page_title: Bill Bruford
section_title: 1994–2009: King Crimson, Earthworks II, and retirement
hierarchical_section_title: Bill Bruford / Career / 1994–2009: King Crimson, Earthworks II, and retirement
caption_attribution_description: Bill Bruford at moers festival 2004 own photo, may 31, 2004- photo: nomo/michael hoefner http://www.zwo5.de
context_page_description: William Scott Bruford is an English retired drummer, composer, producer, and record label owner who first gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock band Yes. After his departure from Yes, Bruford spent the rest of the 1970s playing in King Crimson and touring with Genesis and U.K. Eventually he formed his own group, which was active from 1978-1980.
  In the 1980s, Bruford returned to King Crimson for three years, collaborated with several artists, including Patrick Moraz and David Torn, and formed his own jazz band Earthworks in 1986. He then played with his former Yes bandmates in Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, which eventually led to a very brief second stint in Yes. Bruford played in King Crimson for his third tenure from 1994-1997, after which he continued with a new configuration of Earthworks.
  On 1 January 2009, Bruford retired from public performance, barring one private gig in 2011. He released his autobiography, and continues to speak and write about music. He operates his record labels, Summerfold and Winterfold Records.
context_section_description: King Crimson re-emerged once more in 1994 as a six-piece band, consisting of its 1980s line-up with Pat Mastelotto sharing the drumming duties with Bruford, and Trey Gunn. Dubbed the "double trio" configuration, they released Vrooom (1994) EP,  Thrak (1995), and two live albums, B'Boom: Live in Argentina (1995) and Thrakattak (1996). Rehearsals to develop new material followed, as well as a week of performance with the sub-group ProjeKcts One in 1997, after which Bruford left the band and its iterations for good. His reason for abandoning King Crimson was his frustration with rehearsals, which he felt came to nothing.
  In 1997, Bruford moved focus from rock to acoustic jazz, partly due to the fact that he felt jazz required a return to a beginning jumping-off point. In 1997 he put together an entirely new line-up of Earthworks, this time with pianist Steve Hamilton, saxophonist Patrick Clahar, and double bass player Geoff Gascoyne (the latter soon replaced by Mark Hodgson). Although Earthworks would undergo further lineup changes (with Tim Garland replacing Clahar as saxophonist in 2001, Gwilym Simcock replacing Hamilton as pianist in 2004, and Laurence Cottle replacing Hodgson on bass circa 2005), the revived band would maintain a consistent, predominantly acoustic post-bop approach focussing on Bruford's compositions. During 2005, Earthworks would temporarily combine with Garland's Underground Orchestra project to form the Earthworks Underground Orchestra. Earthworks finally disbanded in 2008.
  While Earthworks remained Bruford's primary focus, he also sought other collaborations in the final twelve years of his career. These included a collaboration with Americans Eddie Gomez and Ralph Towner in 1997, the jazz-rock band Bruford Levin Upper Extremities (1998), a duo with Dutch pianist Michiel Borstlap (2002-2007), the contemporary composer Colin Riley with the Piano Circus collective (2009), and in presenting drum clinics.
  In 2003, Bruford established two record labels. Winterfold Records covers his earlier releases including his guitar and rock-oriented music. The other, Summerfold Records, focuses on his jazz output, mostly from post-1987.
  Bruford retired from performing and recording on 1 January 2009. He retired from studio recording at the same time, although his final studio work, Skin & Wire, was not released until later that year. Also in early 2009, Bruford released his autobiography. In 2011, Bruford made one low-key public performance with Ann Bailey's Soul House.
caption: Bruford at the Moers Festival in Germany, 2004
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