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Bill Bruford: The Autobiography (Book) |  | Author: Bill Bruford
Publisher: Jawbone Press
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $12.32
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Rating:  36 reviews
Sales Rank: 37297
Media: Paperback
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.3
ISBN: 1906002231
Dewey Decimal Number: 790
EAN: 9781906002237
ASIN: 1906002231
Publication Date: March 1, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Once called the “godfather of progressive drumming,” Bill Bruford has been at the top of his profession for four decades, playing with Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Earthworks, and many other bands. Bill Bruford is a first-person account of his life in progressive rock, art rock, and modern jazz. Honest, entertaining, and eloquent, it recounts his life on the road and in the studio, rubbing shoulders and creating music with the famous, the less famous, and the infamous. A rocker with the temperament of a classical musician, who became a jazz musician, he defies all the clichés and bad jokes about drummers. At polite dinner parties, Bruford is occasionally asked what he does. After replying that he’s a musician, the inevitable retort is “Yes, but what do you really do?” This funny, unusual, and unusually thoughtful memoir answers the question.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 36
 STILL have not received it. August 12, 2010
MyPorcelainSkin
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I purchased this book on 06/14/2010 and on 07/16/2010 I reviewed stating I had not received it. I still have not received this.
 On his own terms July 22, 2010
Charles P. Lawton (Pittsburgh)
As much as I enjoyed this book as a big fan of Yes and Bruford, I initially was only going to give it four stars because I felt that it did not contain enough stories about the "old days" with Yes and not as many details of Bruford's personal life as one would expect from an autobiography. Rather than include more such details, Bruford spends a considerable amount of time discussing the philosophy of music and the book at times reads like a text book on the subject, complete with footnotes and an index. Bruford combines these discussions with thoughts on his own anxieties about playing and performing, a reflection of his obvious perfectionism. By the time I had finished the book, I realized that he had given us much more than some sordid tell-all book filled with stories of drug use and infighting. Instead he had revealed his deepest insecurities about his own musicianship and in doing so he has shown us the core of who he is. In the end, Bruford wrote a book much as he has lived his life - thoughtfully, intelligently, and on his own terms.
 If this biography was more on the emotional side than on the technical aspects of his career, it could have been better!! May 1, 2010
Lethe (Milan, Italy)
Even though I appreciate the objectivity of his approach, I would have preferred more to see Bill concentrate himself on the emotional side of his career within the present book, than on the technical aspects, but it's a minor defect after all... the autobiography is pleasant (especially for a musician like me, fond of the music world), but I don't know whether it's much of interest for a normal reader or less; in any case nevermind!! Well actually, I would have appreciated a wider space dedicated to his "partnership" with the early Yes and King Crimson- and moreover the description about the marginal role of John Wetton in the ensemble of "UK", as a sort of music craftsman, with his inclination for the commercial production (if you read between the lines), is able to disturb me just a little bit (otherwise I think of the quality regarding such an important John Wetton's music career and his interesting approach as well, along with Bill inside King Crimson). Of course A. Holdsworth and E. Jobson brought about a "storm" with their virtuosity and versatility too in the ensemble "UK", but John as a vocalist and bass player was more emotional and closer to the preferences which belong to ordinary or simple people.
However, coming back to the biography, the turning point of his life happened when He chose the jazz world along with the ensemble of the "Earthworks", where his naturaly bent to the improvisational aspects of music could finally emerge here!! Besides I understand his approach with King Crimson as well as the difficulty of his job with the band "Yes", forced to some compromises in a few circumstances...in fact- during the final part of his career- there were no compromises and Bill let you understand it in the most natural manner here!
At the end, apart from his half-hidden criticism against the co-founder of "UK", the present autobiography is worth checking out!!
Contributing To The Static April 15, 2010
Robert Carlberg (Seattle)
From page 227: "Mr. Bruford, you stand accused of contributing to the static. How do you plead?"
Guilty, Your Honour. After 40 years of helping to overpopulate the world with great music, Bill is taking a much-deserved (and hopefully temporary) break, during which his first alternative contribution is this book. It is not an autobiography in the mold of "I was born a poor black child" but rather a series of anecdotes, antidotes and reflections on his life in music. Always one of the most intelligent players, his memoirs bear out the same care, good humour and perceptiveness he displayed while watching other musicians' butts.
Almost every page contains quotable observations, from Robert Fripp's reactions to young children to the changes in Japanese culture since his first visit. He talks about the democratization of music, the economics of jazz, the difficulty of maintaining a romantic relationship for the touring musician, how the economic downturn affected backstage catering, the relative difficulties of surviving success versus surviving failure, and many many more.
For the intelligent listener, it's a peephole into the world of a successful professional musician, one who measures his success not by album sales but by the flourishing of his marriage first, and the artistic merit of his recorded legacy second.
Bill, you never disappoint.
Great read - but prepare yourself! January 4, 2010
H. Mason (Kalamazoo)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In another life, Bill Bruford may have been an astronaut. Or perhaps a geologist.
Maybe the intrepid explorer. That's the kind of stubborn intellect we're dealing
with here. I've been making it a habit of reading autobios and non-autobios of
musicians for years now. When I first started this one, I was immediately
intimidated by the fluency and complexity of his lyrics. Most bios are simple
recollections of drug abuse, women abuse and maybe a little actual music
history along the way. Basically ego-stroking manuscripts. This one, however,
requires concentration - ha ! I find myself rereading most sentences if not just in an attempt to completely grasp his explanation but to fully enjoy the colour of the
words. That's it! He would have made a great writer in another existence. I'm
also a lover of sci-fi's Ray Bradbury, an extremely colourful and energetic author
of beautiful prose. This book requires that kind of attention to really absorb the
contents. Anyway, this is a thoroughly enjoyable account of his years as a
musician - which we all hope are not over despite his thoughts otherwise. Its full
of fascinating ditties about the groups he's had membership within. Don't look
for any nastiness here. He doesn't dwell on what obviously excites most readers
of this type of book. ie: Who's the biggest arsehole, who was the best guitarist,
who had the most groupies, etc. He simply give us an inner sanctum view of his
world as he's lived it. That;s not to say he's easy to live with either. He sounds
like a challenge. But who isn't? It took me a while to work thru this one. But I
plan to pick it up again in a few months to grab what I must have missed in the
first read. Its that good. Enjoy!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 36
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