Bill Bruford: The Autobiography

Once called the “godfather of progressive drumming,” Bill Bruford has been at the top of his profession for four decades, playing with Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Earthworks, and many other bands. Bill Bruford is a first-person account of his life in progressive rock, art rock, and modern jazz. Honest, entertaining, and eloquent, it recounts his life on the road and in the s

Once called the “godfather of progressive drumming,” Bill Bruford has been at the top of his profession for four decades, playing with Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Earthworks, and many other bands. Bill Bruford is a first-person account of his life in progressive rock, art rock, and modern jazz. Honest, entertaining, and eloquent, it recounts his life on the road and in the studio, rubbing shoulders and creating music with the famous, the less famous, and the infamous. A rocker with the temperament of a classical musician, who became a jazz musician, he defies all the clichés and bad jokes about drummers. At polite dinner parties, Bruford is occasionally asked what he does. After replying that he’s a musician, the inevitable retort is “Yes, but what do you really do?” This funny, unusual, and unusually thoughtful memoir answers the question.