June 22,2001              THE CUICOLAND EXPRESS             CARRIAGE #23
          (A newsletter dedicated to the Great JACK BRUCE)

Hello JACKETTES,

Thank you to PHIL WATSON, ED TRACEY, ROB REYNOLDS & BRIAN RALSTON for their
contributions to this Carriage.

Great to see the new picture of JACK on the cover of DEREK ARAUJO'S Official
Jack Bruce Site. Why do the Scottish get younger with age?....Sean
Connery....Jack Bruce....

Please be sure to check out the NEWS section of DEREK'S Official Jack Bruce
Site.

Thanks again to my wife, LORRAINE, for all her help with The Express.

All the best - Marc.



                      PHIL WATSON WRITES:
Another great issue of the Express! I have a good mate of mine who is seeing
Jack at the Jazz Cafe in London town on June 18. He is going to try and get
a T shirt for me if there are any for sale so here's hoping. I have tickets
to see Andy Summers at the Basement on June 26 and by all accounts his band
is pretty amazing.
Keep up the great work,
-Phil Watson.

                      ED TRACEY WRITES:
a)   I finished reading the Canned Heat memoirs ("Living the Blues") that
drummer Adolfo de la Parra completed last year. He mentioned that, with all
of their bad luck, one good decision was to play in Australia during their
heyday (late 60's-early 70's). It took a lot of preparation for that tour,
and they could have made a lot more money just staying at home in the
US/Canada/Mexico scene - but it paid off in the long run, with a dedicated
fanbase that survived their fall from the top.

b)   One other good piece of news is that John Mayall has released a new
re-issue of his "Back to the Roots". This was a 1970 album that he partly
re-recorded in 1988 - and not always well. He said that eight of the
original tracks were not well mixed, which is true as sometimes too many
instruments were overdubbed (and thus rather "busy").
      However, the originals of the eight re-mixed tracks were left off the
1988 re-issue (as "Archives to Eighties"). In addition, some of his re-mixes
were not always an improvement - he included some new drum tracks that
didn't really add anything. Plus, he recorded new vocals that, alas, showed
his age - his voice as a 55-year old was noticeable compared to when he was
37. All in all, I wasn't satisfied with that release.
      Now, the 2001 release has the original recordings - plus the re-worked
versions. This is truly comprehensive and, to me, is my favorite recording
from him. Sure wish Jack could have been on it - but I can accept Clapton,
Mick Taylor and the others.

c) Thanks, guys, for the JB concert review. Looking forward to Jack's
re-emergence!

- Ed Tracey, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA

                                REPLY:
Hi Ed, thanks for your contribution. I had the pleasure of meeting Fido de
la Parra on a number of occasions when CANNED HEAT came to Oz. We used to
always get him to play "24 hOURS". I also have the CD "Burnin'", which was
recorded Live in Oz, April 1990, and includes LARRY TAYLOR on bass. JAMES T,
who did lead vocals and slide, now lives not far from Tweed Heads, Oz.
-Marc.



                      ROB REYNOLDS WRITES:
I wish to congratulate Brian Ralston on his observations and words of
wisdom.
Hindsight is 20/20 and anyone can be critise after the fact and a million
miles away from the situation. But as Brian said, I would not change one
thing about Jack's career even if I could. Besides, I have never heard Jack
complain about any of the musicians he has played with ... he loves them for
what they can do as opposed to hate them for what they can not do. There in
lies Jack's genius ... classically trained and extremely well versed at
musical theory, he can seek out to play with and appreciate in "primative"
power trios... or sit in on double bass with the Modern Jazz Quartet or
record with Indian musicians. Jack does not seem to suffer from the same
high
brow elitism regarding his music as some of the more vocal and opinionated
folks on this list. If Jack enjoyed playing with Gary Moore or Leslie
West,who are they to damn him for it ?
The sad part is that since the little "scrap "  against people posting about
BBM and WB&L occurred , certain people who actively provided information to
the list about those groups have seemed to drop out of sight. Too bad.
Can anyone give information about the last JB e- List headed by Murillo ?
What happened to it or him ? Is he still around ?
Thanks,
-Rob Reynolds.


                        BRIAN RALSTON WRITES:
Thanks for the special edition of The Express containing the reviews of
Jack's recent performance. I'd like to see the media reviews to see how they
compare, if some of the UK Jackettes could provide them for the next issue.

I saw an interview in this morning's Sydney Morning Herald (23 June, 2001)
with Andy Summers. The interview dealt with the Police, Sting, Andy's time
with Robert Fripp and his current jazz based group. There was no mention
whatsoever of "Hot Flash". Does it still exist? Has the group ever recorded
or played live. It seems to have been something that just came into being
one moment and disappeared the next. I checked Derek's site yesterday after
receiving the express to see if there was any mention but nothing after the
initial announcement.

Best regards
-Brian Ralston

                               REPLY:
DENNIS LAWRENSON and I get a ton of emails asking if the HOTFLASH band is
still going to happen and if JACK'S tour is coming to Japan and Oz. These
questions and a whole lot more are answered in JACK'S excellent interview on
   wwww.allaboutjazz.com/iviews/jbruce.htm
-Marc.