1968–1974: Yes and King Crimson Following his return to London, the 19-year-old Bruford settled into a flat in north London and placed an advertisement for drum work in
Melody Maker. It was spotted by singer
Jon Anderson of the psychedelic rock band
Mabel Greer's Toyshop, formed of bassist
Chris Squire and guitarist Clive Bayley, who sought a replacement for their departing drummer, Bob Hagger. The four met on 7 June 1968; Anderson was so impressed with Bruford that he invited him to play with the band that evening at the Rachel McMillan College in
Deptford. Their entire set consisted of "
In the Midnight Hour" by
Wilson Pickett as it was the only song they all knew how to play through, but Bruford was impressed with the band's ability to sing in harmony. Following the gig, Bruford had several offers to join soul bands, one of which earned as much as £30 a week, but chose to remain with Anderson and Squire, who took charge in forming a new band. The four entered rehearsals, which ended in
Peter Banks replacing Bayley on guitar,
Tony Kaye on keyboards, and the group changing their name to
Yes. Bruford played on Yes's first five studio albums during his initial tenure:
Yes (1969),
Time and a Word (1970),
The Yes Album (1971),
Fragile (1971), and
Close to the Edge (1972). He received a writing credit on just five tracks: "Harold Land", "
Yours Is No Disgrace", "
Heart of the Sunrise", "
And You and I", and "
Five Per Cent for Nothing", a 35-second track on
Fragile that was his first attempt at composition. His main interest was allowing the drums to "be heard" as Squire played his bass often in the higher register, and so developed a style that involved "unusual beat placement" and time signatures. Rehearsals began in September 1972, followed by an extensive UK tour. His instinct to remember complicated drum parts was shown when he learned how to play the long percussion and guitar part in the middle of "
21st Century Schizoid Man", "by listening to it and just learning it." Bruford cites the six months free jazz percussionist
Jamie Muir was in the band as highly influential on him as a player.
1974–1980: Genesis, Bruford, and U.K. After leaving King Crimson, Bruford felt his "sense of direction was rather stymied" and was unsure on his next step. In late 1974, he became a temporary member of the Anglo-French band
Gong for a European tour after drummer
Laurie Allan was busted for drugs at a border. Bruford then chose to wait for an appealing offer while earning money as a session musician.
HQ by
Roy Harper, According to Bruford, "A&M Records was unwilling to let its 'star,' Wakeman, walk off with a used, slightly soiled King Crimson rhythm section, and the idea folded." Bruford then rejoined National Health for a short stint. In 1977, Bruford recorded his debut solo album
Feels Good to Me (1978), with
Dave Stewart (keyboards),
Jeff Berlin (bass), and
Allan Holdsworth (guitar). This was Bruford's first attempt at songwriting on a substantial level, and he spent a lot of time developing tunes on the piano. The four stuck together and became a full-time band named
Bruford, which also featured
Annette Peacock on vocals,
Kenny Wheeler on flugelhorn, and
John Goodsall on rhythm guitar. Later in 1978, Bruford reunited with
John Wetton and formed the progressive rock group
U.K. After their debut album
U.K. (1978) and several tours, Holdsworth and Bruford left the group due to disagreements on the group's musical direction. Bruford resumed activity in his own group to release
One of a Kind (1979). Almost entirely instrumental, the album contains some spoken lines by Bruford during the introduction to "Fainting in Coils". Subsequent gigs spawned the live releases
Rock Goes to College and
The Bruford Tapes (1979). Their final album,
Gradually Going Tornado (1980), features backing vocals from Canterbury scene stalwarts
Barbara Gaskin and Amanda Parsons, as well as
Georgina Born on cello. Unfinished songs for a projected fourth album were recorded in 1980, but remained unreleased until 2017.
1981–1993: King Crimson, Earthworks, ABWH, and Yes In 1981, Bruford returned to King Crimson in a new formation with Fripp,
Tony Levin, and
Adrian Belew. The four recorded
Discipline (1981),
Beat (1982), and
Three of a Perfect Pair (1984), all featuring Bruford on an acoustic and
Simmons electronic hybrid kit. Bruford embraced the Simmons drums for the next fifteen years as it allowed him to play programmed chords, samples, tuned pitches, and sound effects, which expanded his musical palette. In 1983, Bruford formed a duo with Swiss keyboardist and former Yes member
Patrick Moraz after he learned that Moraz was living close to him in Surrey. The project had Bruford develop a "real taste for improvising". In 1986, Bruford formed his jazz group
Earthworks with
Django Bates,
Iain Ballamy and
Mick Hutton (later replaced by
Tim Harries), with initial assistance from
Dave Stewart. The band toured the US club circuit through 1987. Bruford was attracted to the idea of recording on
Montserrat, and convinced Anderson to have Tony Levin on bass.
