Bill Bruford

TOMANO

Senior Member
Am I to believe that Bill Bruford has not been brought up on this favorite drummers thread? HERESY I SAY!!! Or perhaps that's just heresay...Anyway...

Bruford continues to inspire me as a musician, drummer and thinker. His work in King Crimson hooked me as did his solo ventures. His work with Earthworks continues to chart his endless growth as composer and player and his conviction to quality music is paramount in all he takes on.

For you Bruford fans who haven't heard them, The Bruford/Levin Upper Extremities is highly recommended, as is Bruford's work with percussionist extraordinaire Pete Lockett.

Just wish ol' Bill would find the means to tour the States again some time soon.

Cheers!

TOMANO
 
My favorite album he played on is King Crimson's "Red." But his most awesome drum performance on a song is Yes' "Heart Of The Sunrise."


g
 
A timeless timekeeper - incredible body of work. Folks should check out his jazz playing in a trio with Ralph Towner and Eddie Gomez: "If Summer had it's Ghosts" on the ECM label. His current band, 'Earthworks - some interesting stuff.

Sensational on any Crimson or Yes album but took the 'Batterie" to new heights
on 'Dicipline'. Also some of the old 'U.K.' albums with A. Holdsworth still hold up just fine.

One of my top 10 guys for sure.
 
Favorite Bill Bruford performance

In the mid -seventies Bruford played on two albums by a band named Pavlov's Dog (their only two albums). That first album (At the Sound of the Bell) is still one of my all time favorites.

Bruford drumming is tremendous...very jazzy and tasty.

If you get a chance and you can find the CD check out his performance on Did You See Him Cry? from the At the Sound of the Bell Album.
 
Re: Favorite Bill Bruford performance

I'm going with the Earthworks "Footloose in NYC" DVD, by a slight edge over another video release, the King Crimson "Neal and Jack and Me" DVD.
 
No one can say they've really heard Bruford until they listen to his jazz stuff, earthworks, all heaven broke loose, etc. Honestly, some of the greatest cymbal work, ever. He's so vastly underrated, it's just a sin.
 
There are so many great Bruford moments that the earth can barely contain them.Just when you were expecting an explosive solo,Bill gives you silence and afew well-chosen notes,and conversely,when you are expecting silence,Bill gives you an out-of-left-field machine-gun pattern that he seemed to grab from nowhere.I'd love to have Joe Morello's hands and Bill Bruford's brain.Almost all of his recorded out-put has great things that we all can learn from.A Master's Master,just like Morello...
 
Christ I don't believe I missed this thread. Mr Bruford is a fantastic drummer, who can play in anything. For instance, the King Crimson of 75 (on 'Red') and the King Crimson of 81 (with Tony Levin and Adrian Belew on 'Discipline') are two very, very different beasts. One, dark progressive rock, the other, more of an electronica project (both excellent). I don't think there's another drummer who would have been able to play with Fripp and co. for so long and continually be able to push the envelope as he does.

Then he goes and forms Earthworks, just to really prove what a fantastic drummer he is in all genres. Earthworks are still pushing the envelope with Bruford. It's fantastic.

But I had to agree, one of the best drum performances from him was 'Heart of the Sunrise'. Just brilliant.
 
Let's not forget the first U.K. album.
 
Here is small portion of a song I like very much from him. He shows an almost mechanical precision on that one.

Gracefully flowing from 6/8 to 7/8.
 

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the live king crimson double-trio DVD is great. his opening solo on "indiscipline" has an angle from the drum chair.seeing his relaxed grip has made me revamp my style.
 
Favourite Bruford tunes of mine - 'Heart of the Sunrise', 'Close to the edge' & 'Starship Trooper' by Yes & 'Starless', 'One More Red Nightmare' & 'Larks Tongue's & Aspic Part 2' by King Crimson.

Not seen Michael Giles mentioned on here though, the original Crimson drummer who was a massive influence on the likes of Bruford & Carl Palmer.
 
...I've got the Bruford bug when I picked up a copy of "One of a Kind" of the Bruford band (Holdsworth, Berlin, Stewart) and never recovered. His works with Yes, KC, UK, Earthworks, etc.. are so diverse maintaining a "common base" of innovation.
The only drummer I've seen change so dramatically his style, his set-up, his projects. Bruford is not a drummer, he is a true artist and thinker, IMHO.

Ciao
Andrea
 
I got hold of an old Vinyl 'The Bruford Tapes' recently. It's a recording of a radio performance that was given in 1979 with his original 'Bruford' band. It's truly fantastic, he's a wonderful arranger as well as a drummer and he's a real thinker behind the kit; yet maintaining an ability to express himself and not sacrifice his level of expression for the sake of mindless technical over-indulgement. A great drummer.
 
Big Bummer that Bill's clinic tour was so limited and did not come through the midwest. Hopefully, someone with a clue will edit the best of the clinics and put out a great DVD.

I listened to some great Earthworks stuff yesterday and also revisited his work with Bruford Levin Upper Extremities and Pete Lockett's Network of Sparks.

Lately, Bruford has entered a plateau of respect in my book that includes Zappa, Coltrane, Mingus, Davis, Bowie, McCartney, etc.

He is an artist's artist.

TOMANO
 
I'm a big time Bruford fan from Yes to present. I wish he would play in the US more. I haven't seen him in years and haven't seen any of the Earthworks stuff. I think he said the reason they don't come here much is that it's too difficult to get in/out of the US for him & his non-US citizen musicians?...:-(

I agree about a DVD. Someone needs to put something together. Bill is not going to do it. He's said in the past that he doesn't think he has anything new to add to the already large mass of instructional DVDs out there...I disagree with this of course. The only thing I have in terms of clinic/lessons from him is the old VHS copy of "Bruford and the Beat"

BTW, In case you didn't know about his site:
http://www.billbruford.com

P.S. I'm still thinking of making a log drum. Still need to get around to it...Good winter project.
 
Well, Bill's attitude might change towards instructional videos and we might see this rare clinic tour make it to some sort of format.

"Footloose in NYC" is a great DVD of Earthworks. Get it, you'll thank me.

Good luck on your log drum.

TOMANO
 
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