The story of how Charles Mingus divided Cream: “He took it upon himself to fire me”
Arguments are part and parcel of the rock and roll realm, but Cream managed to pack a lifetime of bitter feuds into their two-year tenure. While you might assume that those divides came from the fact of having three big egos in one band, spurred on by copious drug use, the prevailing factor in the division of the group – apparently – was jazz legend Charles Mingus.
One of the greatest jazz composers to ever grace the airwaves, Mingus flew the flag for improvisation throughout his extensive and endlessly enduring discography, changing the jazz landscape forever in the process.
Hang on, you may be shouting, what on Earth has this got to do with Cream? Well, aside from some brief crossover into the realm of mainstream music, collaborating with Joni Mitchell, Mingus never really crossed over into the realm of the psychedelic pioneers – at least, not in a direct sense.
Nevertheless, Mingus’ penchant for improvisation knew no bounds when it came to the inspiration it provided to his fellow musicians. Whether it was jazz, rock and roll, or the otherworldly psych sounds emanating from Cream’s camp, the composer started a trend that countless others would follow, and Jack Bruce was particularly infatuated.
Going back to the pre-Cream days of The Graham Bond Organisation, when Bruce was honing his skills alongside future bandmate Ginger Baker, the bassist began to take a lot of his cues from the jazz world. His adoration for artists like Mingus played a key role in influencing his distinctive sound, but it also caused a rather sizable rift between him and Baker.
“There had always been problems between Ginger and myself,” the bassist admitted in a 2023 chat with Forbes. “We’re kind of like brothers. When it’s nice, it’s great, but then sometimes, as with siblings, it can go really wrong.” Namely, Bruce cited the instance of Baker sacking him from the GBO, “although he wasn’t the band leader.”
Justifying that unceremonious sacking, Bruce revealed that it was Baker’s hatred of his playing style that was to blame: “He said I was playing ‘too busy’,” he shared. “I was interested in trying to take the bass guitar out of the rhythm section. I was also influenced by jazz: Scott LaFaro, Charlie Mingus, the sort of people I looked up to,” he added. “So yeah, I probably was playing a lot of notes. He [Baker] didn’t quite agree with that.”
Despite that blossoming rivalry between the two musicians, they still managed to form the rhythm section of Cream when the band came together in 1966, with the unlikely mediating figure of Eric Clapton between them. Ultimately, though, Baker’s issues with Bruce – and vice versa – still prevailed within that new outfit, all thanks to the inspiration of that pesky Charles Mingus.
Throughout the relatively short history of Cream, there was rarely a moment in which tensions between the trio completely subsided. When they finally disbanded in 1968, following Wheels of Fire, it came as no great shock to anybody connected with the band, but it was the ongoing feud between Bruce and Baker that appeared to be the biggest factor in the break-up.
Arguably, then, it was Charles Mingus who broke up the psychedelic heroes.
