Do What You Like - Ginger Baker (Blind Faith)

Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (born 19 August 1939, Lewisham, South London) is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences. He has also had other collaborations such as with Gary Moore, Hawkwind and Public Image Ltd.

Baker's drumming attracted attention for its flamboyance, showmanship and his use of two bass drums instead of the conventional single bass kick drum (following a similar set-up used by Louie Bellson during his days with Duke Ellington). Although a firmly established rock drummer and praised as "Rock's first superstar drummer", he prefers being called a jazz drummer. Baker's influence has extended to drummers of both genres, including Billy Cobham, Peter Criss, Bill Ward, Ian Paice, Nick Mason, and John Bonham. AllMusic has described him as "the most influential percussionist of the 1960s" and stated that "virtually every drummer of every heavy metal band that has followed since that time has sought to emulate some aspect of Baker's playing."

While at times performing in a similar way to Keith Moon from The Who, Baker also employs a more restrained style influenced by the British jazz groups he heard during the late 1950s and early 1960s. In his early days as a drummer, he performed lengthy drum solos, the best known being the five minute drum solo "Toad" from Cream's debut album Fresh Cream (1966). He is also noted for using a variety of other percussion instruments and for his application of African rhythms. He would often emphasize the flam, a drum rudiment in which both sticks attack the drumhead at almost the same time, giving a heavy thunderous sound.
Baker gained fame as a member of the Graham Bond Organisation and then as a member of the rock band Cream from 1966 until they disbanded in 1968. He later joined the group Blind Faith. In 1970 Baker formed, toured and recorded with fusion rock group Ginger Baker's Air Force.

Baker formed and recorded with Ginger Baker's Energy and was involved in collaborations with Bill Laswell, jazz bassist Charlie Haden, jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, and pioneering afro beat musician Fela Kuti. He was also member of Hawkwind, Atomic Rooster and Public Image Ltd.. In 1994 he formed The Ginger Baker Trio and joined the bassist known as Googe in Masters of Reality formed by producer, singer and guitarist Chris Goss.

Baker sat in for Kuti, during recording sessions in 1971 and these were released by Regal Zonophone as Live! (Fela Kuti album) (1971)' Fela also appeared with Ginger Baker on Stratavarious (1972) alongside Bobby Gass,a pseudonym for Bobby Tench from The Jeff Beck Group. Stratavarious was later re-issued as part of the compilation Do What You Like. Baker formed Baker Gurvitz Army in 1974 and recorded three albums with them before the band broke up in 1976.

In 1992 Baker played with the hard-rock group Masters of Reality on the album Sunrise on the Sufferbus, yielding the top-ten hit "She Got Me (When She Got Her Dress On)".

In 1994 Baker joined BBM, a short-lived power trio with the lineup of Baker, Jack Bruce and Irish blues rock guitarist Gary Moore. On 3 May 2005, Baker was reunited with Eric Clapton and Bruce for a series of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and Madison Square Garden. The London concerts were recorded and released as Royal Albert Hall London May 2–3–5–6 2005 (2005), In a Rolling Stone article written in 2009, Bruce is quoted as saying: "It's a knife-edge thing between me and Ginger. Nowadays, we're happily co-existing in different continents [Bruce lives in Britain, Baker in South Africa]...although I was thinking of asking him to move. He's still a bit too close."

In 2008 a bank clerk, Lindiwe Noko, was charged with defrauding him of almost one-half million Rand ($60,000). The bank clerk claimed that it was a gift after she and Baker became lovers. Not so, insisted Baker, who explained, "I've a scar that only a woman who had a thing with me would know. It's there and she doesn't know it's there."

Baker's biography Hellraiser was published in 2009
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Midland Maniac - Steve Winwood with Eric Clapton

Winwood was just a teenager when he rocketed into the international spotlight as the prodigious singer of the Spencer Davis Group (which also featured his brother Muff on bass). The blues and R&B-influenced rock of “Gimme Some Lovin’” and “I’m a Man” stood among the leading hits at the peak of the British Invasion, Winwood’s singing drawing comparisons to that of his idol Ray Charles - despite his tender age. Looking for a wider artistic palette, in 1967 he headed to the countryside with friends Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason, forging the collective spirit into Traffic, producing some of the most inventive and durable works of the psychedelic-tinged late-”60s.

In 1969 he and Clapton, having worked together briefly in the short-lived Powerhouse project, formed Blind Faith with Clapton’s Cream-mate, drummer Ginger Baker, and bass player Rick Grech, though the “supergroup” lasted just one acclaimed album and tour. Intending to mix English folk styles along with jazz and rock, Winwood started work on what was meant as his first solo album, but ultimately enlisted Capaldi and Wood in a reconvened Traffic for the landmark John Barleycorn Must Die album. An expanded Traffic lineup (including African percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah) went on to make two of the most arresting albums of the early ’70s in The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys and Shoot Out At the Fantasy Factory, expanding on the jazz and world music elements. A scaled-back line-up brought the Traffic era to a close with 1974’s When the Eagle Flies. With 1977’s Steve Winwood, a rich solo career launched in earnest. Arc of a Diver (1980) featured the hit “While You See a Chance”, and subsequent solo albums Talking Back to the Night (1982), Back in the High Life (1986), and Roll With It (1988) produced era-defining songs including “Valerie,” “Higher Love,” “Back in the High Life,” and “Roll With It."

Following 1990’s Refugees of the Heart, Winwood and Capaldi reunited as Traffic for the 1994 Far From Home album and tour, the latter documented in the CD/DVD release The Last Great Traffic Jam. In 1997, Winwood teamed with producer Narada Michael Walden for Junction 7. In 2003 the critically acclaimed About Time was released which saw Winwood returning to the free-flowing spirit of some of his most enduring music. The 2008 follow up titled Nine Lives saw Winwood gain one of his highest billboard chart entries.

Currently, Winwood can still be found touring, predominantly keeping himself to the US and Europe but, most recently he has completed a tour of Australia and New Zealand with Steely Dan. When he's not touring with his own band Winwood is still regularly collaborating with ex Blind Faith band mate Eric Clapton. Having completed a landmark 3 night stand at Madison Square Gardens in New York in 2008 they have subsequently gone on to tour the wider US, Europe and now Japan.

Along the way, Winwood has also collaborated with and accompanied musicians from around the globe, including Jimi Hendrix (Electric Ladyland), Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, James Brown, Muddy Waters, Toots & the Maytals, Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, salsa greats Tito Puente and the Fania All Stars, Japanese innovator Stomu Yamashta and African percussionist Remi Kabaka, just to name a handful of dozens.
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