Ginger Baker

Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer and a co-founder of the rock band Cream. 

His work in the 1960s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", while his individual style melded a jazz background with African rhythms. He is credited as having been a pioneer of drumming in such genres as jazz fusion and world music.

Baker began playing drums at age 15, and later took lessons from English jazz drummer Phil Seamen.

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 and Cream, the latter of which Baker co-founded with Eric Clapton in 1966. Cream achieved worldwide success but lasted only until 1968, in part due to Baker's and Bruce's volatile relationship. After briefly working with Clapton in 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. 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 one. 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, of the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2008,  and of the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2016.

Biography

Early life and career

Ginger Baker was born in Lewisham, South London; he was nicknamed "Ginger" for his shock of flaming red hair. His mother worked in a tobacco shop; his father, Frederick Louvain Formidable Baker, was a bricklayer employed by his own father, who owned a building business, and a lance corporal in the Royal Corps of Signals in the Second World War; he died in the 1943 Dodecanese Campaign.

An athletic child, Baker began playing drums at about 15 years old as an outlet for his restless energy. In the early 1960s he took lessons from Phil Seamen, one of the leading British jazz drummers of the post-war era. He gained early fame as a member of the Graham Bond Organisation with future Cream bandmate Jack Bruce. The Graham Bond Organisation was an R&B/blues group with strong jazz leanings.

Cream

Baker co-founded the rock band Cream in 1966 with bassist Jack Bruce and 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.

Blind Faith Baker then joined the short-lived "supergroup" Blind Faith, composed of 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. Ginger Baker's Air Force In 1970 Baker formed, toured and recorded with fusion rock group Ginger Baker's Air Force. 1970s

In November 1971, Baker decided to set up a recording studio in Lagos, then the capital of Nigeria. Baker was one of the first rock musicians to realize the potential of African music. He also 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. After many frustrating set-backs 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 for Band on the Run at the studio.

Baker sat in for Fela Kuti during recording sessions in 1971 released by Regal Zonophone as Live! Fela also appeared with Baker on Stratavarious (1972) alongside Bobby Gass, a pseudonym for Bobby Tench from the Jeff Beck Group. Stratavarious was later re-issued as part of the compilation Do What You Like (1998). Baker formed Baker Gurvitz Army with brothers Paul and Adrian Gurvitz in 1974 (encouraged by manager Bill Fehilly). The band recorded three albums, Baker Gurvitz Army (1974), Elysian Encounter (1975) and Hearts on Fire (1976), and the band toured through England and Europe in 1975. The band broke up in 1976, not long after the death of Fehilly in a plane crash.

1980s

After the failure of the recording studio in Lagos, Baker spent most of the early 1980s on an olive farm in a small town in Italy. During this period, he played little music and managed to break his addiction to heroin.

In 1980, Baker joined Hawkwind after initially playing as a session musician on the album Levitation. He left in 1981, after a tour. Live material and studio demos from that period feature on a further two Hawkind albums, released later in the 80s. In 1985, producer Bill Laswell talked him into doing some session work on John Lydon's Public Image Ltd. album Album.

Baker moved to Los Angeles in the late 80s intending to become an actor. He appeared in the 1990 TV series Nasty Boys as Ginger.

1990s

In 1992 Baker played with the hard rock group Masters of Reality with bassist Googe and singer/guitarist Chris Goss on the album Sunrise on the Sufferbus. The album received critical acclaim but sold fewer than 10,000 copies.

Baker lived in Parker, Colorado between 1993 and 1999, in part due to his passion for polo. Baker not only participated in polo events at the Salisbury Equestrian Park, but he also sponsored an ongoing series of jam sessions and concerts at the equestrian centre on weekends.

In 1994, he formed The Ginger Baker Trio with bassist Charlie Haden and guitarist Bill Frisell. He also joined BBM, a short-lived power trio with the line-up of Baker, Jack Bruce and Irish blues rock guitarist Gary Moore.

2000s and 2010s

On 3 May 2005, Baker reunited with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce for a series of Cream concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and Madison Square Garden. The London concerts were recorded and released as Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6, 2005 (2005).[21] In a Rolling Stone article written in 2009, Bruce is quoted as saying, "It's a knife-edge thing between me and Ginger. Nowadays, we're happily co-existing in different continents [Bruce, who died in 2014, lived in Britain, while Baker lived in South Africa] ... although I was thinking of asking him to move. He's still a bit too close".

