Books like Bill Bruford - The Autobiography: Yes, King Crimson, Earthworks and More

This is, quite possibly, the best autobio I have read by a popular musician. The only one that competes with it is the _Real Frank Zappa Book_. Like FZ's book, Bruford's focusses less on the details of his life and recordings and more on the things that interest and occupy him: which are _quite_ different from those that occupied the late Zappa's peculiar mind.Bruford meanders back and forth along a vaguely-chronological path from his first public appearance at 14 to his retirement from public performance at 59, with stops at Yes and King Crimson, Genesis and Earthworks, a path that led from solo practice to rock to progressive rock to electric rock to jazz - with, again, meanders back and forth between them (as when the not-quite-newly-minted jazz drummer returned to play with the "double-trio" version of King Crimson in the mid-'90s). He comments a little on the personalities he's worked with, but this is no dish-o-rama; his colleagues are treated, each and all, with respect. Perhaps the closest thing to a snark in the book is this comment on guitarist Robert Fripp: "On a good night, the seated man appeared unhappy about something, and on a bad night unhappy about everything."What the book is chock full of is discourses on the musical industry; on the meaning of music in itself, in commerce, in society, and to individuals; on the contrasted working lives of rock and jazz musicians; and on what rhythm is, where it comes from, and how it works. Even if you have no interest in Bruford's music, either in rock or in jazz, this is a fascinating read.