Bill Bruford

The former Yes and King Crimson drummer (with detours via Genesis, UK and Bruford) shows why he's so widely revered. After all, how many drummers do you know who first become famous as rock drummers and then reinvent themselves as jazz drummers. Along the way, Bill Bruford tries his hand at composition, forms a band with Jeff Berlin and Allan Holdsworth (What is this - the band for the absurdly talented?), gets back together with King Crimson and then finally moves on to jazz drumming. Very cool book, super droll British humour, but it was the section on creativity and how difficult it is to actually do something really new and heartfelt in music that had me in tears. Bruford has since picked up a Ph.D. and written a new book on drummers who are more than just drummers. Amazing dude and seriously, do you really think we get Gavin Harrison or Neil Peart without Bill Bruford paving the way? It was great to see him along with the rest of Yes (Onward Chris Squire) at the Rock Hall of Fame reception in NYC, 2017 with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson (of Rush) inducting them.… (more)

Bill Bruford came to fame early as the drummer for progressive rock band Yes before leaving to strike out into more challenging musical territory with King Crimson and then various jazz and jazz-rock groups.

This is a bittersweet autobiography, as it was written at the point at which Bruford had decided, after forty year's active service, to retire from being a professional musician. Bruford is very much a thinking drummer, and this is a thoughtful autobiography. Much of what he says about the problems of maintaining confidence in one's abilities, and of dealing with a rapidly evolving (devolving?) industry, I could identify with from my own (much more modest) writing career.

There is at times a slight whiff of "you young people today don't know how lucky you are" at which I suspect the younger Bruford would have taken umbrage - but this is still well worth reading for those interested in Bruford's musical career or in what it's like to try to maintain a meaningful career in the creative arts.… (more)