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Responses over here on Bill's blog

Roger Norway - 3/16/2010 12:02:37 PM
Your upcoming work with Wakeman, Anderson and Rabin (if the rumors are correct, and I hope and pray...) makes me think of an interview you did with Classic Rock Prog Edition in June 2009:

'If I wanted to make money tomorrow, I'd call Robert Fripp and we'd do the album Red all the way from front to back .... We'd make a fortune.

The fans can't have both: they can't have the people who created RED in the first place, if you only want them to go on recreating RED. You can't have your cake and eat it.

... I dearly love the fan, but he allways wants what he had yesterday. And that's great. But I'm going to do what I do. I'm just not into that nostalgic, 'it would be nice for the fans' etc.

What, in this AWBR project triggered your interest?...

mikepaschall - 3/16/2010 11:35:23 AM
Bill:
Do you feel you played (play)at all like Bill Stewart ?!
I see some similarities and he swings his ass off with amazing phrases.
I have everything he recorded and I am interested in-
What is your favorite Bill Stewart recording??
Mine is Scofield LIVE "ENROUTE" !! (Over Big TOP!)
Kikosky CD also!
Enjoy your retirment!
Mike P (Philadelphia)...

Roger Norway - 3/16/2010 3:02:55 AM
I have also heard about the Anderson, Wakeman, Rabin project. Couldn't believe my eyes when I read you were participating too. Hope it is true, and that you can be a creative force behind the project. Some spice need to be added, or it can turn out too sweet.

Bill Rosenblatt - 3/15/2010 9:29:32 AM
Bill,

I've been a fan of yours for decades, starting with the UK concert at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia when I was in high school. I was a DJ and program director at a couple of different college radio stations and did two of the dreaded "phoners" with you: one in the early 80s with Crimson (Beat tour, Princeton NJ), the other in the late 80s with Earthworks (Iron Horse Cafe, Northampton, MA).

Anyway, am reading your very fascinating and well-written autobiography. A question: you mention Frank Zappa in positive terms several times during the book, and you worked with at least two of his alumni (Belew, Jobson). Did you ever meet or work with him? Did you ever have the desire to do so?
...

Brian - 3/14/2010 3:36:17 PM
hi, i love the rototom sound on UK and One of a kind. How did you get them to sound like that? Were there some sonic or physical adjustments made?

Collin - 3/14/2010 8:31:50 AM
Yo Bill!! You are definitely the BEST drummer by far(that is what my ears tell me) and it would be stellar to see you get back with Fripp, Levin, and Belew for a King Crimson reunion. KC 81-84.....THE ABSOLUTE BEST!!

Colin - 3/13/2010 2:47:02 PM
I can't believe I'm reading that your a shoe in for the Anderson Wakeman Rabin thing (If that happens).

How do these things start?

Jon Godfrey - 3/12/2010 4:10:02 PM
Dear Bill; thank you for taking the time to answer my question, many thanks!

PS: I heard there's going to a Savoy Brown reunion of the 1968 line-up. I know that you've hinted at retirement, mentioning it in numerous interviews and even dedicating a few lines to the possibility of doing so in your Autobiography... but nonetheless, would you care to comment? *wink* *wink*

Regards,
Jon Godfrey

*

Dear Cameron Devlin; I've just caught your reply. Thank you for all the information you shared. Yes, I imagine that releasing the ProjeKct One shows in a physical package could be a tricky job, but I cross my fingers, hoping that a limited run, super-duper, box set job may appear! Same for the Slow Music Project.

I agree, DGM is superb, and Burning Shed is a ray of sunshine too. Thinking of Keith Jarrett, I order ECM music from Music Connection, ECM's UK distributor.

I checked out your great website. And nice job on the CD cases, puts my 'efforts' to shame!

Regards,

Jon Godfrey...

Don Rogers - 3/12/2010 1:09:12 PM
Hi Bill,

Recently Rick Wakeman said he was going to do an album with Trevor Rabin "and a couple of other ex-members of Yes who will remain nameless". There's speculation about who might play drums. I know you're "retired", but care to comment? :-)

Thanks!
Don

Chris Boccalupo - 3/12/2010 11:55:06 AM
Hello Bill,

Rumors are running wild over at Yesfans about a possible union of Anderson/ Rabin/ Wakeman for some sort of project based on Wakeman's comments about a project between him and Rabin and a few other Yes members.

