Jack Bruce, bassist from legendary seventies band Cream, has launched a new supergroup 'Spectrum Road'. Aimed at celebrating the work of deceased jazz drummer Tony Williams, Spectrum Road brings together the Scottish veteran and members of Living Colour, Santana and the trio Medeski Martin & Wood.
The initial line-up was formed under a different but somewhat self-explanatory name: the 'Tony Williams Lifetime Tribute'. Bruce had spent much of the 70s as a member of 'Lifetime', Williams's jazz-fusion ensemble, joining after Cream broke up. Williams died in 1997 and in the years following, Bruce discovered a fellow fan in guitarist Vernon Reid, from Living Colour. Now joined by pianist John Medeski and drummer Cindy Blackman-Santana, Carlos' wife, they have now recorded a debut album and booked a number of gigs for 2012.
Reid explained to Guitar Player magazine:
"The name 'Tony Williams Lifetime Tribute' was accurate in one sense ... but it was too limiting, We're more inspired by the spirit of Tony Williams ... It became important for this ensemble to have an identity of its own, and not for it to be tied or frozen by nostalgia for the past."
Spectrum Road's eponymous debut will be released independently via Palmetto Records on June 5th, four days before the group plays at the Bonnaroo Festival. Some preliminary live footage has already appeared on YouTube.
Scheduled to play the Montreal and North Sea jazz festivals, as well as Tennessee's Bonnaroo and further summer dates in San Francisco, New York and Perugia, they have yet to announce any British dates.