Rolling Stone Readers Pick the Top Ten Bassists of All Time

Most musicians would have a very hard time distinguishing themselves if they wound up in a band with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker, but Jack Bruce was so gifted on the bass that he did it with ease. Bruce began his career as jazz bassist, but he switched to rock in the early Sixties when R&B bands began surfacing all over London. He met Clapton when they both played in John Mayall's Blues Breakers, and they went on to form Cream – so named because all three musicians were seen as the cream of the crop. In the Seventies he tried his hand at everything from jazz fusion to world music to classical, but in 2005 he briefly reformed with Cream for a triumphant series of shows in London and New York.