Now Classic Rock mag has mentioned your name in the rumor. DO you have any plans to work with these gentelmen in any way in the near future?

Thanks so much. - Chris...

alexa699 - 3/11/2010 12:23:02 AM
Very nice site!

Shirley - 3/4/2010 2:37:35 PM
Hi Bill
I posted a visual discography of your work on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YERX_IBHp8&feature=channel

Thank you for all of it and may you find musical piece of mind :-)

regards
Shirley

soma - 3/2/2010 11:00:45 AM
how r u, spring is cooming! good post there, tnx for www.billbruford.com

Martin Geoffroy - 2/22/2010 6:39:06 PM
Hi Bill

I read your biography last summer and enjoyed it very much. As a sociologist, it was interesting for me to get the musician point of view on music. Reading this book for me was like going through a lifetime of musical adventure with Yes, Earthworks, King Crimson and Moraz-Bruford. I was at the King Crimson gig in Montreal at Le Spectrum in 1984 and I knew then I was a witness to musical history. I am not a musician at all, just a longtime music listener, but I was glad to see in your book that you also taught this was Crimson at its best. I was 16 years old at the time and will never forget that night. Thanks for the music (all of it!). Thanks for the memories and thanks for sharing your very articulate and interesting observations in your book. Hope you enjoy your newfound liberty away from music....

wm.j.pemberton - 2/20/2010 3:10:14 PM
i forgot to mention in my last commentary something amazing i experienced at a concert many years ago...i was at Summerjam '77 @ what was then called Royals Stadium in Kansas City , Missouri USA...The acts on the bill were (in the order they appeared) Little River Band,Climax Blues Band,Head East,Black Oak Arkansas,REO Speedwagon and Ted Nugent.This was the famous stadium gig where Ted was heard five miles away according to phone service.Anyway,there were LONG set-up times between bands due mainly to the amount of equiptment. During the time between Head East and Black Oak,King Crimson's Starless and Bible Black (the song I think-I was not a fan at that time as i was just getting into prog by
Yes and Genesis then) was played.I knew it was Crimson but not the title which my buddy Mike Morris (a rabid fan of the mighty Crim)supplied me with.After what seemed like an eternity,and several movements later the song came to an end and a roar of applause began around the home plate section of the stadium.My friends and i quickly joined in - before you could snap your fingers,the entire stadium was one LOUD roar of approval of this piece I'm sure few knew
who the artist was (let alone anything else).it was the one & ONLY time I've EVER experienced anything like that.I suspect the sound man was a Crim freak...true story - no BS....

wm.j.pemberton - 2/19/2010 6:06:56 PM
i am reading your autobiography and i ALREADY think it should be REQUIRED reading by anyone interested in becoming a musician at ANY level , but especially the professional
level. I wish it would've been available when i was a teen - a lot of BS and heartache might've been avoided . lots of good advice , principles to live by & beliefs shared. all around good reading and NO BS !!!!!...

Dale - 2/15/2010 5:28:56 AM
Dear Bill.
First of all I'd like to thank you for your time. I do not know if you are able to help me with my post. If not, that is fine and understood. My position is a full time drum and percussion educator. As such I have access to other teachers, but would like your view.

I have a particularly talented drum student, aged 9. He has recently completed books by Mike Clark, David Garibaldi, Stanton Moore and others in the fields of rock and funk. (the reason I had him work on funk was to gain jazz type independence while having a guitar based 4/4 rock type feel.)
My problem is not the student, but rather his father.

The father wanted to be a rock star. Sadly he was not educated in music and came to music late. But at 50 plus years seems to me to regret not having been a member of Iron Maiden or something similar.

The result as of late is that the student is being forced at home to work on recent rock publications, rather than my lessons. Last week we began to get into real jazz exercises using Chapin and it was great. But tonight I had a tearful call from my student about being forced to work from a pop book that is frankly, beneath him.

What can I tell his father? I have repeatedly mentioned that I want my student to follow my lesson plan, but to no evail. The dad wants his 9 year old to play the songs he wishes he'd played. Bill, I am at a loss. I do not want to lose my student. I've been watching this kid grow from 5 years old. I am emotionally involved. I love the kid. How do I approach this situation?

