YO SAINT PETER, BEWARE!

Here's a quick evolution of a young man's musical taste: The radio brought Cream. Cream brought Ginger Baker. Ginger Baker brought Africa. Young man is duly mindfucked and has to re-access what he knows as music. True story, happened to me. Baker was my first link to non-Western music. Up to that point it was pop, blues and rock 'n' roll. After Cream split up, Baker high-tailed it to Africa to go to the source. Back then, to most people the mission must have seemed quixotic. The result was an LP by Fela Live with Ginger Baker and Baker's own, Stratavarious (which has Fela on keyboards). So, there's a high school aged me, who picked up the latter expecting a bombastic Cream-like LP that just featured more drums. When I put it on, I thought "What the hell is this?" It took years for me to really appreciate what had been done. During the interim, it was a weird album with one eight minute drum orgy on side two.

You've probably heard that Ginger Baker died this morning. That is a huge loss. He was one of the all-time greats, not just among his peers in rock 'n' roll, but among all drummers. Afro beat, jazz, blues, you name it. Because most would know his work with Cream, here's some lesser known stuff. The first one, "Wade in the Water" is early, mid-sixties, when he was with the Graham Bond Organization. The chops are already there, very there. The second is from the Fela LP, the third is the eight minute drum orgy mentioned above, "Blood Brothers" which is basically two drummers, Baker and Ghanaian drummer Guy Warren, playing an eight minute solo in sync. You'll see why that was a draw for a kid that knew nothing about the Afro-beat which permeates the rest of the album. (There's a link to a site with the whole LP in individual mp3s down there as well). The last is from Why, his last LP from 2014, with just him, a bassist and a sax player. For a trio, while sparse, there's a whole lotta shit going on. Considering it's his last LP, it's interesting to note that the sax player includes licks from "Wade in the Water", a song on the first LP Baker played on.

The first video linked below is Baker jamming in Africa, roughly 1971. The second video is him playing along side Tony Allen at a tribute concert for Fela, in 2013. It's cool to see the two masters, who had known each other for close to forty years, checking each other out while they're playing. The last video is the complete documentary Beware of Mr Baker, which you should check out right away because it's always getting yanked from YouTube.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Graham Bond Organization - Wade in the Water mp3 at The Rising Storm
Ginger Baker with Fela - Tiwa mp3 at Likembe
Ginger Baker and Guy Warren - Blood Brothers mp3 at Likembe
Ginger Baker - Why? (streaming) at YouTube
The Full LP: 
Ginger Baker - Strativarious LP at Likembe Eleven cuts, individual mp3s or a single zip
Video:
Ginger Baker jams with Afro-Rock artistes (& Joni Haastrup) at YouTube
Ginger Baker and Tony Allen - Egbe Mi O at YouTube With Dele Sosimi's Afrobeat Orchestra, London 2013
Beware of Mr. Baker (entire film) at YouTube HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Visit:
Ginger Baker at Drummer World Good profile, lots of Cream stuff
Ginger Baker Official site