I'm thrilled to have found Bill Bruford's blog, because stuff like this is just wonderfully inspiring. So many great passages to choose from, but I'll tease it with this:

Ideally the music is dictating what it is that should be played on the kit, not the other way round. In other words, what the drummer is playing is (should be) a direct function of the music's requirements; no more, no less. You exist to serve the music, not the reverse. So, super-imposing your latest lick at every possible moment only serves to attract attention, usually unwisely, to yourself, and away from the music.

Ooh, ooh, and another one:

Personally, I believe the art is to conceal the art, so I try to move in the opposite direction - maximum economy of movement, minimum of fuss. Understatement, elegance, economy. You know, that British thing!

John Rutsey, who presided over the drumkit on Rush's heavily Led Zeppelin-influenced debut before yielding the drum throne to Neil Peart, passed away last week.

Bill Bruford stopped by Ronnie Scott's in London to see Avishai Cohen the same week I was there. I had seen the listings for Cohen's shows there, and walked by the club at one point, but the proverbial stars did not align for me to run into one of my heroes outside of a performance.