If you have no answer, sweet mate, no problem. I will deal with it.

Cheers. Dale...

Tony Foley - 2/15/2010 2:02:51 AM
Hi Bill,

The recent posting of your interview with Chris Salewicz is timely as I’ve just finished his superb biog on Joe Strummer, Redemption Song. Although not a die hard Clash fan, I found it a remarkable study of a musician destroyed by the usual ‘diversions’ of record company pressures, drugs, bad decisions and middle class angst. As an artistic study it’s up there with Ellman’s Wilde and Ackroyd’s Eliot; no mean feat for a rock bio.

You may want to check out the late, great George Melly presenting all the seedy underbelly of life on the road in the 60s in his touching and very frank memoir, Owning Up. These were the days when trad was rock and roll with Chris Barber, Kenny Ball and Acker Bilk at the forefront. Great quote: “All jazz musicians are essentially selfish bastards.” One of the best books about jazz ever written.

As resident in a city with quite a few Russians, I concur with you on Beevors’ remarkable Stalingrad. I will never argue with a Russian queue jumper in the post office ever again!

Finally, just a quick heads up on Sjahin During, a remarkable young Turkish/Dutch percussionist playing Anatolian & Oriental rhythms. Heard him on Charlie Gillett’s World programme as I drove through the empty desert one night and was captivated.

...

Cameron Devlin - 2/13/2010 5:56:09 PM
To Jon Godfrey,

Make no mistake, I agree with you almost entirely - this push into digital distribution is yet another example of a disturbing trend whereby the consumer no longer owns anything, but simply buys a license to use it - Amazon's Kindle, the iTunes store, Valve's "Steam" game distribution system... money disappears into a company and the product you have paid for has no value the second you press "confirm order". I've made it a rule to avoid as much of this as possible.

In the case of DGMLive, I have made an exception to this rule, as it really does seem to be the only workable way to get this content out into the world. The only costs to DGM as far as I can see are the in-house sound engineer to mix the release, hosting costs and the in-house art department to throw together a cover quickly (they're all standardised to a template, so it's literally just find a suitable photograph and change the text details, can't take them more than 30 minutes per release). Compare that to putting together a box set of all 4 nights of ProjeKct One - 8 CDs - and releasing it through a distributor. The printing costs alone would probably take years to recoup, if ever.

There's a little more work involved to make it "fit" with the rest of your collection, admittedly. To me this wasn't an obstacle, but to someone with perhaps less time to spend on it (not to mention that I happened to own a printer that could print CD labels anyway), I can see it would be a timesink. However, here's my copy of the 1973 Glasgow concert:

[url]http://www.camerondevlin.com/images/glasgowCD1.jpg[/url]
[url]http://www.camerondevlin.com/images/glasgowCD2.jpg[/url]

(Note: I have no idea if HTML tagging will work in the forum, if not just remove those [url] bits)

A little messing around with the PDF in Photoshop provided all the details for the CD design, though I admit this would not be a skill everyone has. It's a shame they don't do CD artwork with the downloads, but generally I find it quite enjoyable to put together the package myself in this way. Not all of this is directed at you Jon, just that I thought I would provide the alternative opinion!

iPods - I do own one, and it has certainly revolutionised the way I listen to music, but perhaps not quite in a positive way. For some reason I cannot maintain interest in any particular album when I know all my other albums are on there too, so it ends up going on shuffle. This can be nice for hearing things I hadn't chosen to put on for a while, but nothing compares to being able to sit down and enjoy an album on vinyl from start to finish as an experience. ...

Jon Godfrey - 2/12/2010 3:33:34 PM
To Cameron,

Glad to hear you made it to see Jarrett in London and Paris, they musy have been absolutely electrifying performances.

I adore 'Testament' so much, I sleep with it under my pillow! I hope to se Jarrett play one day.

Jon Godfrey - 2/12/2010 11:10:48 AM
To Cameron Devlin,

Thank you but I am already aware that all the ProjeKct One performances are available for download at DGMLive. However, I do not enjoy this DIY approach.