In 2008 a bank clerk, Lindiwe Noko, was charged with defrauding Baker of almost half a million Rand ($60,000). Baker said he had hired Noko as a personal assistant, paying her £7 per day (about 100 Rand) for performing various errands, and alleged she used this position to uncover his private banking information and make unauthorized withdrawals. Noko claimed that the money was a gift after she and Baker became lovers. Baker replied, "I've a scar that only a woman who had a thing with me would know. It's there and she doesn't know it's there". Noko pleaded not guilty but was convicted of fraud. In October 2010 she was sentenced to three years of "correctional supervision", a type of community service. Baker called the sentence "a travesty".

His autobiography Hellraiser was published in 2009. Throughout 2013 and 2014, he toured with the Ginger Baker Jazz Confusion, a quartet comprising Baker, saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis, bassist Alec Dankworth, and percussionist Abass Dodoo. In 2014 Baker signed with Motéma Music to release the album Why?

In February 2016, Baker announced he had been diagnosed with "serious heart issues" and cancelled all future gigs until further notice.[28] Writing on his blog, he said, "Just seen doctor... big shock... no more gigs for this old drummer... everything is off... of all things I never thought it would be my heart..." In late March 2016, it was revealed that Baker was set for pioneering treatment. "There are two options for surgery and, depending on how strong my old lungs are, they may do both." He added, "Cardiologist is brilliant. Yesterday he inserted a tube into the artery at my right wrist and fed it all the way to my heart – quite an experience. He was taking pictures of my heart from inside – amazing technology... He says he's going to get me playing again! Thanks all for your support."

On 25 September 2019, Baker's family reported that he was critically ill in hospital, and asked fans to keep him in their prayers. Baker died on 6 October, at the age of 80.

Documentaries

Ginger Baker in Africa (1971) documents Baker's drive by Range Rover, from Algeria to Nigeria, across the Sahara Desert. At his destination, Lagos, he sets up a recording studio and jams with Fela Kuti.

In 2012 the Jay Bulger documentary film Beware of Mr. Baker,about Baker's life, had its world premiere at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, where it won the Grand Jury Award for best documentary feature. It received its UK premiere on BBC One on 7 July 2015 as part of the channel's Imagine series.

Style and technique

Baker cited Phil Seamen, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Elvin Jones, Philly Joe Jones and Baby Dodds as main influences on his style.[35] Although he is generally considered a pupil of Phil Seamen, Baker stated that he is largely self-taught and he only played some exercises with Seamen.

Baker's early performance attracted attention for both his musicality and showmanship. While he became famous during his time with Cream for his wild, unpredictable, and flamboyant performances that were often viewed in a vein similar to that of Keith Moon from the Who, Baker has also frequently employed a much more restrained and straightforward performance style influenced by the British jazz groups he heard during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Although he is usually categorized as a "rock drummer," Baker himself prefers to be viewed as a jazz drummer, or as just "a drummer."

Along with Moon, Baker has been credited as one of the early pioneers of double bass drumming in rock. He recollects that in 1966 he began to adopt two bass drums in his setup after he and Moon watched drummer Sam Woodyard at a Duke Ellington concert.  According to Baker:

Every drummer that ever played for Duke Ellington played a double bass drum kit. I went to a Duke Ellington concert in 1966 and Sam Woodyard was playing with Duke and he played some incredible tom tom and two bass drum things, some of which I still use today and I just knew I had to get a two bass drum kit. Keith Moon was with me at that concert and we were discussing it and he went straight round to Premier and bought two kits which he stuck together. I had to wait for Ludwig to make a kit up for me, which they did – to my own specifications. So Moonie had the two bass drum kit some months before I did.

Baker preferred light, thin, fast-rebounding drum sticks (size 7A), usually held using a matched grip. Baker's playing made use of syncopation and ride cymbal patterns characteristic of bebop and other advanced forms of jazz, as well as the frequent application of African rhythms. He frequently employed differing timbres and colours in his percussive work, using a variety of other percussion instruments in addition to the standard drum kit.

