Ginger Baker: Difference between revisions
English drummer (1939–2019)
Musical artist
Peter Edward “Ginger” Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer.[1] His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of “rock’s first superstar drummer”, for a style that melded jazz and African rhythms and pioneered both jazz fusion and world music.[2]
Baker gained early fame as a member of Blues Incorporated and the Graham Bond Organisation, both times alongside bassist Jack Bruce, with whom Baker would often clash. In 1966, Baker and Bruce joined guitarist Eric Clapton to form Cream, which achieved worldwide success but lasted only until 1968, in part due to Baker’s and Bruce’s volatile relationship. After working with Clapton in the short-lived band Blind Faith and leading Ginger Baker’s Air Force, Baker spent several years in the 1970s living and recording in Africa, often with Fela Kuti, in pursuit of his long-time interest in African music.[3] Among Baker’s other collaborations are his work with Gary Moore, Masters of Reality, Public Image Ltd, Hawkwind, Atomic Rooster, Bill Laswell, jazz bassist Charlie Haden, jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and Ginger Baker’s Energy.
Baker’s drumming is regarded for its style, showmanship, and use of two bass drums instead of the conventional single one, after the manner of the jazz drummer Louie Bellson. In his early days, he performed lengthy drum solos, most notably in the Cream song “Toad“, one of the earliest recorded examples in rock music. Baker was an inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Cream in 1993, of the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2008,[4] and of the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2016.[5] Baker was noted for his eccentric, often self-destructive lifestyle, and he struggled with heroin addiction for many decades. He was married four times and fathered three children.
Early life[edit]
Peter Baker was born in Lewisham, South London; he was nicknamed “Ginger” for his shock of flaming red hair.[6] His mother, Ruby May (née Bayldon), worked in a tobacco shop. His father, Frederick Louvain Formidable Baker, was a bricklayer employed by his own father, who owned a building business,[1] and was a lance corporal in the Royal Corps of Signals in World War II; he died in the 1943 Dodecanese campaign.[7] Baker attended Pope Street School, where he enjoyed being in the football team and was considered “one of the better players” and then, after he passed the Eleven-plus, at Shooter’s Hill Grammar School. While at school he joined Squadron 56 of the Air Training Corps, based at Woolwich and stayed with them for two or three years.[1]
Baker began playing drums at around 15 years of age.[8] In the early 1960s he took lessons from Phil Seamen, one of the leading British jazz drummers of the post-war era.
Early bands[edit]
In the 1960s he joined Blues Incorporated, where he met bassist Jack Bruce. The two clashed often, but would be rhythm section partners again in the Graham Bond Organisation, a rhythm and blues group with strong jazz leanings.[9] Their relationship was so volatile that Baker once attacked Bruce with a knife during a concert.[10]
Cream[edit]
Despite this volatile relationship, Baker and Bruce reunited in 1966 when they formed Cream with guitarist Eric Clapton. A fusion of blues, psychedelic rock and hard rock, the band released four albums in a little over two years before breaking up in 1968.[11]
Blind Faith[edit]
Baker then joined the short-lived “supergroup” Blind Faith, comprising Eric Clapton, bassist Ric Grech from Family, and Steve Winwood from Traffic on keyboards and vocals. They released only one album, Blind Faith, before breaking up.[12]
Ginger Baker’s Air Force[edit]
In 1970 Baker formed, toured and recorded with fusion rock group Ginger Baker’s Air Force.[13]
1970s[edit]
Following Air Force, Baker created the short-lived “Ginger Baker Drum Choir”, which released a sole single on Atco Records (and Polydor in Germany) in 1971.[14] The 45 RPM record featured a three-piece drum ensemble and “call and response” vocals, with the song “Atunde! (We are here)” and “Atunde! (part 2)” on its A and B sides.
In November 1971, Baker decided to set up a recording studio in Lagos, then the capital of Nigeria. He decided that it would be an interesting experience to travel to Nigeria overland across the Sahara Desert. Baker invited documentary filmmaker Tony Palmer to join him and the film Ginger Baker in Africa follows his odyssey as he makes his journey and finally arrives in Nigeria to set up his studio.[15] After many frustrating setbacks and technical hitches, Batakota (ARC) studios opened at the end of January 1973, and operated successfully through the seventies as a facility for both local and western musicians. Paul McCartney and Wings recorded the song “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)” for Band on the Run at the studio, with Baker playing a tin can full of gravel.[16]
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