I have obtained the Dec 1 and Dec 2 shows and really enjoyed all I have heard. However, I find downloading files a rather disagreeable process because BitTorrent is of little use unless downloading a popular torrent (which the P1 shows are not); this has lead to me rechristening the programme 'Sh*tTorrent'.
I do not have the patience to continue downloading artwork and then have to crop it to fit a jewel case. And when I've cocked that up, I waste ink by reprinting the artwork. Then I realise I'm using thin, cheap paper and the wet link bends the page, so I have to glue it to card so it will sit in the jewel case satisfactorily.
And finally, I have an unsightly CD with nothing but the disc manufacturer's name and 'CD-R' printed upon it, as well as my appalling handwriting in black marker pen. As if I just downloaded the thing illegally on a torrent site.

I would prefer a buy prepared CDs, if Summerfold Records and/or DGM should ever decide to prepare a CD release, hence my question to Mr Bruford.

Perhaps, I'm old fashioned; then again, when one considers the number of vinyl reissues that are appearing, perhaps I'm somewhere in the middle of the 33 and the MP3!

Cameron, it won't surprise you to learn that I do not own an iPod (and I do not agree with Apple's claim that the iPod has 'revolutionised' the way we listen to music).

Regards,

Jon G....

Cameron Devlin - 2/7/2010 6:50:08 PM
To Jon Godfrey,

No doubt I won't be the only one to say this, but all 4 nights from the Jazz Cafe are available at DGMLive.com. You can download them in both MP3 and FLAC format - the latter is a CD quality lossless format, and it comes with printable artwork so the only thing different from a shop CD is that you can have it right now! I recommend the December 4th concert if you can only buy one, but perhaps only because that was my first concert (at the tender age of 12!) Not sure what the royalty situation is with those downloads, but one would presume Bill gets a fair cut with all of Fripp's talk of artist rights and the evils of the majors.

Also, very much in keeping with the previous, I was at the Jarrett Paris concert that made it to Testament, and can only echo the recommendation. The London concert was possibly even better but, again, my judgement is clouded by nostalgia....

Matt Johnson - 1/31/2010 11:58:17 AM
Bill, I am as I write this enjoying your book immensely and have recommended it to everyone remotely interested in not only drumming but the music industry as a whole. Your book is opening my eyes to a brutally honest look at a vocation I always wanted for myself, but am now finding that perhaps I am better off in obscurity. I create my music for its own sake, and I can, after reading about your journey, appreciate that the often shady and creativity-stifling influence of the "industry" is not for everyone. Thank you for your contribution to world drumming, for your inspiration to me to become a drummer myself, for your elevation into a broader consciousness the truly vibrant world of jazz, and for this most wonderful book! Cheers, good health, and long life!...

Jon Godfrey - 1/31/2010 10:08:07 AM
Dear Bill,

I writing to ask if Summerfold, either alone or with assistance from Discipline Global Mobile, could release the ProjeKct One concerts on CD?

May I recommend Keith Jarrett's new release, 'Testament'?

Thank you for the musical inspiration, records, concerts (Bruford-Bortslap in Bath in 2007, ahhh, magic!), the autobiography and the always-entertaining and fascinating blog.

Best wishes,

Jon...

Pharme396 - 1/30/2010 2:12:26 PM
Very nice site!

Jesse - 1/27/2010 5:54:30 PM
Greetings, Bill!

One of my favorite aspects of your musical legacy is your outstanding work from a composition standpoint. The music on the 'Bruford' studio albums are some of my favorite compositions in the fusion idiom, or even in the over-arching pop world. As a professional drummer, I lead a fusion quintet myself and we proudly cover "5G" and "Forever Until Sunday" at every gig we play. Transcribing the parts for the players, working them out in rehearsal, and faithfully recreating them live has been one of my most rewarding ventures as a musician. My question to you is: How much influence did Dave Stewart have in terms of harmonization/voicings of the chords and changes? Did you present a basic template, leaving the minutiae to him, or did you present definite outlines of the music? I have always been curious on this.

As a 'drummer', you have always thought as a true 'musician', and I carry that philosophy with me into every lesson I teach and every session/gig I play. Thank you for the years of inspiration (and for the excellent book)! Best to you and yours. Cheers! ...

