BILL BRUFORD MAKES A SONG AND DANCE
The legendary drummer unveils his personally curated, careerspanning box set, with cuts from his solo career and his tenures with Yes, King Crimson and other prog greats.
Bill Bruford releases his career-spanning six-CD box set on April 29 through BMG. Making A Song And Dance: A Complete-Career Collection features a very personal selection of music from Yes, King Crimson, UK, ABWH along with tracks from the drummer’s solo and Earthworks albums, and numerous guest appearances with artists as diverse as Roy Harper, PianoCircus, and the Buddy Rich Band.
With his distinctive whip-crack snare sound appearing on some of the defining albums of the progressive music movement, Bruford remains one of the most admired and respected players of his generation. He says he was given complete freedom by the label to choose the set’s expansive running order.
“This isn’t something I’ve done overnight,” Bruford explains. “Obviously, there’s a certain amount of editorial stuff going on. It took something like six or seven months to select the 70 tracks that are spread across these six discs.”
Alongside the CDs, the package comes with rare and unseen photos and includes a detailed essay written by Bruford himself, which provides a wealth of information about the music. The whole set is presented with outer box artwork, gatefold CDs, and booklets designed by Bruford’s longtime artist and graphic designer, Dave McKean.
With his customary fastidiousness, Bruford (who retired from live performance in 2009 and is currently involved with academic writing) has organised the music into four distinct categories: “There’s the collaborations, involving the work with Yes and Crimson, for example. The Bruford band and Earthworks come under
“I’m very proud of the stuff I’ve done. I’m pleased with what’s on this set.”
the heading of ‘The Composing Leader’. My work in duos, firstly with Patrick Moraz in the 80s and with Michiel Borstlap in the 2000s showcases improvisation, and there’s also a disc that has my contributions as a special guest.”
Given the sheer range of the bands and musicians Bruford has been associated with over a 40-year career, getting permission from different copyright holders was a major task. He admits there are one or two omissions – pieces from his extensive discography that he would have liked to include but for which permissions were unobtainable. “That said, I’m pretty proud and pleased with what’s on this set.”
Bruford’s personal choices aren’t always obvious. Naturally Starless – one of the most popular tracks in the Crimson repertoire, from 1974’s Red – is included, but so too is the relatively underrated The Great Deceiver. He says that the 80s-era Crimson remains his favourite of the three different incarnations of the group presented in this set: “It was relatively simple, clear and light. I thought the blueprint Robert laid out was clear. I understood exactly this feeling that we could have a King Crimson in the 80s because there was Crimson type of work to do. There wasn’t a double anything or a ProjeKct fractal. It was just a quartet. I loved the music.”
When it comes to the potential audience for the box set, Bruford is optimistic. “I think the word I would use here is ‘intergenerational’. I think the body of work that me and my lot over the age of 40 produced is of interest to younger people. Whenever I meet younger people at universities, if they ever get to hear any of the kind of music that my generation has made, they love it. They think it’s extremely exciting. I’m very proud of the stuff I’ve done and I like it when young people say they like it too. So in a way, this box set is for them but I think older purchasers will be interested as well. The rock people may not know or have the jazz stuff and the jazz people tend not to have the rock stuff, so there’s a bit of cross-fertilisation going on there as well.”
For more information on the box set visit www.billbruford.com. SS