Awesome / Bill Bruford

• Awesome Music: Bruford has too many to count, but his performance on Yes' "Yours Is No Disgrace" is truly incredible. He literally sounds as though he is drumming two different rhythms at once: one in meter with his other bandmates, and another in another meter entirely. The result is truly epic, and he does this all without ever taking a solo or even coming to the forefront.
• It's rare that a musician can get a Moment of Awesome purely by not doing anything, but King Crimson's live improvisation "Trio" (found on Starless and Bible Black and The Night Watch) counts as an example. Bruford's decision not to play was credited as having a major impact on direction of the final piece, which became one of Crimson's prettiest and best-loved instrumentals, and he was given a composition co-credit (his contribution to the song was termed "admirable restraint"). For those who think prog is nothing but flashy solos, this piece provides a good argument otherwise.
• It was a bold move for Bill to retire in 2009, but in getting away from the music business world, he pursued an education in music. As of early 2016, this was the result.
• He told a story in his autobiography of another musician's Moment of Awesome: he was once doing a session in 1983 for guitar virtuoso Al Di Meola in which the bass player was his King Crimson bandmate, Tony Levin, himself an extremely experienced session player.^note  By 1983, Levin had cut records with jazz drumming legend Buddy Rich, Paul Simon, Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel, and John Lennon, among many others alongside his then-current King Crimson tenure. And this came after performing classical pieces like The Rite of Spring at the prestigious Eastman School of Music in his youth. Levin and Bruford showed up at the appointed time but Di Meola did not, even though the studio was booked on his time. Over the four hours, Levin became more and more impatient, to the point of not even taking his Chapman Stick out of its case. Finally, Di Meola turned up, began joking with the engineer, changing his strings, fiddling with his gear, etc. He plays the tune that he wants them to record: a very difficult one with a ferociously fast bass line that he wants Levin to double (record twice). Bruford practices a few bits, while Levin still doesn't take his stick out of its case. Di Meola suggests that they rehearse the piece, since Levin's part is so difficult—Bruford is positive that Levin won't be able to get it right, but keeps his thoughts to himself. Levin ignores this suggestion. Finally, Levin asks Di Meola to play the tune for him a second time, then he takes his stick out of its case, plugs it in, and without even warming up or checking his gear, says "Roll tape." He then plays it perfectly, and then doubles it, also perfectly. Later in the same session, they record another piece, which Levin also plays perfectly without any rehearsal, but as Levin is leaving, the engineer accidentally erases part of his bass part and asks Levin to give them five more minutes. Levin takes his stick out and punches-in his part in five minutes, then packs up and heads for the door. The engineer begs him to play two more notes^note This was to save the engineer having to cut and paste two notes from elsewhere on the tape but Levin leaves, making the point that if you keep Tony Levin waiting for over four hours, you clearly can pay for extra time on your own session.^note  Ultimately, Levin and Bruford are only credited for playing on "Calliope" off Di Meola's Scenario album. Bruford didn't specify which track was which from the session.