In his early days, he developed what would later become the archetypal rock drum solo, with the best known example being the five-minute-long "Toad" from Cream's debut album Fresh Cream (1966). Baker was one of the first drummers to move his left foot between his left bass drum pedal and hi-hat pedal to create various combinations. Somewhat atypically, Baker mounted all of the tom toms on his drum kit in a vertical fashion, with the shells of the drums perpendicular to the floor – as opposed to the more common practice of angling the rack toms toward the player.

Legacy

Baker's style influenced many drummers, including John Bonham, Peter Criss, Neil Peart, Stewart Copeland, Ian Paice, Terry Bozzio, Dave Lombardo, Tommy Aldridge, Bill Bruford, Alex Van Halen, Danny Seraphine and Nick Mason.

Modern Drummer magazine has described him as "one of classic rock's first influential drumming superstars of the 1960s" and "one of classic rock's true drum gods". All Music has described him as "the most influential percussionist of the 1960s" and stated that "virtually every drummer of every heavy metal band that has followed since that time has sought to emulate some aspect of Baker's playing".  Although he is widely considered a pioneer of heavy metal drumming, Baker has expressed his repugnance for the genre.

Drum! magazine listed Baker among the "50 Most Important Drummers of All Time" and has defined him as "one of the most imitated '60s drummers", stating also that "he forever changed the face of rock music". He was voted the third greatest drummer of all time in a Rolling Stone reader poll and has been considered the "drummer who practically invented the rock drum solo" In 2016, he was ranked 3rd on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Drummers of All Time".

According to author and columnist Ken Micallef in his book Classic Rock Drummers: "the pantheon of contemporary drummers from metal, fusion, and rock owe their very existence to Baker's trailblazing work with Cream".

Neil Peart has said: "His playing was revolutionary – extrovert, primal and inventive. He set the bar for what rock drumming could be. [...] Every rock drummer since has been influenced in some way by Ginger – even if they don't know it".

Personal life

Baker was infamous for his violent temper and for confrontations with musicians and fans. Rolling Stone reporter David Fricke wrote in 2012 that even in old age, "you get close to Baker at your peril." His relationship with Jack Bruce was so volatile that during a Graham Bond Organization concert he once attacked him with a knife.

Baker was married four times and fathered three children, Nettie, Leda, and Kofi.

Baker and his first wife, Liz Finch, had their first child, Ginette Karen, on 20 December 1960. Baker's second daughter, Leda, was born 20 February 1968. Baker's son, Kofi Streatfield Baker, was born in March 1969 and named after a friend of Baker's, Ghanaian drummer Kofi Ghanaba. 

In February 2013, Baker said he had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from years of heavy smoking, and chronic back pain from degenerative osteoarthritis. In June 2016, it was reported he was recovering from open heart surgery, but had also suffered a bad fall which caused swollen legs and feet. In September 2019, his family announced he was critically ill and asked fans to keep him in their prayers. While it was announced Baker was holding his own three days later; he eventually died on 6 October 2019 at the age of 80.

Discography

Sources: 

Solo

• Ginger Baker at His Best (1972)
• Stratavarious (Polydor, 1972)
• Ginger Baker & Friends (Mountain, 1976)
• Eleven Sides of Baker (Sire, 1977)
• From Humble Oranges (CDG, 1983)
• Horses & Trees (Celluloid, 1986)
• No Material (ITM, 1989)
• Middle Passage (Axiom, 1990)
• Unseen Rain (Day Eight, 1992)
• Ginger Baker's Energy (ITM, 1992)
• Going Back Home (Atlantic, 1994)
• Ginger Baker The Album (ITM, 1995)
• Falling Off the Roof (Atlantic, 1995)
• Do What You Like (Polydor, 1998)
• Coward of the County (Atlantic, 1999)
• African Force (2001)
• African Force: Palanquin's Pole (2006)
• Why? (2014)

Blind Faith discography

• Blind Faith (Polydor, 1969)

Cream discography

• Fresh Cream (Polydor, 1966)
• Disraeli Gears (Polydor, 1967)
• Wheels of Fire (Polydor, 1968)
• Goodbye (Polydor, 1969)
• Live Cream (Polydor, 1970)
• Live Cream Volume II (Polydor, 1972)
• BBC Sessions (2003)
• Royal Albert Hall London, 2–3 and 5–6 May 2005 (Reprise, 2005)

