Small Maps Of Heaven

This is a re-posting of a personal favorite, first published back in January of 2008.

The Paradox Of Jack Bruce's
Pachyderms On Matchstick Legs
Friday, May 11, 2012

Although powerful, Jack Bruce is not among my most favorite of bassists, but I do hold him in high esteem as one of the more distinguished vocalists and songwriters of his generation. Having cut his teeth with a host of pre-British Invasion acts including Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, The Graham Bond Organization, John Mayall’s Blues Breaker’s, and Manfred Mann, Bruce eventually broke into the mainstream in a big way with the wildly successful power trio, Cream. Perhaps you've heard of them. It's a story that needs no further elucidation. Suffice it to say that his former associations alone would be enough for many as a career resume highlight, but his affiliation with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker relegated him to unprecedented heights and squarely secured his place in the pantheon rock royalty with a legacy on which he could have easily retired, content and incredibly wealthy. Yet the ever restless Bruce would continue to explore new avenues of possibility in the years that followed, all commendable, and many memorable.

After the meteoric rise (and demise) of the super group Cream, Bruce assembled a one-off collaboration with drummer, Mitch Mitchell and guitarist Larry Coryell, while simultaneously striking out on solo projects in the few short years that followed which included his extraordinary recordings, 'Songs For A Tailor' and 'Harmony Row.' A surprisingly left of center jazz excursion also came within that time in the form of 'Things We Like,' a recording that paired him with John McLaughlin, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Jon Hiseman, showcasing his admiration for (and the influence of) bassist Charles Mingus. In short order, his alliance with McLaughlin led to his joining Lifetime, a quartet of jazz musicians assembled by drummer Tony Williams that featured Bruce, McLaughlin, and organist Larry Young. Lifetime went on to become one of the leading experimental jazz/rock fusion units of the day. I recall seeing that band in an early gig as an opening act for The Faces at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan. While Lifetime certainly had the chops, their bombast was overwhelming and a bit tedious as I remember it, easily allowing Rod Stewart’s Faces to walk away with the more powerful, entertaining, and satisfying set of the night. Regardless, I’m glad to have witnessed the assembly of raw talent that graced the stage in that never to be repeated line-up.

Solo projects aside, power trios and guest appearances have played an ongoing role in Bruce's pursuits as he continued to embark on multiple band projects and collaborations. West, Bruce and Laing debuted with guitarist, Leslie West and drummer Corky Laing, as did B.L.T., a unit with a clever, yet unfortunate moniker comprised of Bruce, the aforementioned Laing and monster guitarist Robin Trower. As a whole, I find the subsequent recordings by these ensembles to be largely unsatisfying, but then trios of any sort rarely have the amount of depth that I find necessary to sound full and complete. Perhaps they’re simply not my cup of tea. Far more interesting were Bruce’s guest appearances with Frank Zappa (on 'Apostrophe'), Carla Bley (on 'Escalator Over The Hill'), Michael Mantler (on 'No Answer,' 'Many Have No Speech,' and others), Ellen McIllwaine's 'Everybody Needs It', and most especially with Kip Hanrahan on his 'Desire Develops An Edge,' 'Vertical’s Currency,' and many more. Other beneficiaries of his prowess have included contributions to recordings by Donovan, Martha Velez, Charlie Watts, Alan Holdsworth, Cozy Powell, Charlie Mariano, and retro group, Rocket 88. You can additionally add to the list, Lou Reed, Soft Machine, Mose Allison, Aynsley Dunbar, Mick Taylor, The Golden Palominos, and more recently, Gov’t Mule. If that’s not enough, he’s also contributed to projects by poet Paul Haines, composer John Cage, and many others to numerous to mention. That said, there’s one more power group to speak of. After briefly reuniting with McLaughlin in his Mahavishnu Orchestra, Bruce hooked up with drummer, Billy Cobham and keyboardist David Sancious for yet another jazz/rock fusion outing. Are you starting to get the picture? Not one to rest on his laurels, Bruce has been a very busy man, a multi-instrumentalist with broad ranging, divergent interests, and a talent that’s in demand by musicians in all paths of creation.

