Jack Bruce - BBC live in concert 1971

What memory and emotions were stirred into being on hearing this recording again after so many years. This was only the second band I had formed following the break up of Cream, and the demands as well as the joys of fronting a band of such strong personalities is quite evident to me from this performance - typically energetic (not to say undisciplined) as it is! The problems of trying to lead a band which featured the great Graham Bond, in whose Organisation I had served (very much as a sideman) some years before, soon took their inevitable toll. Not long after this performance I had to part company with Graham when I was provoked into assaulting him with a sink, in a tear-gas filled dressing room in a Milan theatre.
The other members of the band must have found it all a bit much! But none of us could know what was later to befall this brilliant, tortured man. Grahams tragic story is told in Harry Shapiros fine book, Graham Bond: The Mighty Shadow.
Art Themen, the passion and fire of Arts playing is belied by his gentle and kind disposition. I remember that sometimes he would have to dash from stage after being bleeped, in order to perform an emergency operation in his role as orthopaedic surgeon. He could have been very, very busy just doing his stuff on the rest of the band after some long sessions - especially if you had been battered by the plumbing!
Chris Spedding was introduced to me by Pete Brown and played exquisitely on my first solo album, Songs for a Tailor. I love the understated, deceptively simple sounding way he has of playing a subtle mixture of lead and rhythm and his approach was just the antidote I needed after the frenetic, hazy 60s. Chris is one of the unsung innovators of his time.
John Marshall is simply my favourite of all the British jazz-rock drummers. I first came across him when he played in the Michael Gibbs Big Band, and he played on my first two solo albums. I was thrilled that he agreed to join my band as his incomparable feel allowed me plenty of space and playing bass with him in the rhythm section was almost effortless.
The first four numbers on this broadcast were written for Harmony Row, my second solo album. I must pay tribute to lyricist Pete Brown who worked with me from early Cream days - in fact we are still working together today, and are putting the finishing touches to a new solo set of songs. We Are Going Wrong, I wrote for Cream and The Clearout was written for Songs for a Tailor. Powerhouse Sod, was performed mostly by West Bruce and Laing, and Graham gives a stirring rendition of his Have You Ever Loved a Woman (note the simultaneous alto and organ playing), a blues we often performed with the Organisation.
(Jack Bruce, liner notes)

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Jack Bruce - BBC Live in Concert 1971
(London Windsong 1995)

1. You Burned the Tables on Me
2. Folk Song
3. A Letter of Thanks
4. Smiles & Grins
5. We're Going
6. The Clearout
7. Have You Ever Loved a Woman
8. Powerhouse Sod
9. You Sure Look Good to Me


Jack Bruce: vocals, bass, piano
Graham Bond: vocals, Hammond organ, piano, alto saxophone
Art Themen: tenor Saxophone
Chris Spedding: guitar
John Marshall: drums

Recorded live at the Paris Theatre, London on 19 August 1971