Jack Bruce: Sunshine Of Your Love

Director: Kyla Simone Bruce MAGRIT BRUCE/SPOTSMUSIC

Tribute concert film that’s a fresh take on a classic work.

The bigger the artist, the greater the chance there is of a tribute concert becoming little more than an over-reverential plod. Thank God (not Clapton), then, for the Bruce family co-ordinating this event, featuring 35 musicians at London’s Roundhouse on October 24, 2015, a year after

Bruce’s passing. The concert is MD’d by Nitin Sawhney, while old hands (Ian Anderson, Phil Manzanera, Bernie Marsden, Mark King) mix with newer talent (Liam Bailey, Joss Stone, Jack’s daughter Aruba Red) in a lively two-hour show.

Oddly, the audience remains static throughout the show, even during White Room, featuring Marsden on powerhouse form. Bailey storms Politician and I’m So Glad, cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson reinvents Rope Ladder To The Moon and the director shyly takes on Weird Of Hermiston (“The only song my dad taught me”).

Ginger Baker’s performance is a prophetic We’re Going

Wrong (it did, subtly) and part of Sunshine, before leaving the ensemble – with some excellent turns by Anderson on flute – to dance the night away.