Jim Cumbie - 1/27/2010 1:18:13 PM
Hey Bill,

I hope retirement continues to treat you well.

Looking back at the long list of great musicians you played with, I think the most surprising is Chris Botti. When people buy his smooth-jazz albums, I don't think they're expecting to hear anything like "Picnic on Vesuvius"! So how did Botti come to play in BLUE? Was he adept at the kind of avant-garde music that you, Levin and Torn were already so fluent in? And have you been surprised by the direction his career has gone in the last ten years?

Cheers,

Jim...

Lorenzodrama - 1/21/2010 1:10:43 PM
Ciao Bill,this forum made my day,really happy to be here by your virtual side...

snare = Bruford!

all the best from Italy!

Kevin Morrissey - 1/20/2010 4:23:34 PM
Hi Bill,

Thank you for the honor you extended me, of posting the Casals image on your site. Please accept my apology for all my subsequent "verbosity"; anonymity often has its advantages.

But mainly I wanted to commend you and DrumWright for the work you're doing for Tong-Len. Believe me, you're no theme park, and your music never had anything to do with illusion.

My confidence in your integrity as an artist was never misplaced, but there can be a lot of snakes in the grass even at that threshold. My confidence in your integrity as the man behind the art is apparently similarly on target.

In closure, Bill, thanks for bringing us all a bit closer to the Sunlit Place.

Dewey Eyed and Dancing,

Kevin Morrissey
kevin@kevinmorrisseyimages.com



...

Mr. S - 1/17/2010 6:47:06 AM
As a teenage Yes fan, I investigated Feels Good To Me, which led me into the whole world of Jazz. Would love you to do another album with Holdsworth (and Stewart). I hope, by now, you've heard Topographic Oceans ... like Union, once you exorcise the musical politics, it's actually not bad music at all!...

Paul Humphries - 1/16/2010 1:15:29 PM
Hi Bill
You where the first Drummer that got me well and trully hooked on Drums when my late father took me too see you play with Yes at the Marquee many moons ago the last time I saw you with Yes was at Wembley during the UNION Tour.
Ive recently taken up the drums again but more seriously this time around, I still enjoy listening to you on many of my albums wether it be U.K King Crimson or Yes and lately Earthworks.
I will be at the Jagz Club in Ascot later this month and I hope to meet you again
kind regards

Paul....

Nav Jhaj - 1/4/2010 8:13:43 AM
Regarding this new (to me) percussion record, called "One". Sounds interesting, will definitely pick it up. A minor quibble, though, with the following assertion from the review provided at the link:

"Our jaded Western drumset rhythms would probably have fossilised some years back if it hadn't been for the healthy infusion of the rhythms and colours of India, Cuba, Latin-America, and Africa, and it seems that visiting with and borrowing from these and other cultures, while approaching their rhythmic depth with proper respect, is what is going to continue to give our popular music vibrancy".

Um, well, I'm not a drummer, but a jazz guitar student. But anyone can tell you that jazz drumming has never 'fossilized'--in part because the foundational principles and even the dominant polyrhythmic pulse that helps to determine swing (three against two) are fundamentally AFRICAN principles. Same thing with lots of Cuban and Brazilian musics--founded on African rhythmic principles--hence, the terms "Afro Cuban" and "Afro Brazilian". Indeed, this common thread is exactly the reason jazz musicians have loved to play with Latin American musicians, beginning with Jelly Roll Morton, onto Diz, the mambo craze in the 50s, the bossa revolution in the 60s, et al.

In any event, to give but one example of the dynamic nature of jazz drumming, with all the "revolutions" cited in the music (from Bird, Diz, Monk,et al), two guys who NEVER get mentioned in the same breadth of their comrades but should for utterly revolutionizing the music were Kenny Clarke and Papa Jo Jones, who too, the somewhat clumsy/robotic "four on the floor" Swing Era drumming and utterly transformed the music with their emphasis on the hats and ride conveying the basic pulse.

Finally, even as a music fundamentally developed by African rhythmic concepts, jazz musicians long ago, before their was this empty marketing ploy called "World Music", sought out and worked and recorded with African musicians---I'm thinking people like Blakey and Randy Weston, to name but two.

