Memories of Jack Bruce

The Club A Gogo must have been the place to be. The Animals, Hendrix and Cream. Then there was a who’s who of the jazz and blues scene ascending the stairs – was it second floor or maybe third? Years later, the legendary venue, long-since closed, saw service as a bus drivers’ canteen before the demolition men moved in.

Years later Jack Bruce returned to Newcastle (Cream an acrimonious memory) to play Newcastle City Hall with Carla Bley. Then the Jack Bruce Band graced the same hall. The Park Hotel, Tynemouth played unlikely host to Bruce. The ballroom packed, Jack with the Norman Beaker Band tore it up (the great voice perhaps in decline, the bass-playing anything but). In recent years there was the Tyne Theatre show (Ken was there). Tony Williams’ Lifetime was surely the band to see. Here’s a question…did any Bebop Spoken Here readers get to hear them?           

Russell.