Patrick Moraz and Bill Bruford: Music for Piano and Drums

You won't remember this, but I brought this round to your room just after I got it, because my turntable was 70 miles away at the time. Not long before I'd been making the case for Bruford as an innovator for his use of electronic percussion. For his work in King Crimson in the early eighties he had renounced cymbals. So we put this on your Dual 505 and dropped the needle. Sure enough the first percussion you hear is a traditional cymbal. You made me squirm uncomfortably, and, as usual in such circumstances, my brain seized up. I forgot that there was a perfectly straightforward rationale for this. Bill wasn't using the ersatz cymbals for the sake of it. He was avoiding the cymbals because they produced frequencies that overlapped with electric guitars. On Music for Piano and Drums, no guitars, hence no ban on cymbals. It's 26 years late, but there's the answer I should have given.

As I said earlier in the year, this is a better album than the duo's second and final collaboration. Much, much better, in fact. I really enjoyed it as accompaniment to a Sunday morning cup of coffee and a book.

I saw Messrs Moraz and Bruford play together at the Bloomsbury Theatre on 19 July 20051985. This was just a few hours after Robert Fripp's appearance on the other side of town (Fripp was asked if he was going to the gig — he said he was booked in the studio). I can't remember if Moraz had his electronic keyboards on stage, but I'm reasonably confident that Bruford would still have been using an acoustic kit.

My hunch is that Bill took on this album as an experiment, and enjoyed it enough to give it a second go. The second put him off, but memories of the first were enough to try a second keyboard and drums duo with Michiel Borstlap two decades later. Music for Piano and Drums sent me off to download some of their work from eMusic. I wish I'd seen them live when I had my chance, but Bill's retirement caught me out.

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Comments

[Andrea]

"I saw Messrs Moraz and Bruford play together at the Bloomsbury Theatre on 19 July 2005"....are you sure ? I think you mean in 1985....

[David]

Andrea, You're right, of course - now corrected. The copy editor has been given forty lashes and all rations withheld for 48 hours.

[Duncan]

I too was kinda caught out by Bill's retirement. I had tickets to what turned out to be the very last Bruford/Borstlap concert in Manchester, but found we were double booked and my wife's parent got our attention :-(

In various communications with Bill, I found that we was going to be taking a sabbatical to finish writing his autobiography - then it turned into retirement. I've seen him since; if you can get to one of his speaking events, I would thoroughly recommend it...

[Duncan]

oh, forgot to say - I preferred this LP to the second one too. Bill & Patrick were neighbours at the time, and after KC80s stopped he called Pat to see if he wanted to play - turns out he did!

[David]

Thanks for the insight into how this collaboration came about, Duncan. I love the idea of a Stella Street somewhere in the Surrey hills where Messrs Bruford, Moraz, Banks, Rutherford, Clapton et al nip in and out of each other's kitchens to borrow some milk and lay down a quick duet album while the kettle boils.

And, yes, friends of mine saw Bill talk up in a library in North London and enjoyed it a lot.