Rest in Peace, Ginger Baker.

R.I.P Ginger. He played with the best and was one of them.

Graham Bond Quartet.

I saw him in person only twice. The first time, described earlier in this thread, in 1983, at a club in New York where I saw Buddy Rich the very next day, and again, 31 years later, at a similarly-sized club in Detroit. Here's a review of that second show that I posted here in 2014:

It was an enjoyable, worthwhile show, though probably not something I would ever feel the need to experience again. He tires easily, and refers to every uptempo number as a "Ginger killer." He played four songs, said it was time for an intermission, and lurched off the stage after 40 minutes. He returned 10 minutes later, played for another 35 minutes (including the encore), and that was it. I think he did nine songs altogether.

I will say that the musicians he's playing with are absolutely world class. The real star of the show was the Ghanaian percussionist Abbas Dodoo, who not only provided a thunderous bottom throughout the show, creating the illusion that Ginger was making far more noise than he actually was, but also played so well in tandem with Baker that at times they drew actual gasps of amazement from the crowd.

Baker was cranky, funny, sad and pathetic. "Welcome to Detroit, Ginger!" yelled an enthusiastic female fan after the fist song was finished. "Please do shut up," he replied. "We're having a contest to see if anyone can guess at which show I'm going to die onstage," he said. "First prize is a week in Manchester. Second prize is two weeks in Manchester." "I'm not dead yet!" he triumphantly declared later in the show, then went on to say that he probably would be dead in the not-too-distant future. His COPD makes it painful to listen to him talk, and he did insist on talking before every number. At one point, he accidentally whacked himself in the mouth with the microphone, then he took his false teeth out and showed them to the cheering crowd.

Band introductions were made after the very first song. Pointedly, he called bassist Alec Dankworth "My favorite bass player." Then he said, "'Toad" is a drum solo I played in Cream, and we do drum solos here, but since no two drum solos are ever the same, please don't ask for "Toad.'" Nobody asked for "Toad." Nobody had to, because, in a way, it was all "Toad."



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2019-10-06 15:48 by tatters.

RIP

One more Ginger Baker story from 2014:

There's this facebook page called The College Of Rock And Roll Knowledge that I've been posting on a lot lately, and a couple of months ago there was a post about how Cream should get back together for one last gig. I replied that physically, Ginger just wasn't up to it. I went on to explain about all of his health problems, basically just repeating what Ginger himself had posted on his own facebook page in 2013. Well, apparently, The College tagged Ginger's personal facebook page in their post. Before I knew it, Ginger's daughter Nettie was posting on The College's page, wanting to know why I was saying all these terrible things about her father. Basically, it was You don't know us, and You shouldn't be talking about people You don't know, and You need to keep quiet, and Everything You're saying is, without exception, completely untrue. Ginger himself logged on to say that my posts were a load of "cheeky bollocks." He said I should come and see him play "Toad" and say these things to his face. I didn't respond directly to Ginger, but I did explain to Nettie that lots of people get talked about by people they don't know; that in fact, this is the very definition of what it means to be a celebrity; people you don't know are talking about you. I went on to say that I was looking forward to seeing Ginger on tour, that I wasn't expecting "Toad," or any other Cream material, but that a little Sonny Rollins would be nice. A couple of nights later, Ginger played his big show in London and though he did play "Sunshine of Your Love" and "Can't Find My Way Home" he did not, and could not, play "Toad." "It's not on," he told the crowd. "I'm a @#$%& cripple."

The encore was "St. Thomas" by Sonny Rollins.

RIP Mr Baker

He was my favorite drummer.

Rest in peace Mr. Baker.

Only saw him the once with Cream in 2005. He was one of the best drummers I’ll ever have seen.

Farewell to one of the best. Incredible drummer

RIP, Mr. Baker

A great talent and as eccentric as they came.

He and Charlie seemed to get on fine, but he had a severe disdain for Mr. Jagger.

Said what he felt, consequences be damned. Lived for his music and his polo ponies.

I liked him and his fiery energy.

Sad news indeed. What a great drummer! R.I.P.

[www.bbc.com]

Very upsetting news that another of music's finest has left us. RIP, Ginger, with thanks for all the joy your tremendous drumming brought.

RIP, Ginger

Only since he has been noted as ill on IORR have I really listened to some of Ginger's solos. OMG, a real beast. RIP

OMG. A LEGEND passes. No words. RIP Mr Baker.

Rod

Farewell to one of the best. Incredible drummer.

Not surprising but still sad. I knew on that last thread this had to be it. Was nice to see when he had the slight positive turn, but again, dude lived a hell of a life. If he made it another 10 years, that would have been unbelievable. This is expected but very sad nonetheless.

Ginger Baker has closed down his shop.

The Curmudgeonly Contrarian... The Cream

Interesting stories, Tatters. Thanks for posting.

RIP Ginger

[www.youtube.com]

RIP Ginger - Cream was another great band I grew up with listening to

Well darn this is sad...one of the all time very best.
His drumming was an integral/critical/essential part of Cream.

And while I've never been a big fan of lengthy rock and roll drum solos live or studio, Ginger and John Bonham were an exception and made them at least tolerable.

Cream - Toad (1966)

Blind Faith - Do What You Like (1969)



RIP GINGER BAKER

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Quote
tatters
One more Ginger Baker story from 2014:

There's this facebook page called The College Of Rock And Roll Knowledge that I've been posting on a lot lately, and a couple of months ago there was a post about how Cream should get back together for one last gig. I replied that physically, Ginger just wasn't up to it. I went on to explain about all of his health problems, basically just repeating what Ginger himself had posted on his own facebook page in 2013. Well, apparently, The College tagged Ginger's personal facebook page in their post. Before I knew it, Ginger's daughter Nettie was posting on The College's page, wanting to know why I was saying all these terrible things about her father. Basically, it was You don't know us, and You shouldn't be talking about people You don't know, and You need to keep quiet, and Everything You're saying is, without exception, completely untrue. Ginger himself logged on to say that my posts were a load of "cheeky bollocks." He said I should come and see him play "Toad" and say these things to his face. I didn't respond directly to Ginger, but I did explain to Nettie that lots of people get talked about by people they don't know; that in fact, this is the very definition of what it means to be a celebrity; people you don't know are talking about you. I went on to say that I was looking forward to seeing Ginger on tour, that I wasn't expecting "Toad," or any other Cream material, but that a little Sonny Rollins would be nice. A couple of nights later, Ginger played his big show in London and though he did play "Sunshine of Your Love" and "Can't Find My Way Home" he did not, and could not, play "Toad." "It's not on," he told the crowd. "I'm a @#$%& cripple."

The encore was "St. Thomas" by Sonny Rollins.

At a guess, they didn't want potential ticket sales hurt by a knowledgeable fan posting about Ginger's health and limitations. Sometimes there are reasons that are more important than proving ourselves to be correct, especially when someone is vehemently denying what they know to be true.

Members of Rush, Queen, The Beatles, the Stones, the Kinks, Whitesnake, others, pay tribute to GINGER BAKER

Lots of kind words from Mick, Paul, Neil Peart, Dave Davies, and others.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-10-07 16:35 by keefriff99.

anything from clapton yet?

Quote
LazarusSmith
anything from clapton yet?

I can't find anything...I'm sure he will eventually, but it's got to be hard on him losing Jack and Ginger over the last few years.

One of the greats for us who had our musical awakening around 1970. I remember he once said in a TV interview, probably about the Cream song "We`re going wrong"; "It wasn`t about philosophy in the world or something..., -not able to hide a smile all over his face.