Jack Bruce, bassist of 60’s band Cream, dies at 71

[Fansome]

Jack Bruce, bassist of 60’s band Cream, dies at 71

By Associated Press October 25 at 12:29 PM

LONDON — British musician Jack Bruce, best known as the bassist from the 1960s group Cream, has died. He was 71.

Publicist Claire Singers said Saturday Bruce died at his home in Suffolk, England.

A statement released by his family said “the world of music will be a poorer place without him but he lives on in his music and forever in our hearts.”

“It is with great sadness that we, Jack’s family, announce the passing of our beloved Jack: husband, father, granddad, and all round legend,” the statement said.

Cream, which also included guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker, sold 35 million albums in just over two years and were awarded the world’s first ever platinum disc for their album “Wheels of Fire.”

Bruce wrote and sang most of the songs, including “I Feel Free”, “White Room,” ‘’Politician” and “Sunshine Of Your Love.”

Cream split in November 1968, and Bruce went on to record the first of his solo albums, “Songs For a Tailor.” He also fronted many of his own bands.

Many artists covered Bruce’s songs, including Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie and Ella Fitzgerald.

Bruce returned to the studio around 2000 to record his solo album “Shadows in the Air,” which hit number five on the British jazz and blues chart.

Bruce was born to musical parents in Glasgow, Scotland on 14 May 1943. His parents travelled extensively in Canada and the U.S., and the young Bruce attended 14 different schools. He finished his formal education at Bellahouston Academy and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, to which he won a scholarship for cello and composition.

He left Scotland at the age of 16 and in 1962 joined his first important band, the influential Alexis Korner’s Blues Inc., in London. The band featured drummer Charlie Watts, later to join the Rolling Stones.

[ladderline]

My prayers for him. My sincere condolences to his next of kin.

[Pigmeat]

If I recall correctly, wasn't the split that broke Cream up over creative differences between Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton? Bruce's leanings were more towards jazz, with Clapton favoring the blues.

The guy was helluva bass player. RIP in Jack.

[ff]

If I recall correctly, wasn't the split that broke Cream up over creative differences between Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton? Bruce's leanings were more towards jazz, with Clapton favoring the blues.

The guy was helluva bass player. RIP in Jack.

I heard the same thing Pigmeat.  Jack Bruce had some really good, albeit commercially unsuccessful solo recordings back in the 70s.  Like John Entwhistle of the Who, he was much more than just a typical bass player.  He'll be missed by many.

[Skipmuck]

I was just coming of age when I heard "Sunshine of Your Love" for the first time and the riff has been running through my head hundreds of times over the years Jack was the one who wrote and did lead vocals for the song. Eric Clapton overshadows the other members of Cream, but Jack Bruce was a phenomenal bass guitarist and not only wrote some of Creams best songs, but also "Theme For An Imaginary Western", which was done up really nicely by Leslie West & Mountain. I read somewhere that Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce had an adversarial relationship on stage over the years. It is too bad that Jack Bruce never got the commercial success in his solo efforts after the breakup of Cream. A somber tip of the hat to one of Rock & Roll's royalty

[atrainradio]

Yeah this is such a loss. Never was there such an amazing riff as Sunshine's riff.

[Pigmeat]

I don't know how many times I saw John Entwhistle and his band Ox, FF. It seemed like they were in town every couple of months when I was a teenager. Interesting band.

I the misfortune of being at the Who show in Cincinnati in '79. Hardly anyone inside the building knew the magnitude of what had happened outside. My friends and I didn't really get all the details until we were listening to the radio heading out of Cincy. There wasn't a lot of talking or laughing in the car on the long ride home.

[Fansome]

I was at a Who concert in the mid-70s at Anaheim Stadium. I was there with some friends, and we had assigned seating behind home plate. The band was on a stage behind center field; they were certainly loud enough, but so far away it was hard to tell the details of what was going on stage.

The outfield was "festival seating", meaning if you could get down there, you go anywhere on the field. So, a couple of my friends decided to give it a try. They were gone for more than an hour; the rest of us figured they had gotten such good spots on the field that they didn't want to give them up to come back.

Finally they showed up; they looked like they had been in a bar fight. Broken glasses, torn clothes, a bloody nose, and so on. They had managed to make it on the field, only to get caught up in the press of bodies moving towards center field. As they got towards the wall, the pressure was so bad that they were in fear of suffocation, and they knew if they fell down there'd be no getting up. When they got to the wall, the only thing that saved them from being crushed was a team of bouncer-types; they were on the top of the wall, pulling fans up and heaving them over to the ground on the other side as fast as they could.

The fall to the ground did almost as much damage as the crowd, but at least they weren't seriously injured, or dead.

I don't know how many times I saw John Entwhistle and his band Ox, FF. It seemed like they were in town every couple of months when I was a teenager. Interesting band.

I the misfortune of being at the Who show in Cincinnati in '79. Hardly anyone inside the building knew the magnitude of what had happened outside. My friends and I didn't really get all the details until we were listening to the radio heading out of Cincy. There wasn't a lot of talking or laughing in the car on the long ride home.

[ff]

Boy, times were different back then.  The mid 60s were all "peace and love" and well-mannered concert-goers but the 70s saw a lot more violence at these large venues, I guess starting with the Stones at Altamont.  My personal experience was a Stones concert at Rich Stadium in Buffalo back in the mid 70s.  No assigned seating anywhere; park your arse wherever you could park it.  A record crowd of 120,000 waited for hours in hot summer sun through a snoozefest from Starz and Atlanta Rhythm Section and finally about 7 PM the Stones hit the stage.  They appeared to have been smoking and drinking and spiking and whatever else throughout the afternoon.  Keith Richards fell down three or four times, and the band couldn't stay in time with each other.  Jagger was completely off-key.  I don't know if they were having monitor problems or what, but after three songs the boos were drowning out the music and dozens of people were rushing the stage.  The Stones bailed out, leaving their hapless roadies and security people wielding two by fours and mike stands, beating the rushers back.   We all managed to get to our car unmolested to start the long drive back home.  Nobody was killed there but there were a couple dozen who ended up in the Emergency Room.  And to this day I STILL am pissed off at the Stones.  I mean, if you wanna suck, why do it in front of 120,000 people?  That's just plain arrogant.  At least we scored some good blotter in the parking lot...