LEGENDARY DRUMMER GINGER BAKER’S FIRST NEW ALBUM IN 16 YEARS, WHY?, TO BE RELEASED JUNE 24 BY MOTEMA MUSIC

Album Follows Award-Winning 2012 Documentary Beware of Mr. Baker

Band Featuring Baker, Saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis, Bassist Alec Dankworth and African Percussionist Abass Dodoo Will Tour North America June 14 – 30

Ginger Baker was once considered the musician least likely to survive the ‘60s. And yet, in 2014, he finds himself on the ascent. The award-winning 2012 documentary Beware of Mr. Baker brought renewed attention to his singular music, fiery and self-destructive personality, and dramatic life story. Ironically, his extreme adventurousness and impulsivity—evidenced, for example, by his leaving England and moving to Nigeria in 1970 to play and record music—are the same qualities that helped make him such a versatile and continually evolving musician. Baker has long ranked among the world’s greatest drummers, and critics have deemed his recent live shows with his quartet, Jazz Confusion, some of the best work of his career. On June 24, Motéma Music releases Why?, his first new recording in 16 years, coinciding with a thirteen-date North American tour with Jazz Confusion June 14-30. (See below for an itinerary).

For his time with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted band Cream, Baker is often credited with revolutionizing rock drumming and influencing countless other rock drummers. But he has always been, first and foremost, a jazz musician. What distinguished his playing in Cream, Blind Faith and other bands, aside from his stunning virtuosity and dramatic flair, was the fact that he was essentially the first “jazz-rock fusion” drummer. He brought to rock the jazz technique he learned from his deep study of music by the likes of Baby Dodds, Max Roach, Elvin Jones and Art Blakey. Baker’s setup (two bass drums instead of one) and style (improvised drum breaks and solos) made him unique amongst his peers.

Baker’s love of jazz also cannot be decoupled from his deep appreciation for African music, introduced to him in the early ‘60s by his idol and friend Phil Seamen, and manifested in own his playing through the heavy use of toms, introducing an oft-imitated tribal sound to rock. This influence has been an essential part of Baker’s style throughout his career. It is no surprise then that African rhythm is a key ingredient on Why?

The inclusion of Abass Dodoo in Jazz Confusion accentuates the African feel of the album and hearkens back to Baker’s friendship with another Ghanaian percussionist, the master drummer Guy Warren. While visiting Warren in 1970, Baker became fascinated with the music he heard on a Nigerian radio station, contacted his friend Fela Kuti, went to Lagos, and decided to build a recording studio, Batakota (ARC). During construction, Baker and Kuti recorded Fela Ransome-Kuti and Africa 70 with Ginger Baker: Live at Abbey Road and London. Baker still considers that album one of the high points of his career. (Once ARC opened, in 1973, Paul McCartney and Wings recorded part of Band on the Run there.)

Baker continued to reveal his jazz chops in the Ginger Baker Trio (with Charlie Haden and Bill Frisell) and DJQ20 (with Ron Miles, Artie Moore and others), with whom he recorded his last album, Coward of the County in 1998. Why? is the next step in Baker’s return to his jazz roots, a culmination of his storied career and an amalgamation of his jazz and African music influences.

Why? features material Baker has explored while performing live over the last two years with Jazz Confusion. The music ranges from Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” and Sonny Rollins’ “St. Thomas,” to “Aiko,” which adapts a Nigerian folk tune. The album’s title track echoes Baker’s early music with the Graham Bond Organisation, and represents Baker reflecting on his life: on the personal loss he’s experienced, the dreams he’s had fulfilled and destroyed, asking the question “why?” The tune starts with a prison work song about a man who killed his wife, and also includes “Wade in the Water” as a remembrance of Graham Bond, who died tragically in 1974.

Reviewing Baker and Jazz Confusion at Iridium last fall—Baker’s first New York City club gig since 1997—Ben Ratliff wrote in The New York Times that the band “comes to jazz sideways or through very old roots…Mr. Baker’s sound is so imposing and broad, slow and confident. It’s not loud with ambition, but with spirit and intent.”

Ginger Baker’s Jazz Confusion Tour Dates

• June 14-15 Oakland, CA Yoshi’s
• June 17 Napa, CA City Winery
• June 18 Minneapolis, MN Dakota Jazz Club
• June 19 Milwaukee, WI Turner Ballroom
• June 21 Detroit, MI Magic Bag
• June 23 Chicago, IL City Winery
• June 25-26 New York, NY BB King’s
• June 27 Washington, DC The Howard Theatre
• June 28 New Hope, PA Havana
• June 29 Boston, MA Wilbur Theater
• June 30 Montreal, QUE Montreal Jazz Festival

About The Author

Dean Rogers

Editor-in-Chief/Entertainment Reporter

I knew early on that I wanted to take my place among the stars. One day, my mother saw me reading The Washington Post at a very young age. Who would have known that it would be the building blocks of my journey? Since that day, I dedicated my life to learn all that is learnable. I read everything from encyclopedias, to books, to dictionaries, to magazines. I’m also an avid consumer of television, with my favorite genre being game shows. If you’ve seen me on Who Wants to be a Millionaire or Wheel of Fortune, then you know that this interest has served me well!

My unique style of reporting began back in junior high school, when I started to chronicle the events that shaped my life. Whether it was the annual family vacation or the local science fiction convention, I shot numerous pictures and recorded my thoughts so I could truly appreciate the history. During my senior year at Friendly High, I wrote what was to be my first masterpiece, “Advanced Space Academy – A One Week Journey.” I sent the eleven-page article back to the U.S. Space Camp staff. The article was highly praised for being “one of the best written articles in the history of U.S. Space Camp.” From then on, I knew what I wanted to do for rest of my life — to be a reporter.

Since then, I have trained in Broadcast Journalism at Bowie State University (2008) in Bowie, MD earning a B.S. in Communications. I gained experience in news production and editing through field experiences with Bowie Community Media Corporation, Prince George’s Community Television, and Bowie State University Television. I also wrote scripts for a variety of quiz shows for over five years.

As a lifelong movie buff, I now see close to 100 films every year. I took this love of movies to the next step when I became a co-host for Eclipse Magazine TV in the fall of 2005. While at EMTV, I interviewed celebrities, worked red carpets, and attended a wide variety of movie screenings. In January 2009, I took a leap of faith and started my own entertainment news magazine, The Rogers Revue. Shortly afterward, my life-long journey of studying the silver screen and writing about what I learned finally earned me a place in the Washington Area Film Critics Association.

All of this has led me here, giving you the latest entertainment news for the DMV and the entire nation, and I am truly excited for whatever will come next.

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