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (1989) was supported by a world tour, and in 1990, while recording a second album, ABWH merged with Yes to become an eight-member formation.
Union (1991), featuring tracks from both groups, was criticised by almost the entire band; Bruford called it "the worst record I've ever been on". In the early 1990s, Bruford became an active drum clinician and taught small groups in several universities.
1994–2009: King Crimson, Earthworks II, final collaborations, and retirement King Crimson re-emerged once more in 1994 as a six-piece band, consisting of its 1980s line-up with the additions of
Pat Mastelotto sharing drumming duties with Bruford, and
Trey Gunn on Chapman Stick. Dubbed the "double trio" configuration, they released
Vrooom (1994),
Thrak (1995), and two live albums, ''
B'Boom: Live in Argentina (1995) and Thrakattak'' (1996). After Bruford and Fripp discussed the idea of holding improvisational performances together and invited Gunn and Levin to join them, Fripp conceived the
ProjeKcts idea of having different subsets of King Crimson working separately as a way of developing new material for the band. The first group, ProjeKct One, performed live at the Jazz Cafe in London from 1–4 December 1997. Bruford then left the group, and King Crimson altogether, mainly due to his frustration with rehearsals, which he felt came to nothing. Among the various reasons for retiring were his growing performance anxiety that "was making life intolerable", his diminishing stamina required to tour and perform on an international scale, and what he perceived as a bleak future for the style of drumming that appealed to him.
2009–2022: Retirement In early 2009, Bruford published his autobiography. Not long into his retirement, Bruford had a brief, low key stint in Ann Bailey's Soul House, a nine-piece band performing
Motown and soul covers in
Ewhurst, Surrey. In February 2016, after four and a half years of study, Bruford received a
PhD degree in Music from the
University of Surrey. He had wanted to do something related to music following his retirement, and considered his missed opportunity in pursuing higher education in the late 1960s as a factor in his decision to enter academia. The University of Surrey offered to award Bruford an honorary
doctorate, but he wanted to put in the effort and work for his degree, which focused on creativity and music performance, specifically with a drum kit. Bruford's
thesis, "Making it work: Creative music performance and the Western kit drummer", was posted online in May 2016. Bruford has since written various journal articles, book chapters and liner notes, and presented guest lectures at universities and music institutions in Europe and North America. In April 2017, Bruford was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a former member of Yes. He attended the ceremony, but did not perform or deliver an acceptance speech. In March 2018, Bruford introduced Yes at their two London shows during their 50th Anniversary Tour. Later that year, Bruford published his second book,
Uncharted: Creativity and the Expert Drummer. It is an adaptation of his
PhD dissertation. In August 2021, his back catalogue of music from Bruford, Moraz/Bruford, and Earthworks were made available on digital streaming platforms for the first time. In January 2022, Bruford launched his own YouTube channel to share videos from his career with additional "thoughts and anecdotes". Later in 2022, a 6-CD career-spanning box set of tracks which he had played on was released, entitled
Making a Song and Dance: A Complete-Career Collection. This was followed by a 3-CD archival set,
The Best of Bill Bruford – The Winterfold & Summerfold Years, in October 2024.
2022-present: Return to music In 2022, Bruford ended his retirement to join the
Pete Roth Trio, a jazz group led by guitarist Pete Roth who was his former drum technician over 20 years prior. Bruford described his return to drumming as "explosive, unexpected, and very sudden. I remember passing someone else's kit one day, sitting down, and feeling exhilarated all over, urgently and violently keen to start all over again." The band play small venues mostly in the south-east of England, and toured through 2025. On 3 August 2023, Bruford made an unannounced appearance at the
John Wetton tribute concert in East Sussex, playing a live run-through of
Bryan Ferry's cover of "
Let's Stick Together", which Wetton had played on, with
Phil Manzanera,
Guy Pratt, and
Chris Difford. == Band timeline ==