Bill Bruford
Nome
Bill Bruford
Birth date
1949
País
unknown 
Cidade
desconhecido
Gordian Knot
William Scott Bruford (born May 17, 1949 in Sevenoaks, Kent, England), better known as Bill Bruford, is an influential British drummer who is recognised for his forceful, highly precise, polyrhythmic style. He was the original drummer for the highly successful progressive rock group Yes, and has been a prominent figure in the art rock movement since the early 1970s. He has been in many other bands and collaborated on numerous projects, most famously King Crimson and his own fusion band Bruford.
He began playing the drums when he was thirteen, and was influenced by jazz drumming, which would manifest itself on early Yes albums and would remain an influence on his style throughout his career. He had success in the early seventies during his time with Yes playing on their first two albums as well as the LPs, The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge. He left Yes at the height of their success in 1972.
Early life
Bruford explained that he chose to play drums because he watched American jazz drummers of the 1960s on BBC TV on Saturday evenings.[1] These programmes turned the head of the thirteen-year-old Bruford. He found all the instrumentalists to be fascinating and mysterious, but particularly the drummers. His sister then gave him his first pair of brushes as a present.[1] He later took a few lessons - while still at school - from Lou Pocock of the Royal Philharmonic, but after that he picked up other techniques wherever he found them.[1]
He said that he never acquired drum technique for the sake of acquiring it, but as a solution to a particular problem, and if he heard something that he couldn't do, he would learn how to do it. Bruford applied this way of learning to other instruments as well, although acknowledging that he has the 'classic amateur's technique'; meaning that he knows some very difficult bits and that he has some large gaping holes in his knowledge, but his amateurism can sometimes be helpful in forging a style, because he has to work around his weaknesses.
He met his wife, Carolyn, when they were 15; marrying at 24. They have three children, Alex (born 1977, also a drummer and in the band The Infadels), Holly (born 1979) and Jack (born 1986).
Yes
Most of the early members of Yes all lived in the same house. They were almost confined to the property, because at short notice they would be asked to play a concert somewhere, so leaving the house for a few hours was their only freedom from the confines of the band. Bruford likened it to the life of a fireman; when the bell rang they would slide down the greasy pole and go play a gig somewhere.
Although seemingly a close-knit band, there were other sides to Yes: Bruford remembers the whole era as being very argumentative, and hot blooded. There was a constant state of friction, and plenty of arguments between Bruford, Chris Squire, and Jon Anderson. This was explained as being because all three were from totally different social backgrounds. Bruford admitted that he found it hard to understand Anderson's northern English accent, and Anderson's penchant for speaking in strange sentences that nobody could understand, which later influenced Yes' lyrics.
The band members were no strangers to alcohol, but Bruford doesn't remember a lot of "sex, drugs and rock n' roll". The whole band used to drink a lot of alcohol, and they often visited a club in London called the Speakeasy that the band's manager, Roy Flynn, also managed. The Speakeasy stayed open until two or three in the morning, so Yes could play a gig in England within a hundred-and-fifty mile radius and still make it back to the Speakeasy at about two o'clock, where they drank "large amounts" of scotch and coke.
Bruford, by 1972, had felt that Yes had come as far as it could, or at least as far as he could contribute to it. He didn't want to spend what he felt was an inordinate amount of time in the studio debating chords and producing records that he felt would only be in the shadow of Close To The Edge. His main reason for leaving the band, however, was the fact that his rehearsals with bassist Chris Squire were always delayed. Waiting for Squire to turn up was the worst thing he had to endure, and said that Squire is, "I'm sure, a wonderful guy. But in those days he was also very, very late for all appointments, departures, arrivals, and sound checks." According to Bruford, it is the most grievous form of offense that one musician can visit upon another. He suggested that it's the last guy who enters the room is seen as the "biggest guy." Squire used to keep Yes waiting for everything, and Bruford suggests that they are quite possibly "still waiting for everything". He also once had a fist-fight with Squire after a concert, because they had violently disagreed about who had played badly. However, Bruford played drums on Squire's 1975 solo album, Fish Out of Water.
