I never saw Cream, or any of Ginger Baker’s later more jazz-oriented projects.
But I did get to see him one time around 1990. Baker, who died Sunday at age 80, had recently put out two very percussion-heavy records: Horses & Trees and Middle Passage.
Me and a buddy of mine saw Baker and his band at a small and very weird club near the airport in Manchester, New Hampshire. The lineup consisted of Ginger Baker on drums, another percussion player, and two bass players. One played the groove-oriented parts and the other (Jonas Hellborg) played a Wal midi bass. He took up all of the keyboard/melodic bits of the music.
[SOMETHING ELSE! INTERVIEW: Ginger Baker joined Sammy Stein for a Something Else! Sitdown last year to discuss his love of jazz, and what was so special about performing in intimate situations.]
It was one of the most amazing nights of music I’d ever seen. At one point, Ginger took the microphone and said something to the effect of: “If anybody came here tonight expecting to hear the music of Cream, they are about to be disappointed.”
I was certainly not disappointed, as I had no idea what to expect.
To this day, Middle Passage is my favorite Ginger Baker record. Go check it out.
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