Jethro Tull are considered a forebear of the British progressive-rock movement, alongside the likes of Yes and Pink Floyd. But founder and frontman Ian Anderson has often pointed the spotlight at acts who came before them.
While he says an obscure, John McLaughlin-laced jazz record inspired the '70s prog boom, he also hails Eric Clapton as a prog-rock progenitor, thanks to his guitar work in Cream, a group that arose from a pair of acts that were fertile breeding grounds for music's most progressive musicians.
One of them, the Graham Bond Organization, was a progressive-jazz act that featured the bass talents of Jack Bruce and the drumming ferocity of Ginger Baker, who for several years performed alongside McLaughlin in the group.
The other, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, was a blues-rock group that was a stepping stone for Clapton's rise and eventual coalition with Bruce and Baker in the power-trio Cream.
It was this merging of progressive jazz and blues-rock that Anderson believes made progressive rock possible.
“The entrée into the world of performing, particularly in the underground, trendy clubs like the Marquee Club, was to get on the blues bandwagon, because that’s what people were doing in the later part of ‘67 and early part of ‘68,” Anderson explained to Vintage Rock in 2018.
“Graham Bond was kind of a precursor of that thing that became progressive rock. And, of course, when [Baker and Bruce] left Graham Bond and set out as Cream, that became something that moved Eric Clapton along from just being a blues guitarist.”
Anderson points to the group's 1967 psychedelic rock album, Disraeli Gears, as the pivotal record that help give prog its liftoff.
Anderson believes album tracks like "Tales of Brave Ulysses," "Sunshine of Your Love" and "White Room," which featured an intro in the jazz-like 5/4 time signature, demonstrate that "though they had their roots in blues, they were also going somewhere else.”
Remarkably, Cream began life as Clapton's attempt to replicate the outfit of his idol, Buddy Guy. He said he was inspired after watching Guy lead his power trio through a performance the Marquee in London.
“What it said to me was 'this was possible,’” Clapton said. “If you were a good enough guitar player, you could do it as a trio. It seemed to be so free, you could go anywhere.”
And indeed they did. It's fair to say Anderson was similarly inspired. After launching Tull as a blues group with guitarist Mick Abrahams, Anderson pivoted the band toward more ambitious climes as he felt it was the band’s best chance at securing longevity.
Much of that effort was possible thanks to the addition of guitarist Martin Barre, who played a significant role in their quest for sonic reinvention.
Cream’s prog-rock credentials have also been underscored by former Rush bass guitar player Geddy Lee, who named the band the most influential of his career.
Rush, like Tull, had heavy blues-rock roots, hence one of their earliest tours supporting Rory Gallagher, which proved an education for Alex Lifeson. Bands like Cream helped them cross those borderlines.
“They were such an important band to me,” he says. "Jack Bruce’s bass playing was just out of this world. Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, I mean, they were the ultimate trio."
