drummer Ginger Baker has died at the age
of 80. The news was confirmed on his Facebook
page with a message that reads: “We are very sad
to say that Ginger has passed away peacefully this
morning. Thank you to everyone for your kind
words to us all over the past weeks.”
He was admitted to hospital in late
September, with his family saying at the time
that he was in a critical condition. Baker had
suffered ill health in recent years, and was
forced to cancel a number of live shows in
February 2016 after a fall and being diagnosed
with a serious heart condition which
required surgery. He later thanked doctors,
and was back playing again at the Jack Bruce
charity fundraising
concert in London in
October of that year.
Baker was one of
the most formidable
musicians of the rock
era, or indeed any era.
A towering presence,
both physically and
musically, he elevated the
role of drummer from
sideman to star with
monumental solos which
combined polyrhythmic
dexterity with brute
force and irrepressible
showmanship.
Together with his
comrades in Cream –
guitarist Eric Clapton
and bassist Jack Bruce- Baker redefined the
parameters of the emergent
rock genre, importing the
heavy dynamics and highly
skilled improvisational
metrics of jazz and blues
into a world that had
previously revolved around
the basics of the three-minute pop song.
As well as early stints with Blues Incorporated,
the Graham Bond Organization and John
Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Baker also co-founded
the post-Cream supergroup Blind Faith and
led his own bands Ginger Baker’s Airforce
and the Baker Gurvitz Army. Later he added
his signature tom-tom-driven sound to rock
bands ranging from Masters Of Reality and
Hawkwind to John Lydon’s Public Image Limited.
And, as a percussionist whose genius crossed
geographical and cultural boundaries, he played
with Nigerian multi-instrumentalist Fela Kuti
and a host of latter-day jazz warriors including
guitarist Bill Frisell, trumpeter Ron Miles,
saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis and many others.
He was born Peter Edward Baker in Lewisham,
south London on August 19, 1939. He later
acquired the childhood nickname Ginger on
account of his thatch of fiery red hair.
He grew up in thrall to jazz music, and was
a fan in particular of Phil Seaman, one of the great
English jazz drummers of the post-war years,
who became his teacher and mentor.
Baker got his first paid gig at 16 years old
and passed through trad jazz bands led by
Acker Bilk, Terry Lightfoot and Ronnie Scott
before replacing Charlie Watts in Alexis Korner’s
Blues Incorporated in 1962. Amid the ever-
changing line-up of Blues Incorporated, Baker
played with bass player Jack Bruce and organist/
saxophonist Graham Bond. Those three,
together with
saxophonist Dick
Heckstall-Smith, formed
the groundbreaking jazz/
R& B crossover band the
Graham Bond
Organization in 1963.
“It was uncharted
territory,” said Red Hot
Chili Peppers drummer
Chad Smith. “Ginger was
a jazz guy. Charlie Watts
told me that Ginger Baker
was by far the best jazz
drummer in England.”
A brief engagement
in John Mayall’s
Bluesbreakers brought
Baker and Clapton
together, and the decision
to form a trio with Bruce
came into formal effect
when Cream played their
first gig, at the Twisted
Wheel in Manchester on
July 29, 1966.
The trio’s debut album,
Fresh Cream, released in
December 1966, ushered
a new era of advanced musicianship into a
scene that had hitherto been dominated by
the elementary aesthetic of the beat group. In
particular, Baker’s instrumental composition
To a d, which closed the album, introduced the
concept of the extended, virtuoso drum solo to
the world of rock’n’roll.
Baker revolutionised the art of rock drumming.
He was one of the first to use a double-bass drum
set-up and to further expand the traditional
kit with additional rack and f loor toms and
a plethora of crash, ride and splash cymbals.
His style was visceral and powerful but also
innovative and immensely creative, and his use of
heavy, log-rolling tom-tom patterns to underpin
tracks such as Sunshine Of Your Love and We’re
Going Wrong was a revelation.Ginger Baker
August 19, 1939 – October 6, 2019
This month The Dirt was compiled by Malcolm Dome, Polly Glass, Dave Ling, Grant Moon, Will Simpson, David Sinclair, Henry YatesMA
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‘Baker was one of the
most formidable
musicians of the rock
era, or indeed any era.’
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 11