Sunday, October 6, 2019

Ginger Baker (1939–2019)

The drummer Ginger Baker, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith, has died at the age of eighty. From a New York Times obituary:

Mr. Baker, who got his start in jazz combos and cited the likes of Max Roach and Elvin Jones as influences, bristled when the word “rock” was applied to his playing. “I’m a jazz drummer,” he told the British newspaper The Telegraph in 2013. “You have to swing. There are hardly any rock drummers I know who can do that.”
Look, here’s Cream.

comments: 2

Geo-B said...

I always regretted I hadn't heard Cream live. I grew up with drummers. Two of my closest friends in high school were jazz drummers, and my brother was a rock drummer, but I never realized how important a drummer could be. I went to hear Ginger Baker at the City Winery in Chicago a few years ago, and I felt like I had heard Cream. He was a quirky fellow but a consummate musician.

Michael Leddy said...

And how. I think that musicians often put their best selves into their music.