by stephen » 26 Oct 2014, 10:17
Jack lived in a small village (Alphamstone) not that far from me. I was made aware of this some years back on an occasion that I was giving my address details to someone at Fender UK. When I'd finished he said, "Oh, you must be a neighbour of Jack Bruce's then?" I expressed surprise, but thought no more about it until.....
One day, on Market Hill in our closest town (Sudbury), I was walking in the door of Halfords and literally bumped into Jack Bruce as he was walking out and slipping on his Ray-Ban's! I was really stuck for words, but wished I could have said something coherent. All that was going through my mind was, "It's mister 'Sunshine of Your Love', in HALFORDS!" He was an awful lot thinner and more 'drawn' in the face than the last photos. I'd seen of him. My wife was just coming out of another shop just a few doors up and ahead of Jack and all I could do was rather inanely gesticulate at her and mouth the words, "Look! It's Jack Bruce!" Further embarrassment as she loudly responded, "Who? What! Why are you waving at me?" Jack turned around and gave me a quizzical look before continuing on his way. After that, I'd always pop into Halfords when I was in Sudbury, just to see if Jack was in there buying another socket set!
Both the music and the cover of Disraeli Gears was very influential to me. I never did get to see Cream perform live. Closest I got was seeing Eric at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall when he was masquerading as Derek & The Dominos. Whilst Carl Radle was a fantastic bassist, he was no Jack Bruce. I'm glad that the trio was able to reform a few years back for those reunion gigs at the Albert Hall.
Stephen.