Ginger Baker

Ginger Baker (born August 19, 1939, Lewisham, London, England—died October 6, 2019, Canterbury) was an English drummer and percussionist known for his flamboyant playing style that incorporated intricate polyrhythms influenced by jazz, rock, and West African music. Baker was widely considered rock’s first superstar drummer, serving as the drummer for the seminal British rock outfits Cream and Blind Faith. He is credited with bringing the extended drum solo to the genre, and he was one of the first rock drummers to play two bass drums in alternating fashion. The prominent American music magazine Rolling Stone in 2016 ranked Baker as the third best drummer on its list of the 100 greatest drummers of all time.

Early life

Baker was born to Frederick Louvaine Formidable (“Ted”) Baker, a bricklayer and later a lance corporal in the Royal Corps of Signals, and Ruby May (née Bayldon) Baker, a housemaid and shopkeeper. His father died in 1943 on a mission to the Greek island Léros during World War II. As a student at Pope Street School in New Eltham, in southeast London, Baker was given the nickname Ginger for his fiery red hair. In school, after having discovered jazz, he frequently tapped his hands on his desk to the rhythms of his favourite big-band drummers, which included English musicians Jack Parnell, Ronnie Verrell, and Phil Seaman.

The trumpet was Baker’s first instrument, but at age 15 he attended a party where a band was playing, and his former classmates who remembered his desktop drumming encouraged him to sit in with the band and play drums. With little experience, he played well and received praise from the band members. It was then that Baker realized that he could be, and wanted to be, a professional drummer. He auditioned for and got his first professional job at age 16, playing for Hugh Rainey’s All Stars. The band became the Storyville Jazz Band when jazz trumpeter Bob Wallis joined in late 1956. During the remainder of the 1950s and early ’60s, Baker played with several of England’s traditional jazz bands, including the orchestras of British musicians Terry Lightfoot, Acker Bilk, and Ken Oldham.

Baker replaced British drummer Charlie Watts in Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated in 1962 after Watts recommended him. Baker later returned the favour and recommended Watts to Brian Jones as the drummer for the Rolling Stones. While playing with Blues Incorporated, Baker connected with Scottish musician Jack Bruce, the band’s bassist, and British musician Graham Bond, the band’s saxophone player and organist, each of whom would play a major role in the trajectory of Baker’s career, even though Baker and Bruce went on to have a notoriously contentious relationship. The three left Blues Incorporated to form the Graham Bond Organisation in 1963, during which time Baker developed his ferocious drumming style and became a true jazz-rock fusion drummer.

Cream, Blind Faith, and later career

British guitarist Eric Clapton would occasionally sit in and play with the Graham Bond Organisation. Baker, impressed with Clapton’s skill, went to see him play with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in 1966. It was then that Baker had the idea to form a new experimental band, and he asked Clapton if he would be interested in joining. Clapton was but only if Baker agreed to have Bruce play bass and sing. Baker assented, and the three formed Cream, rock’s first “supergroup.” Cream was launched in June 1966 by manager Robert Stigwood, with Clapton on lead guitar, Bruce on bass guitar and lead vocals, and Baker on drums. After performing at some small clubs, they headlined the July 1966 Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival in England and quickly rose to fame.

Cream’s debut album, Fresh Cream, was released in December 1966. It included the hit single “I Feel Free,” as well as the five-minute instrumental “Toad,” which features what is regarded as rock’s first extended drum solo. Their second album, Disraeli Gears (1967), was recorded in New York City after the band toured the United States and included the hit singles “Strange Brew” and “Sunshine of Your Love.” Both albums were critically acclaimed bestsellers. The group then recorded the two-disc, half studio and half live album Wheels of Fire (1968) before disbanding in November 1968, resulting in large part from the ongoing animosity between Baker and Bruce. In June 1969 Baker joined Clapton and British musicians Steve Winwood and Ric Grech to form the supergroup Blind Faith. Their album, Blind Faith (1969), reached number one in the United Kingdom and the United States and included the hits “Can’t Find My Way Home” and “Presence of the Lord.” It ended up being their only album because the band broke up after a challenging U.S. tour. Baker went on to form his own short-lived group, Ginger Baker’s Air Force, in 1970, after which he mostly stayed out of the spotlight and spent much of his time in the 1970s in Lagos, Nigeria.

After the 1970s, Baker lived itinerantly, alternating between England, Italy, Los Angeles, and South Africa. He wrote an autobiography, Hellraiser (2009), with his daughter Nettie. Subsequently, he played and toured with the quartet the Ginger Baker Jazz Confusion, with whom he rekindled his love of jazz and recorded his final album, Why (2014). He was the subject of and appeared in the documentary Beware of Mr. Baker (2012), which detailed his lifelong self-destructive behavioral patterns, including his cantankerous nature and his struggle with heroin addiction. Baker and the rest of Cream were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

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