I was watching Bill Bruford closely as he started playing at the Hampstead Jazz Club on Friday night as part of the Pete Roth Trio. He had a huge smile on his face. After over a decade of not playing, Bruford picked up the sticks again in 2022, teaming up with guitarist Pete Roth, who had once worked with him as a drum tech. They started performing in front of an audience in 2023, and are now on tour with dates through to Jan 2025.
The venue was a tiny, 50-person basement, a far cry from the big arenas Bruford once filled, and he prefers it that way. He’s spoken about how he found the business side of music exhausting before he retired. But here, him, Roth and bassist Mike Pratt were having fun. Their fun still meant serious music. Much of the set was improvisation on top of jazz standards, but they also played three new pieces, including “Trio of 5” and the multi-part, somewhat prog rock-y “Looking Forward to Looking Back.” Roth described them as a “garage band,” still figuring things out. Great show, and lovely to see Bruford playing again.
I've put a longer review on my blog at https://bondegezou.blogspot.com/2024...-nov-2024.html
Set: "Billy's Bounce" (originally by Charlie Parker), uncertain (possibly something by Chopin), "If Summer had its Ghosts", "Summertime" (originally by Gershwin), improvisation on the largo movement of Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, "Trio of 5", another Charlie Parker piece, "Full Circle" (new band piece), "Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum" (originally by Wayne Shorter), "Looking Forward to Looking Back", unidentified.
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