King Crimson
Bruford had accepted an invitation from Robert Fripp to join King Crimson, which he had wanted to join for quite some time. His instinct to remember complicated drum parts was shown when he learned how to play the long percussion and guitar part in the middle of "21st Century Schizoid Man", "by listening to it and just learning it".
He admits that his note-reading skills are slower than he would like: "I learned how to read the horizontal lines, but not the vertical notes." Despite this, he has successfully composed lots of (written) compositions over the years, albeit slowly.
Bruford was more interested in artistic pursuits, and the framework of King Crimson appealed to that sensibility in him. He cites the six months that the group contained avant-garde percussionist Jamie Muir as tremendously influential on him as a player, opening him up to "musical worlds I had only vaguely suspected existed". Violin, viola and keyboard player David Cross was selected to flesh out the sound of the new band. Rehearsals and touring began in late 1972, and Larks' Tongues in Aspic was released early the next year, and the group spent the remainder of 1973 touring Britain, Europe, and America. Fripp's guitar playing was loud and aggressive, and Bruford's propulsive drumming meshed with John Wetton's often powerful bass guitar.
The band seems to have undergone a gradual disbanding over the next year. Two albums were released with the four member lineup (Fripp, Wetton, Bruford, Cross), Starless and Bible Black, and live album USA. Finally, as a 3-piece (Fripp, Wetton, Bruford) King Crimson released Red. Many consider this King Crimson's most formative and experimental period. After the release of Red, Fripp decided to disband King Crimson.
Solo career
Bill Bruford led his own band in the late 1970s, called simply "Bruford". Members of the band were initially Dave Stewart (keyboards), Jeff Berlin (bass), Allan Holdsworth (guitar) and Bruford (drums).
The first album also had Annette Peacock on vocals, and Kenny Wheeler on flugelhorn. The second album, One of a Kind, was mostly instrumental. There were two live albums from this period. Bruford - Rock Goes To College was a DVD release from the eponymous BBC television series and The Bruford Tapes, a live show originally broadcast for radio station WLIR, where guitarist John Clark replaced Holdsworth.
Bass-player Berlin sang the vocals on Gradually Going Tornado.
UK
Following his first solo album, he was involved in a reunion with King Crimson bassist and vocalist John Wetton in the progressive rock group UK. During his time in the band, from 1977 to 1978, the band released its eponymous debut album and conducted a small tour of the United States and Canada, after which he left the band to record two more solo albums as 'Bruford'.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bruford
He began playing the drums when he was thirteen, and was influenced by jazz drumming, which would manifest itself on early Yes albums and would remain an influence on his style throughout his career. He had success in the early seventies during his time with Yes playing on their first two albums as well as the LPs, The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge. He left Yes at the height of their success in 1972.
Early life
Bruford explained that he chose to play drums because he watched American jazz drummers of the 1960s on BBC TV on Saturday evenings.[1] These programmes turned the head of the thirteen-year-old Bruford. He found all the instrumentalists to be fascinating and mysterious, but particularly the drummers. His sister then gave him his first pair of brushes as a present.[1] He later took a few lessons - while still at school - from Lou Pocock of the Royal Philharmonic, but after that he picked up other techniques wherever he found them.[1]
He said that he never acquired drum technique for the sake of acquiring it, but as a solution to a particular problem, and if he heard something that he couldn't do, he would learn how to do it. Bruford applied this way of learning to other instruments as well, although acknowledging that he has the 'classic amateur's technique'; meaning that he knows some very difficult bits and that he has some large gaping holes in his knowledge, but his amateurism can sometimes be helpful in forging a style, because he has to work around his weaknesses.
He met his wife, Carolyn, when they were 15; marrying at 24. They have three children, Alex (born 1977, also a drummer and in the band The Infadels), Holly (born 1979) and Jack (born 1986).
Yes
Most of the early members of Yes all lived in the same house. They were almost confined to the property, because at short notice they would be asked to play a concert somewhere, so leaving the house for a few hours was their only freedom from the confines of the band. Bruford likened it to the life of a fireman; when the bell rang they would slide down the greasy pole and go play a gig somewhere.
