The ShadowMusic Web Community

While The Shadows were moving into bow ties and evening dress or into panto costume, Ginger Baker was paying his dues in the early sixties doing one night stands on the jazz and R&B circuit.

All the obits in the UK press have concentrated on his time in Cream, but I remember him from the Graham Bond Organisation. In the autumn of 1963, Manfred Mann had a regular Thursday night gig at the Concord Club in Southsea. They hadn't had a hit yet but they were moving to bigger gigs and on January 16th 1964 they put in a dep band. Four evil-looking guys turned up. Graham Bond on Hammond organ and alto sax, Dick Heckstall-Smith on tenor sax, Jack Bruce on bass guitar and Ginger Baker on drums. They played an evening of solid rhythm'n'blues and I thought it was great. Unlike Mike Hugg in the Manfreds, Ginger attacked his kit with a calculated ferocity, the same ferocity that became world-renowned three years later when he and Jack joined with Eric Clapton to make Cream.

Cheers, Ginger, great memories.
Ray

Yes a great powerful drummer who packed a punch !!!!
The poor guy who did a documentary on him a few years back ended up with
a black eye after having a slight disagreement with Ginger.
Some of his stuff with the Graham Bond Organisation indeed very impressive as a fusion
of jazz/rock.

Mike

I think there are some good points made in this letter.

Whilst I know that Baker hated most 'rock' and 'metal' drummers, I suspect that he would have liked both Tony and Brian, as they played with that 'swing' that he liked. I'd be surprised if he wasn't aware of them and must have heard 'See You In My Drums' and 'Little B'.

anniv 63 wrote:Yes a great powerful drummer who packed a punch !!!!
The poor guy who did a documentary on him a few years back ended up with
a black eye after having a slight disagreement with Ginger.
Some of his stuff with the Graham Bond Organisation indeed very impressive as a fusion
of jazz/rock.

Mike

He actually broke the guy's nose.