Two days ago, I was listening to Blind Faith's, "In The Presence Of The Lord". Cool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe19Sas5RSs --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "card" <cardemaister@...> wrote: > > > Ginger Baker was born Peter Edward Baker in Lewisham, South London on 19 > August 1939. > > As a teen, he trained and competed as a racing cyclist, developing strong leg > muscles which later contributed to his skill on the double bass drums. Ginger > had always planned on becoming a professional cyclist, until he bought his > first drum kit at the age of 15. Baker was keenly interested in modern art > and jazz, a rebellious beatnik with an eccentric appearance and artistic > flair. Later, he would become interested in sculpture, painting, rally > driving and polo. It was his wide range of interests which led Ginger to take > up the trumpet in the local Air Training Corp band. Watching the drummer gave > Ginger the idea of playing drums himself. > > Ginger recalls his first experience on drums: "I had been into drums from a > listening point of view for quite a time. I used to bang on the table with > knives and forks and drive everybody mad. I used to get the kids at school > dancing by banging rhythms on the school desk! They kept on at me to sit in > with this band. The band wasn't very keen, but in the end I sat in and played > the bollocks off their drummer. And that was the first time I'd sat on a kit. > I heard one of the band turn round and say: 'Christ, we've got a drummer' and > I thought, 'Hello, this is something I can do'." > > After playing for only a few months, Ginger got a job with a local trad jazz > band led by Bob Wallis. At the age of 16, he quit his job, left home, and > spent a year on the road. After some time, Ginger got fed up with his kit. > With his characteristic achiever's attitude, he decided to make his own: "I > got this great idea for using Perspex," recalls Ginger. "It was like wood to > work on, but it was smooth, and it would save painting the inside of the drum > shell with gloss paint. So I bent the shells and shaped them over a gas > stove." Ginger made the kit in 1961 and used it until 1966, when he bought > his first Ludwig set. Sadly, it was this home-made set that Jack Bruce would > demolish with his upright bass in an on-stage brawl with Baker during the > Graham Bond days. Bruce later recalled that the kit sounded spectacular -- > like no other kit he'd heard before. > > Listening to records, Ginger absorbed the playing of Baby Dodds and Alton > Red. Then he discovered Max Roach. Applying Roach's technique, Ginger's wild > and unconventional playing got him fired from a few bands, but ultimately it > would develop into the rhythmic genius that would astound drummers around the > world. Moving on to London's West End, he got another band job: "I got a > reading gig, and I couldn't read. I had to learn to read music in a > fortnight, to get the gig. It took me a week to find out what a repeat sign > meant. I couldn't figure out why I was getting to the end of a part and the > band was still playing!" > > Don't read more: > > http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Ginger_Baker.html >
