chinese and man whenever we go to the beach,
instead of swimming, shes looking for something to eat!
JB: (laughter) I wont tell her you said that. Maybe its
a female thing.
mwe3.com: I wont eat that. Its too close to the land!
One more thing, I guess Esoteric is taking over the world...
JB: Whos taken over the world?
mwe3.com: Esoteric, Cherry Red. The guys in England who put out your
box set...
JB: All right...
mwe3.com: Can You Follow...
JB: What about them?
mwe3.com: Are you happy with the box set? I know we were talking about
it a couple years ago.
JB: I think that its great that that happened. It was fantastic.
Ive got a lot of time for that company. It was good that they
did that. Very thrilled about that coming out, yeah.
mwe3.com: And I remember talking to you about Automatic, which
is one of my favorite albums of yours from the 80s. I loved
that and still do. It was like stratospheric...
JB: I must listen to that again cause I havent listened
to it in... I wasnt really convinced by it when I made it. (laughter)
But Im glad you like it. Ill give it a listen again, you
know? And see what I think.
mwe3.com: Im glad Esoteric finally reissued that on CD. Theyre
putting out so much stuff but the only qualm I have is that they never
send mwe3.com anything to review...
JB: Youre right there, absolutely right. They just put it out
and hope for the best. (laughter)
mwe3.com: Well I hope what happens in England, doesnt stay in
England. Anyway, if you speak to them, tell them we love to review
the geniuses from England.
JB: Im Scottish! Im not English.
mwe3.com: Scottish musicians too...
JB: Well you can say British, thats acceptable. But when you
say English, youre missing out on the whole Celtic culture,
which is what I am. So, its not accurate. Thats a kind
of fault that Americans tend to have. Theyre kind of insular.
I had one person who said to me, Where are you from? One
American person... Im from Scotland. He said, Oh!
Scotland, aint that a small island near Paris? Thats
a good album title, A Small Island Near Paris...
mwe3.com: I did the same thing with Donovan. I always thought
he was English but hes from Ireland.
JB: England can have him! (laughter) They can have Donovan and Rod
Stewart. (laughter) Theyre welcome to both of those guys. Im
only joking but then, thats me.
mwe3.com: Also I had another DVD that was sent to me, actually a live
thing called City Of Gold. Have you seen that?
JB: City Of Gold... Sounds like a bootleg to me.
mwe3.com: Because its with you playing with Phil Manzanera at
the famous Guitar Legends concert in Spain...
JB: Oh yeah right. Is that a CD or DVD?
mwe3.com: Its a DVD, but I was blown away by you and Phil Manzanera
playing White Room. I remember seeing that amazing concert
on TV.
JB: It was great fun to do and yeah I had a great time. Theres
a lot of stories actually for that because I was working with Dylan
for the first time and it was quite amusing to say the least. Another
time Ill give you the whole info on that because its worth
the whole interview, that story.
mwe3.com: Phil is a genius. You and he have a great...rapport together.
JB: Oh yeah, hes a great guitar player and a great guy too.
He was also in that really good band, Roxy Music. They had a lot of
success.
mwe3.com:
So your health is okay...?
JB: Never better...
mwe3.com: Im gonna be 57, so youre a few years older than
me...
JB: Well quite a few years. Ten. (laughter)
mwe3.com: Well, its not too many...when you think about it so...
JB: I would like to be ten years younger. (laughter) You dont
realize it at the time but ten years is good. You better make the
most of the next ten years. (laughter) Just dont eat too many
clams! (laugher)
mwe3.com: Dont eat too many clams or? Thats the only fish
I can eat...because Im in Little Neck. We dont have any
other fish...
JB: Well, if you get a good clam. Just dont eat any bad clams!
(laughter) I like clams. I like spaghetti ala vongole.
mwe3.com: Hows the Italian food in England these days?
JB: I dont eat out very much. I cook a lot because I like it
and I like to eat my own cooking. (laughter)
mwe3.com: So youre living in Suffolk, outside of London?
JB: It is, indeed. Its quite far out of London, yeah. Northeast
of London. Its nice in the summer...
mwe3.com: Im going to work on the interview and then Ill
wait to get to hear the Live At The Milky Way 2001 CD set.
JB: Thats good. I think youve got enough. When you listen
to the CD, you can use what Ive said now. If theres any
supplemental questions you want to ask, you can either email me or
set up another interview. Id be very happy to do either or both.
Because I really believe in that record. Its a beautiful concert
and its actually...very rarely that you get a gig, show recorded.
And Kit did a great job on it, because it was lost for all those years.
For eight years, we couldnt find it, and then we found it and
then we had to somehow get it from six DAT machines on to hard disc
and then on to tape. It was quite a marathon and a wonderful job.
And it turned out great. Its like youre there. To me,
its the best live playing Ive done. Check it out, check
it out.
mwe3.com: Well thanks for the interview Jack, its always an
honor to...
JB: Well, forget about the honor, but its always a pleasure
to talk to you. You give my regards to Little Neck...So long.
Special thanks to Jack Bruce @ www.JackBruce.com,
Peter Holmstedt, with the Blue Note photos courtesy Arnie Goodman
of www.BluestormMusic.com
and Elmore Magazine.