The Storyville Jazz Men and the Hugh Rainey Allstars

• Storyville Re-Visited (1958) also featuring Bob Wallis and Ginger Baker

Alexis Korner Blues Incorporated

• Alexis Korner and Friends (1963)

Graham Bond Organisation

• Live at Klooks Kleek (1964)
• The Sound of '65 (1965)
• There's a Bond Between Us (1965)

Ginger Baker's Air Force discography

• Ginger Baker's Air Force (Atco, 1970)
• Ginger Baker's Air Force II (Atco, 1970)

Baker Gurvitz Army discography

• Baker Gurvitz Army (Janus, 1974)
• Elysian Encounter (Atco, 1975)
• Hearts on Fire (Atco, 1976)
• Flying in and Out of Stardom (Castle, 2003)
• Greatest Hits (GB Music, 2003)
• Live in Derby (Major League Productions, 2005)
• Live (Revisited, 2005)

With Fela Kuti

• Fela's London Scene (EMI, 1971) – uncredited
• Why Black Man Dey Suffer (African Sounds, 1971)
• Live! (Regal Zonophone, 1972)
• Stratavarious (Polydor, 1972)

With Hawkwind

• Levitation (Bronze, 1980)
• Zones (Flicknife, 1983)
• This Is Hawkwind, Do Not Panic (Flicknife, 1984)

With others

• Stratavarious with Bobby Gass (Polydor, 1972)
• Album by Public Image Ltd (Elektra/Virgin, 1986)
• Unseen Rain with Jens Johansson and Jonas Hellborg (Day Eight, 1992)
• Sunrise on the Sufferbus by Masters of Reality (Chrysalis, 1992)
• Cities of the Heart by Jack Bruce (CMP, 1993)
• Around the Next Dream by BBM (Capitol, 1994)
• Synaesthesia by Andy Summers (CMP, 1996)
• Coward of the County by Ginger Baker and the Denver Jazz Quintet-to-Octet (DJQ2O) (Atlantic, 1999)

Videography

• 1971 Ginger Baker in Africa
• 2006 Master Drum Technique (instructional)
• 2012 Beware of Mr. Baker

Instruments and sound

Baker's most recent kit was made by Drum Workshop. He used Ludwig Drums until the late 1990s. All of his cymbals were made by Zildjian; the 22" rivet ride cymbal and the 14" hi-hats he used were the same ones he used during the last two Cream tours in 1968.

Drums 1960-1966

Early in his career Baker used a drum kit he handmade bending Perspex over a stove. The result was a punchy sound with good tone and a lot of attack. They are featured with the Graham Bond Organisation classic albums, The Sound of 65 and There's a Bond Between Us.

From 1967 onward he used Ludwig Drums:

• 20" × 14" Bass (right foot)
• 22" × 14" Bass (left foot)
• 12×8" & 13×9" top toms
• 14×14" & 16×14" floor toms
• 1940s 6.5" × 14" black finished Leedy Broadway wood Snare

Snare tuned high, toms and bass tuned low

In May 1968 Baker purchased a new Ludwig drum kit with 20" × 14" and 22" × 14" bass drums, a 14" × 5" metal Super-Sensitive snare and the same-sized toms for Cream's farewell tour.

Most recent drums

• 10" × 8", 12" × 9", 13" × 10", 14" × 12", Toms on front rack stands
• 20" × 14" & 22" × 14" bass drums
• 13" × 5.5" DW Craviotto snare
• 14" × 6.5" Leedy Snare (Spare)
• DW 5000 Accelerator bass drum pedals
• 4 DW cymbal stands
• 1 DW 5000 Hi-hat stand
• 1 DW snare stand
• Zildjian Ginger Baker 7A 

Cymbals

From 1963 onwards he used cymbals by Zildjian:

1960s

• 16" crash left upper
• 13" crash left lower
• 14" hi-hats left
• 20" ride right front lower
• 14" crash right front upper
• 22" rivet crash/ride right back upper
• 18" crash right back lower
• 8" which Ginger once called a "joke effect" splash right of middle

Most recently

• 16" K Dark Medium Thin Crash
• 14" A New Beat Hi-hats
• 8" A Splash
• 8" A Fast Splash
• 10" A Splash
• 8" A Splash
• 13" Top A Mastersound Hat
• 22" A Series Medium Ride Rivet Ride
• 18" A China Low
• 18" A Medium Crash
• Cow bells front right