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Ginger Baker

Peter Edward 'Ginger' Baker found his way into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame by playing the drums with a degree of proficiency and expression matched by few others. He first gained fame in the late 1960s with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce as Cream, a now-legendary band that infused blues and jazz into rock and roll, producing an original and deeply textured sound. In its two-year existence, the English trio sold over 15 million records and played to adoring crowds and critical acclaim. Baker had much to do with the band's success—and likewise much to do with the band's demise. Baker began as an aspiring jazzman and found himself a rock demigod. His brisk, purely businesslike approach caused him problems with his fellow musicians, and drug dependency cast a dark shadow over his career and his relationships.

But since the late 1980s, the 50-year-old-plus father of three has straightened out his personal life, rekindled his interest in jazz, and enjoyed several successful solo and ensemble projects. Born the son of a bricklayer, Baker dreamed as a youth of athletic rather than musical greatness. At the age of 15, he was a champion cyclist, winning a club title and courting aspirations of further success. But music eventually captured his attention. His first instrument, the trumpet, was soon replaced by a pair of drumsticks.

Early on, Baker hoped to become a jazz drummer, playing on London's traditional jazz scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Baker's after-school hours were spent jamming with noted jazz musicians Acker Bilk and Terry Lightfoot, as well as sitting in with several others. The bebop sound was his early focus. "When I was at school, I was listening to Max Roach, Philly Joe Jones, Art Blakely, Elvin Jones. Then I was in a trad jazz band, and they wanted me to play the Baby Dodds parts, so they gave me all these records to listen to. That was a complete revolution to me, 'cause all of a sudden you can see where Max and these guys came from. That had an enormous effect, which still comes out," Baker told Musician. Baker's early experience with bebop and traditional jazz honed his technique and helped him acquire an impeccable sense of rhythm. His energetic phrasing makes him more than a timekeeper, giving him more creative impact than many drummers—jazz or otherwise.

He told Down Beat, "When Philly Joe Jones heard me play in London, he came up to me and said, 'Man, you really tell a story when you play.' That's the biggest compliment I've ever had, because I loved Philly Joe Jones. Playing drums is the same as playing a horn. You're saying something musically." After several stints drumming with London jazz outfits, Baker joined Alexis Korner's Blues Inc. The offer was extended following the departure of Charlie Watts, who left to join Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones in 1962. With Blues Inc., Baker played with bassist Jack Bruce.

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Album Review

Jonas Hellborg: The Concert of Europe

Read "The Concert of Europe" reviewed by John Eyles


Swedish bass guitarist Jonas Hellborg has the knack of being in the right place at the right time when it comes to meeting reputed musicians; in 1981, after he played solo bass at the Montreux Jazz festival in Switzerland, he was introduced to guitarist John McLaughlin and other fusion stars. He was soon asked to join a reformed Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1983. He stayed with McLaughlin until 1988, touring and recording with Mahavishnu Orchestra, and playing several duet tours with ...

Album Review

Mike Taylor: Trio, Quartet & Composer Revisited

Read "Trio, Quartet & Composer Revisited" reviewed by Vic Albani


Nella tomba numero 23588 del cimitero di Sutton Road di Southend on Sea, nell'Essex a circa 71 km da Londra è sepolto dal 1969 il corpo di Michael Ronald Taylor, conosciuto nel mondo con il nome di Mike e che i grandi appassionati di rock e pop forse ricordano quale autore di alcuni brani di un seminale lavoro dei Cream. Mai praticamente compreso per la sua grandezza—anche per il fatto di essere morto a soli 31 anni affogato ...

9
Album Review

Mike Taylor: Trio, Quartet & Composer Revisited

Read "Trio, Quartet & Composer Revisited" reviewed by Chris May


Historical context: Extracts from the diary of Ron Rubin, one of two bassists, the other being Jack Bruce, on Mike Taylor's Trio (Lansdowne, 1967).... “Saturday 18th February 1967. UFO, Tottenham Court Road. 'Giant Sun Trolley' Happening, opposite the Soft Machine etc. Mike spent the evening lying comatose, rigid and immobile in the middle of the floor below the bandstand, dancers gyrating around him, his hands crossed on his chest. We played without him....Monday 28th August 1967. Ronnie Scott's ...

