Bass Player: Jack Bruce

An early influence for Bilbo , in terms of defining the sound of a bass, was Jack Bruce on the ‘Over The Top’ album by Cozy Powell. ‘I remember that I bought my first ‘expensive’ bass (an Aria SB600) because Jack had an Aria SB1000. I couldn’t afford the more expensive model even though, with hindsight, it was probably only £100 more. I was about 17 and we didn’t have a lot of money in those days. I can date it roughly to about mid 1981 as it was just after I joined No Quarter (guitarist was mildly pissed because I hadn’t bought a Fender Precision). I loved the sound Jack got on this LP and it started a love of bass players with the letter J in their name, Jack Bruce, Jeff Berlin, Jaco, Jimmy Johnson and Percy Jones. I am working on transcribing things that meant a lot to me as a learner – it’s all nostalgia’.

This is the full transcription of ‘Heidi Goes To Town’. We understand that Heidi was one of Cozy Powell’s dogs.