Beyond his long partnership with lyricist Pete Brown, it's been Bruce’s participation with composer, arranger, and percissionist Kip Hanrahan that has been among his most enduring and rewarding of collaborations. Bruce's involvement began simply as one of many contributors in the band leader's rotating cast of players, but the results proved so enriching for both men that they continued working together many times over, resulting in some of the most impressive music of Bruce's career. In fact, many of those very pieces are among the highlights in the music sets that are offered below.

Bruce’s command of the bass, in combination with his characteristic voice and penchant for minor keys with jazz flourishes do tend to make the timbre of his material sound outwardly heavy. However, his compositions are actually built over delicate foundations that belie the perceived weight of their impact, the very element I believe that makes his material so compelling. In his association with Hanrahan, the arranger helped bring that delicacy to the forefront, exposing the softer, more vulnerable side of his song craft --- the inner workings, if you will --- embellished by the sensuous, poly-rhythmic undercurrent that Hanrahan and his arrangements supplied.

The material included in ‘Pachyderms On Matchstick Legs’ comes primarily from select solo recordings in Bruce’s discography, as well as a few of his lower profile contributions to Cream, and of course a bevy from the aforementioned works with Kip Hanrahan. If you like what you hear, I might also suggest seeking out ‘Monkjack,’ a stripped down duet recording featuring himself at the piano and Bernie Worrell on organ. Just as Thelonious Monk was prone to do, Bruce frequently revisits his older material here in an effort to breath new life into them, utilizing variables in the arrangements, making old warhorses sound almost new again.

The centerpiece of these sets below revolve around three of Jack’s songs, ‘Without A Word,’ ‘Progress,’ and ‘Directions Home.’ Each on their own are intensely passionate, but when placed in the order in which you’ll hear them, they become staggeringly epic in their majesty and power. This trilogy encapsulates all of Bruce's strengths in one fell swoop --- his facility as a multi-instrumentalist, his mastery of the bass, the unique quality of his voice, and of course the superb songcraft --- providing an additional demonstration of its range and emotional depth. It might easily be said that I simply relate to the subject matter of those songs and am therefore too close to be objective, but honestly, I believe that these three songs showcase more than any other the true beauty and command of Bruce's superb writing.

Pachyderms On Matchstick Legs, Vol.1

1) Never Tell Your Mother She's Out Of Tune
2) Deserted Cities Of The Heart
(w/Cream)
3) Theme For An Imaginary Western
4) Rope Ladder To The Moon
5) A Small Map Of Heaven
(w/Kip Hanrahan)
6) Smiles And Grins
(w/Kip Hanrahan)
7) Two Heartedly, To The Other Side
(w/Kip Hanrahan)
8) Chances Are Good (Baden's Distance)
(w/Kip Hanrahan)
9) Doin' That Scrapyard Thing
(w/Cream)
10) Without A Word
11) Progress
12) Directions Home
(w/Kip Hanrahan)

Pachyderms On Matchstick Legs, Vol.2

1) Dancing On Air
(w/Kip Hanrahan)
2) Swlabr
(w/Cream)
3) Boston Baseball Game 1967
4) The Consul At Sunset
5) Make Love 2
(w/Kip Hanrahan)
6) Victoria Sage
7) Born To Be Blue
8) Can You Follow
9) He The Richmond
10) Weird Of Hermiston
11) As You Said
(w/Cream)
12) Folk Song
13) Uh Oh


The source material for 'Pachyderms On Matchstick Legs' comes from the following recordings:

Songs For A Tailor (1969)/Things We Like (1970)
Harmony Row (1971)/Vertical's Currency (1985)/Willpower (1989)
The Very Best Of Cream (1995)/Shadows On The Air (2001)
More Jack Than God (2003)

Jack Bruce plays bass guitar, double bass, cello, piano, organ, and harmonica.