The musician Eric Clapton said couldn’t make mistakes: “He is such a musical genius”
For most rock connoisseurs in the 1960s, all roads circled back to the blues. Although the early days of the British Invasion saw acts like The Beatles making songs for the pop market, the London club scene was going through its creative reinvention, with the likes of Fleetwood Mac and The Rolling Stones making songs indebted to the Delta blues coming out of the American south years before. While Eric Clapton may have been drawn to the blues from an early age, one of his bandmates helped him see the possibilities beyond blues-infused rock and roll.
Before Clapton had even picked up a guitar, he knew that he wanted to make something as powerful as what he was hearing. Trying to emulate his heroes like Robert Johnson, Buddy Guy, and Howlin Wolf, Clapton’s first stint in The Yardbirds showcased his skills as a stunning lead guitar player, turning the band from a decent British Invasion outfit to one of the most in-demand blues rockers of all time.
By the time the band had started crafting songs like ‘For Your Love’, though, Clapton knew that his time would be better served elsewhere, moving out to work with John Mayall on the now-legendary album Bluesbreakers. While the album would also feature the talents of future Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie, Clapton was more interested in what he could do with drummer Ginger Baker.
Growing up listening to blues and jazz, Baker brought a sense of muscle to every one of the songs, complimenting Clapton’s lead guitar perfectly. By the time Clapton heard Jack Bruce on the club scene, he knew that he had the foundation for the world’s first supergroup, creating Cream by performing an eclectic mix of blues, jazz, and even a bit of psychedelia thrown into the mix.
While Clapton would later become something of a pioneering musician through his work with Cream, he often said he was trying to keep up with his bandmates half the time. Since Bruce and Baker had already worked together and had a broader musical vocabulary, albums like Disraeli Gears saw Clapton pushing himself out of his comfort zone, creating solos against the grain of traditional rock guitar on songs like ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’.
Despite Baker being known as the wild man of the group, Clapton remembered Bruce as one of the most excellent musicians he had ever worked with. Speaking with Rolling Stone, Clapton would claim that Bruce couldn’t be matched in his field, saying, “The three of us were on the road all the time, trusting each other, and I found I was giving more than I had ever done before, and having faith in them. Jack is such a musical genius; there is no way he could be wrong about anything. I had to trust these people, so I did, I went with it”.
It’s easy to see why Bruce added so much to the Cream sound. Outside of coming up with the guitar riff for ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’, the bassist was known for treating his four-string like a lead instrument, often improvising any time he could and creating furious lines that became rhythmic hooks alongside Clapton’s riffs.
While the camaraderie may have been great during the first half of their career, the end of the 1960s would see the band fracture, with Clapton and Baker moving on to Blind Faith without Bruce before the guitarist formed the basis of Derek and the Dominoes. Clapton may hold the distinction of being one of the true masters of blues rock guitar, but considering his pedigree behind the four-string, Bruce may deserve to be in equally holy company.
