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THE POWER OF THREE
By Jaan Uhelszki
It was only nine months after Eric Clapton returned from a vacation in Greece on an overcast November day in 1965 -- and after he met Jack Bruce -- that the first notes were sounded by Cream. That initial encounter gave birth to what was to become the world's first power trio and rock's first supergroup, made up of three master musicians who were the forefathers of both the heavy metal and the jam rock movements.
During their short two and half years together, Cream revolutionized not only music but also the very fabric of the culture, turning their jazz fusions and bluesy riffs into psychedelic epics like "Tales of Brave Ulysses," the nefarious and dangerous "Strange Brew," and the oddly poetic and fey "Sunshine of Your Love," as well as making art statements with their album covers, their eccentric wardrobes, and their propensity to take extended solos, sometimes 20 minutes in length. They helped define the blurry boundaries of what became known as psychedelic rock, and whether or not they really were tripping during their endless tours, they were a band that launched a thousand acid trips. Ginger Baker even said they invented their own language, but perhaps Cream's most important contribution is that they inspired so many bands to be loud and proud. If there had never been a Cream, it is unlikely that bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, or countless others would have ever put their platform shoes on stage and had the courage and audacity to follow their own eccentric muses.
When Ginger Baker approached Clapton about starting a new band after a gig in Oxford in June 1966, Clapton suggested that they invite bassist Jack Bruce to join, too. "I had thought about a tie-up with Jack and Ginger for months," Clapton said in July of that year, "but I thought it wasn't likely to come off. For a start I felt Ginger was just too good for me to play with. Then he approached me, and to my surprise I found that he was a really solid rock drummer at heart." Although each member left other prominent bands -- Graham Bond Organisation, Manfred Mann, and John Mayall's Blues Breakers -- to form the trio, they had no idea that they were about to make history. "I don't believe we felt that we were doing anything earth-shattering at all," explained the guitarist. "If anything, we felt we were happily fitting into the scene." At the time, Clapton planned this new configuration to be "like Buddy Guy with a rhythm section." But his new band mates had a completely different idea, and perhaps therein lies one of the reasons for the band's short lifespan. "From its inception, Cream was an improvising free jazz trio, with Clapton in the Ornette Coleman role, but we never told him he was Ornette Coleman!" said Bruce.
The music coalesced from the start, and the chemistry among the three was explosive and revelatory. When the musicians stretched out, weaving in and out of one another's musical orbits, they created an entirely new form in their improvisational explosions, developing music with an almost palpable presence that was as stately as it was frivolous, often in the same song. They immediately bowled over audiences with their blend of styles, unparalleled skills, energy, and swagger. Even at their very first gigs, people stood in line as long as seven hours for a chance to see them.
Top banner photos: Guitarist Eric Clapton, the trio (photo: Jill Furmanovsky/Star File), and drummer Ginger Baker. |
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Jack Bruce wrote many of Cream's original songs with British poet Pete Brown. |
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The band sold more than 35 million records during their two-and-a-half-year stint together. |
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The concert DVD and CD are available from Amazon.com. |
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