5
Album Review

Cream: Goodbye Tour Live 1968

Read "Goodbye Tour Live 1968" reviewed by Doug Collette


Goodbye Tour Live 1968 is a snapshot of Cream's adieu to the world, but a panoramic one nonetheless. Housed in a glossy nine and a half-inch by ten slipcase boasting a group photo identical to its namesake title, the inlay with four CD's accompanies a sixty-six page book wherein factual and passionate prose from David Fricke, replications of memorabilia in the form of sales charts and posters from this final road jaunt plus reprints of music journalism of the time ...

9
Live Review

Ginger Baker's Jazz Confusion in Bergheim

Read "Ginger Baker's Jazz Confusion in Bergheim" reviewed by Phillip Woolever


Ginger Baker's Jazz Confusion Medio.Rhein.Erft Bergheim, Germany November 27, 2015 Ginger Baker looked a bit stiff in his casual shades, but he sure as hell got the job done with unique style. He had people clapping and yelling their approval by around the two-minute mark and from then onward. Too bad there was no photography allowed, because this was a picture of precision. “I'm so old I think I'm getting dementia ...

10
Album Review

Ginger Baker: Why?

Read "Why?" reviewed by Phillip Woolever


The most pleasant surprises on Ginger Baker's first mainstream release in almost a decade are subtle. That term may not be generally applied to the 74 year-old bohemian beat master, but restraint has been an unheralded constant in Baker's wide-ranging career nonetheless. The relatively conservative approach goes against Baker's ongoing typecasting as a crazed rock drummer, an image vividly enhanced by the destructive anger and degradation portrayed in his recent autobiography Hellraiser, and the documentary Beware of Mr. ...

6
Live Review

Ginger Baker's Jazz Confusion at Yoshi's

Read "Ginger Baker's Jazz Confusion at Yoshi's" reviewed by Harry S. Pariser


Ginger Baker's Jazz Confusion Yoshis Oakland , CA June 15, 2014 Dedicated. Stubborn. Outspoken. Perspicacious. These are some of the descriptions which come to mind when considering the personality and legacy of legendary drummer Ginger Baker. Baker first came to prominence as a member of the rock power trio Cream, with guitarist {{Eric Clapton and bassist Jack Bruce, establishing himself as a role model for many an aspiring teenage rock drummer. Later, ...

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Education

Music Education Monday: A drum lesson and conversation with Ginger Baker

Music Education Monday: A drum lesson and conversation with Ginger Baker

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

Ginger Baker established himself as a significant musical force while drumming with the 1960s power trio Cream, and over the ensuing decades has continued to impress rock, jazz and world music fans with his technique and imagination. On a personal level, one understandably might have some qualms about getting too close to the infamously irascible percussionist - the 2012 film Beware of Mr. Baker offers ample documentary evidence of his difficult personality - but given the safe distance provided via ...

Interview

Interview: Ginger Baker

Interview: Ginger Baker

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Ginger Baker is not a rock drummer. His words, not mine. In today's Wall Street Journal (go here or please buy the paper), I profile Ginger, who, as a founding member of Cream in 1966, revolutionized rock drumming with lengthy, poly-rhythmic solos. In two short years, Ginger put the drums on par with the electric guitar and bass, casting himself as a manic, wild-eyed beat-keeper. [Photo of Ginger Baker above by David Levene] My interview with Ginger took place at ...

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Recording

Ginger Baker - Horses and Trees (1986, Reissue)

Ginger Baker - Horses and Trees (1986, Reissue)

Source: Something Else!

By Nick DeRiso Fusion in the most complete sense of the word, Ginger Baker's all-too-brief Horses & Trees melds jazz, funk, world music, electronica, reggae, hip-hop and something noiser still. Issued in 1986 on the New York-based art-dance label Celluloid label, this angular, deeply challenging effort was produced by Bill Laswell, who also appears on bass. The victim perhaps of its own complexity, Horses & Trees has been out of print in the U.S. since at least 1995—until now. A ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Trio, Quartet &...

Ezz-thetics
2021

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Goodbye Tour Live 1968

Universal Music Group
2020

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Why?

Motéma Music
2014

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The African Force

ITM Records
2013

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Beware Mr. Baker

ITM Records
2012

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