P.S.--long ago, I gave my dhol drum to Avreal Ra, a local Chicago jazz drummer and AACM member (I think he must have played with Sun many moons ago hence the common surname). Alas, he never used it, as he said he could never tune it properly.

Despite my apparent negativity, looking forward to checking this record out!...

James Donegan - 1/1/2010 11:45:30 PM
Thank you and Happy New Year! Thank you Bill, for your many generous responses to my questions throughout 2009 and always. I have been relocated to Saudi Arabia from Wall Street, NYC and can say the music scene here is less than vibrant, however, some of the rythyms you hear in elevators require some intense transcribing!
I wish you and your family a blessed and healthy new year.

James Donegan ...

SkaaDee - 12/25/2009 4:50:35 PM
Mister Bruford

You may hang sticks over a mantle
with a list of dates that march
through a list of styles that spear
a list of talents

but at this point, a tacit
is what to expect.

I know,
the kit sits in the basement.

You set it up, muscles feel tinglyr>as you tap something interesting.
Strangely, a surge surprises a memory
you thought laid to rest.

You remove your shirt and stare in the mirror.
Every muscle owes its health to the art of skins,
the craft of collaboration.
Through neglect they itch, but you know
and they know,
all is forgiven behind a row of drums.

What you now play is free of obligation
flowing of one path
by one man
in one time
on one planet
tucked somewhere close to the edge
of a pulsating galaxy,

and isn't that what you heard all this time
anyways?


...

Nav Jhaj - 12/23/2009 8:18:40 PM
A brief blockbuster movie review: "Avatar" ---Look, up in the sky: Mountains--- what are they doing? Why, they "Stand There", duh!


So, yeah, just saw *Avatar*, and I'm thinking James Cameron (the director/writer/creator) probably spent hours just endlessly staring at the gatefold sleeves to *Yessongs* , *Close to the Edge* or *Fragile*.

"In and around the lake, Mountains come out of the sky, and they stand there". Indeed they do, in glorious high tech 3-D no less. If I'm Roger Dean, I've got my Intellectual Property attorney on the line....

Cheers and Happy Holidays,
Nav Jhaj
Chicago, IL...

Ray - 12/23/2009 11:50:43 AM
All the best in 2010:happiness,health,joy and wonderful Christmas!

Shirley - 12/23/2009 6:31:52 AM
Hi Bill
Just to wish you a very Happy Christmas and to wish that all your hopes and dreams are fulfilled in 2010. Thank you for Skin and Wire and for sharing your adventures with us in your autobiography:-)
Shirley

Richard Deem - 12/23/2009 4:01:13 AM
Hi Bill,
What decade was the most fun for you to play in King Crimson. 70's 80's or 90's ? After all, Music is supposed to fun , isn't it ?

Best to you,
Rich

Billy Middlemiss - 12/19/2009 7:31:28 AM
Bill, it should seem that I've met plenty of individuals with the same or similar variations of their first name....e.g. my name is Bill, your name is Bill, his name is Bill, etc....and yet there seems to be many similarities among the dispositions of individuals with same first names, especially when one would sort the group according to natural intellectual inclination, socio-economic background, and what the individual 'does' (certainly these are the most 'obvious;' yet I'm sure there are more interesting ways of grouping people.) Many of the Bill's I have met of a certain intellectual bent, particularly of an artistic persuasion, appear to enjoy meddling with the ingredients a little more than what seems to be the 'norm.' I have also noticed some tendencies to react to suggestion more negatively than to criticism. Do you ever get annoyed about the suggestions of individuals that take a passing (or sometimes very much more) interest in your life?
(I hope the humor in here is evident) Take care & happy holidays. Thanks for the tunes and contributing to the notion that a self-taught composer is of value in the modern world....

Rick Stockton - 12/18/2009 7:07:08 PM

Hi Bill,

Regarding my previous entry on 10/19/09(?)- I just wanted to emphasize that I thought your snare (and everything else - including your gracious wit) was very much up to scratch and, well, way above that too. It was your movement of rhythm and the timbre of your sound and natural talent that inspired me to play my best when you were with us at the Record Plant. I'm guessing John (L) and his wife (Y) showed up because they heard you were there (do you remember that?).

Cheers again and Happy Holidays to you and your family,
Rick Stockton...

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