Bill Bruford - The Winterfold Collection (1978 – 1986)
and The Summerfold Collection (1987 – 2008)
Winterfold Records: BBWF010CD
and Summerfold Records: BBSF022CD
The most recent offerings from the Bruford stable are released on 3 CDs, Summerfold being a double album. They are not, strictly speaking, recent releases but recent collections as all tracks are extracted from Bruford albums as far apart as Feels Good To Me (1977) and In Two Minds (2007). Yes, that’s 30 years of Bill Bruford releases, a considerable legacy in its own right and outside of the rich contribution he made to the progressive rock of Yes and the even more avant-garde and improvisational music of King Crimson, all of which takes him back a further 10 years.
His music changed of course, the Winterfold samples being amplified and electrified and almost naturally fusion oriented, it being late 70s, while Summerfold relates his development in both writing and improvisation.
The bands changed too, as they would. Feels Good To Me (BBWF003CD) has vocalist Annette Peacock backed by Allan Holdsworth, guitar, Dave Stewart, keyboards, Jeff Berlin, bass and Bill on drums. In Two Minds (BBSF019CD) is just Bill with Michiel Borstlap on piano and keys. This latter was nothing new, in the sense that 1985 had seen a similar duet with Patrick Moraz on piano. Very different indeed are Sound Of Surprise (BBSF004CD) from 2000, featuring Patrick Clahar on tenor saxophone, then Random Acts Of Happiness (SFVP001CD) from 2003, featuring Tim Garland playing flute, soprano, tenor and bass clarinet.
[From Press Release] Winterfold Records was created in 2004 to document Bill Bruford's extensive solo career in rock - The Collection takes thirteen of the best tracks from across six albums. Summerfold Records provides a comprehensive index of his subsequent career leaning towards his jazz catalogue. This Collection is a liberal, double CD with over two hours of music from 1987 to the present, featuring a stellar cast with, among others, Tim Garland, Ralph Towner, Django Bates, Eddie Gomez, and lain Ballamy. Twenty-two of the best tracks are taken from twelve albums. Key cuts here are The Sound of Surprise (previously only released in Japan), a scorching acoustic version of Beelzebub, and the Earthworks Underground Orchestra Big Band version of the exciting Footloose and Fancy Free. For those who are unfamiliar with Bill's work, these two Collections act well as both overview and introduction. Both albums testify to a lifetime's work of unusual freshness and vigour from one of the world's best known drummers and come with extensive booklets and liner notes.
Throughout these recordings there is a strong sense of composition that characterizes Bill Bruford’s work, even in his drum solos. Bruford claims that he “always, in a way, thought of (his) drumming as being little compositions in their own right, in the sense that if the electricity were switched off and the entire group went silent, the drum part alone would be worth listening to; it would have its own life; it’s own reason for existence.” (From an interview with John Kelman).
Bill Bruford’s individuality and personality are safeguarded in these albums, even after years of assiduous transformation. Yet the music sounds fresh, the Summerfold recordings yielding a jazz sound of hard-line assault before a tapestry of diffident grain and cadence. It is the subtleness of chiaroscuro and elasticity which signifies the key difference between Bill Bruford’s more recent work and that of Yes, King Crimson and Genesis.
Reviewed by
ken cheetham
February 2009
