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When Bill Bruford led his jazz-oriented Earthworks combo in the '80s and '90s, jazz supporters were hoping that he was turning a lot of rockers on to jazz. After all, he had been Yes' drummer from 1968-1972 and was highly regarded by progressive rock lovers. And, to be sure, some Yes fans bought Earthworks' CDs simply because it was Bruford's band. Of course, A Part, and Yet Apart is a long way from the music Bruford played on classic Yes albums like Fragile and Close to the Edge (which was his last album with the band — by the time Tales from Topographic Oceans was recorded in 1973, Alan White had become Yes' drummer). This is acoustic-oriented jazz, and the playing of Bruford and his Earthworks sidemen Patrick Clahar (tenor & soprano sax), Steve Hamilton (piano, keyboards) and Mark Hodgson (acoustic bass) is swinging and mostly straight-ahead. For those who knew Bruford for his aggressive, high-decibel work on "Roundabout" and "Siberian Khatru," it's interesting to hear all the nuances and reflections of intellectual post-bop pieces like "Sarah's Still Life," "Some Shiver, While He Cavorts" and "Curiouser and Curiouser." The material isn't cutting-edge or innovative — most of it isn't unlike what post-boppers were doing before Bruford joined Yes in 1968. But it's likable, and the drummer has a cohesive and competent unit in Earthworks.