U.K.'s Eddie Jobson on Legacies and Reunions: "We Were the Last, Final Breath of Prog Rock"

U.K. band members Eddie Jobson, John Wetton, and Terry Bozzio.

For belonging to a popular music genre -- progressive rock -- often derided as pretentious, violinist and keyboardist Eddie Jobson seems humble about where he and his music have ended up: on a cruise ship.

"I can't believe my career has gone down to playing cruise ships," the English musician says with a hearty laugh. "Then again, it's not your typical cruise ship. It's not like you're just the act for a bunch of tourists on a cruise ship. It's like putting a festival on a boat."

U.K., circa '78.

During the last week of March, Jobson is heading out for a voyage on the MSC Poesia, visiting the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, with a re-formed U.K., including bassist/vocalist John Wetton, drummer Terry Bozzio, and guitarist Alex Machacek. The band is second on the ship's bill to Yes as part of its Cruise to the Edge, a prog-rock festival at sea that also includes Carl Palmer of ELP and Steve Hackett of Genesis, along with six other acts. Jobson also breaks the bad news that Tangerine Dream had to cancel due to an injury in the band.

Once the cruise returns to Fort Lauderdale Saturday, March 30, U.K. will head to Miami for a rare, intimate performance at Grand Central. "We'd just done those shows with the trio, the Jobson-Wetton-Bozzio trio," Jobson explains. "And that was meant to be pretty much just a one-off reunion after 33 years because we hadn't played together since 1979.



"It was just an idea to put the band together for one tour -- no album, just a live world tour. So we went around the world. And when they invited us to do the cruise, it was like, 'OK, let's do the cruise with Yes, and we'll do it one more time.' So that's how Miami came about."

Having played with Roxy Music, Frank Zappa, and King Crimson, Jobson can count himself as part of several important prog acts that defined the genre in its '70s heyday. And then he rode the prog-rock wave into the end of the decade with U.K.