JET SET JEWEL

This Jack Bruce album was rejected by the Polydor company for finding it uncommercial and released in 2003, being made in 1978 with the Jack Bruce Band, which included, among others, Simon Phillips on drums and Tony Hymas on keyboards. After his time in Cream, Bruce developed a solo career alternating between blues, jazz, rock fusion, and some atonal avant-garde element, hints of English vaudeville, supported by his particular singing. That almost theatrical and epic side merges here not with the extreme free jazz of Things We Like, but with the sophisticated funk and jazz that was beginning to filter through soul. That aura of mystery in his compositions and that powerful, resonant bass that guided the melody towards unknown terrain continues to make an appearance here, both in the syncopated rhythm of Head in the Sun, and in the exemplary recreation of Neighbor Neighbor. 1978 was not the time for Songs for a tailor or Harmony Row, however Jet Set Jewel shines as a magical and progressive jazz rock companion to Kate Bush, understanding the twist of pre-new wave English pop. The melodies here continue to be complex and changing, entering sinuous terrain as demonstrated by the homonymous song. It continues to be the album of a bassist, a singer, but above all a composer. All these facets coexisted in Jack Bruce, one of the most expensive exponents who prove the existence of a purely English jazz that is entirely possible. This sixth album represents a logical and coherent development with his previous work, the same influences and obsessions, presented with the honesty of an integral musician. The best is still to come closes the album and it seems ironic because that song is one of the gems of the album and his career. From histrionics to intimacy, Jet Set Jewel is unfairly underestimated due to its rugged editing, and deserves to be included alongside the solid classics of their discography.