Although seemingly a close-knit band, there were other sides to Yes: Bruford remembers the whole era as being very argumentative, and hot blooded. There was a constant state of friction, and plenty of arguments between Bruford, Chris Squire, and Jon Anderson. This was explained as being because all three were from totally different social backgrounds. Bruford admitted that he found it hard to understand Anderson's northern English accent, and Anderson's penchant for speaking in strange sentences that nobody could understand, which later influenced Yes' lyrics.
The band members were no strangers to alcohol, but Bruford doesn't remember a lot of "sex, drugs and rock n' roll". The whole band used to drink a lot of alcohol, and they often visited a club in London called the Speakeasy that the band's manager, Roy Flynn, also managed. The Speakeasy stayed open until two or three in the morning, so Yes could play a gig in England within a hundred-and-fifty mile radius and still make it back to the Speakeasy at about two o'clock, where they drank "large amounts" of scotch and coke.
Bruford, by 1972, had felt that Yes had come as far as it could, or at least as far as he could contribute to it. He didn't want to spend what he felt was an inordinate amount of time in the studio debating chords and producing records that he felt would only be in the shadow of Close To The Edge. His main reason for leaving the band, however, was the fact that his rehearsals with bassist Chris Squire were always delayed. Waiting for Squire to turn up was the worst thing he had to endure, and said that Squire is, "I'm sure, a wonderful guy. But in those days he was also very, very late for all appointments, departures, arrivals, and sound checks." According to Bruford, it is the most grievous form of offense that one musician can visit upon another. He suggested that it's the last guy who enters the room is seen as the "biggest guy." Squire used to keep Yes waiting for everything, and Bruford suggests that they are quite possibly "still waiting for everything". He also once had a fist-fight with Squire after a concert, because they had violently disagreed about who had played badly. However, Bruford played drums on Squire's 1975 solo album, Fish Out of Water.
King Crimson
Bruford had accepted an invitation from Robert Fripp to join King Crimson, which he had wanted to join for quite some time. His instinct to remember complicated drum parts was shown when he learned how to play the long percussion and guitar part in the middle of "21st Century Schizoid Man", "by listening to it and just learning it".
He admits that his note-reading skills are slower than he would like: "I learned how to read the horizontal lines, but not the vertical notes." Despite this, he has successfully composed lots of (written) compositions over the years, albeit slowly.
Bruford was more interested in artistic pursuits, and the framework of King Crimson appealed to that sensibility in him. He cites the six months that the group contained avant-garde percussionist Jamie Muir as tremendously influential on him as a player, opening him up to "musical worlds I had only vaguely suspected existed". Violin, viola and keyboard player David Cross was selected to flesh out the sound of the new band. Rehearsals and touring began in late 1972, and Larks' Tongues in Aspic was released early the next year, and the group spent the remainder of 1973 touring Britain, Europe, and America. Fripp's guitar playing was loud and aggressive, and Bruford's propulsive drumming meshed with John Wetton's often powerful bass guitar.
The band seems to have undergone a gradual disbanding over the next year. Two albums were released with the four member lineup (Fripp, Wetton, Bruford, Cross), Starless and Bible Black, and live album USA. Finally, as a 3-piece (Fripp, Wetton, Bruford) King Crimson released Red. Many consider this King Crimson's most formative and experimental period. After the release of Red, Fripp decided to disband King Crimson.
Solo career
Bill Bruford led his own band in the late 1970s, called simply "Bruford". Members of the band were initially Dave Stewart (keyboards), Jeff Berlin (bass), Allan Holdsworth (guitar) and Bruford (drums).
The first album also had Annette Peacock on vocals, and Kenny Wheeler on flugelhorn. The second album, One of a Kind, was mostly instrumental. There were two live albums from this period. Bruford - Rock Goes To College was a DVD release from the eponymous BBC television series and The Bruford Tapes, a live show originally broadcast for radio station WLIR, where guitarist John Clark replaced Holdsworth.
Bass-player Berlin sang the vocals on Gradually Going Tornado.
UK
Following his first solo album, he was involved in a reunion with King Crimson bassist and vocalist John Wetton in the progressive rock group UK. During his time in the band, from 1977 to 1978, the band released its eponymous debut album and conducted a small tour of the United States and Canada, after which he left the band to record two more solo albums as 'Bruford'.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bruford
