And Clapton Didn't Even Know

I confess to, when first reading the Ornette Coleman comment, rolling my eyeballs and dismissing it as an attempt by an aging rocker to capitalize on the cache of jazz; avant garde jazz, nonetheless. Don't get me wrong, I have always been a fan of Cream and its three members individually, but I never really learned much about Jack Bruce's musical background and my listening preferences took me in a very different direction a long time ago. I came across this documentary that some of you may find interesting and taught me quite a bit about what a talent Jack Bruce was. Unlike a lot of other aging rockers he was playing and possibly singing better than ever (!) up to the time of his passing. The documentary explained for me the Ornette Coleman comment and pointed out that the animus among the members of Cream was between he and Ginger Baker; not Clapton.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w3KBEq95N5U

Thanks for that link Frogman. We love Jack.

We may never know exactly what Bruce truly meant with his Ornette Coleman quip, but I immediately saw the connection when I read it. I thought I knew Cream, but the quote completely blew my mind! And it's not as if they are playing Ornette, but they were on a parallel path. The standard guitar, bass and drum trio was a guitarist with a backing band and that's not what Cream was doing. Clapton obviously understood that, but he might not have known where it was coming from the way Bruce and Baker did.

Frogman,
I watched the entire documentary on YouTube this morning , and I was transfixed, as well as very sad. I have loved and admired Jack Bruce since my teens, and it was great to hear him tell his life story and hear him play and sing. I once had the pleasure of seeing him play in person when he was part of West Bruce and Laing in 1973. That was a memorable night. A few years ago, they reunited without him, but his son played bass.
To me, he was a consummate musician and artist, and no one can replace him.

Roxy - Amen to that.