After open heart surgery and a bad fall Ginger is miraculously recovering very well.
He called the day after his surgery to say he was OK. Albeit a rather disoriented and unintelligible conversation he was at least awake and aware.
The fall has resulted in swollen legs and feet which he is seeing his doctor about in the next day or so.
But although he is recovering, any performances in the near future seem over ambitious.
Welcome aboard as Squadron Leader Baker scrambles his crew to fly you to new musical heights and rediscover some old standards along the route! Originally formed late in 1969 after the demise of supergroup Blind Faith, Baker (formerly GBO & Cream) hit on the idea of reinventing the Big Band sound of his youth. After sell out debut shows in Birmingham and London’s Royal Albert Hall on 12 & 15th January 1970, many agreed in hindsight that Airforce 1 well and truly brought the African influence into the popular arena for the first time.
With a changing line up of star musicians, two albums, Airforce 1 and 2 were released in 1970, to critical acclaim that remains to this day. Now in 2015, after successfully touring with his Jazz Confusion, Ginger has decided wear his wings one more and travel in a new direction with blues, Africa, vocals, rhythm and harmony. Airforce 3, will feature previous material and add exciting new arrangements whilst showcasing new talent and collaborating with old friends.
Join us for this special club show, which precedes a bigger world tour planned in 2016.
Please extinguish your cigarettes and fasten your safety belts; we can promise you will have a fantastic flight.
Beware of Mr Baker will be showing in cinemas in the UK and Ireland.
Don’t miss Beware of Mr Baker with Ginger Baker at the Curzon Soho Q&A – May 9, 2013 – get your tickets here.
19th September – Gijon, Plaza Mayor, Spain
20th September – Stratford Circus, London
27th September – Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton
October Tour – U S A
8th October – Bucks County Playhouse, New Hope, PA
9th, 10th, 11th, 12th & 13th October –IRIDIUM, New York
14th October – City Winery, Chicago
15th & 16th October –Dakota, Minneapolis
19th October – Yoshi’s, Oakland
18th October – MIM, Phoenix
22nd & 23rd October – Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, Seattle
Check out Jazz Confusion here
Ginger will be playing at the following venues in November:
Tokyo
The Cotton Club on 21, 22, 23 Nov
The Workshop on 24 Nov
UK
In the UK he’ll play …
The Jazz Café, London on 28 Nov
The Cluny, Newcastle on 29 Nov
and Fibbers, York on 30 Nov
Ginger arrived in the UK on a cold and wintry day in December 2011. Leaving behind him his beautiful ranch and horses in the Western Cape of South Africa. Making yet another journey into the unknown. Well not quite, a journey back to his English roots more like. Back to Kent and the seaside town of Whitstable. On my last visit I found his humble bungalow 2 minutes walk away from the sea. There I found Whistable harbour while walking his Dalmatian, and brought back oysters and crab with me which he ate before setting off for the London Palladium to accept a Lifetime Achievement award. He told me the real achievement was to reach 72!
Ginger has a new band project: Jazz Confusion. They just played at Ronnie Scot’s in London (April 27 and 28). The line-up, saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis, bassist Alec Dankworth, and percussionist Abass Dodoo.
Ginger told me he was playing really well and that the band was amazing – blew everyone away. He had a jazz crowd on their feet and dancing! Here’s an excerpt from the gig taken from someone’s phone by the looks (so not the best of quality I’m afraid): http://youtu.be/UAib5aahjaw
I’ve asked Ginger if any one filmed it. If they have I’ll post it.
Next dates for Jazz Confusion are in July at the Glasgow Int. Jazz Festival, he then plays Stockton, Manchester and Coventry and finishes on July 21 at Munich Summer Club Festival, Bayrische Hof. As soon as I get the dates from Ginger, I’ll post them on Facebook.
Until soon…
I’m sure that many times drugs played a major part in the many arguments my parents had, though of course in my earliest memories it was just upset at ‘bad feeling’ I had no idea what it meant or what had caused it. Later I came to understand what would set off the carnage and that in some was ways was worse because I knew where it was headed and where it would end; in violence. Mum would get black eyes and use the old chestnut excuse that she’d ‘walked into a door.’ She sported other bruises too. Yet she says now ‘I gave as good as I got’ and fondly remembers an incident when they were beating each other with lumps of wood when naked. In fights with his current wife my Dad says, ‘it’s just like Liz and I’. To them alone it is some warped expression of love.
Drug problems were of course at the root of many disagreements and the use of drugs made everything more emotional and certainly darker. During the Graham Bond years, my father made his first of many attempts to get straight and took me with him ‘up to London’ to Wimpole street to see the doctor who prescribed to many addicts, Lady Frankau. We waited for the bus that day on Neasden Lane where a low brick wall borders the shrub filled garden of a square and wholly unremarkable three-story apartment block.
Dad held my hand as I walked along the length of the wall, then sat me on his shoulders at the bus-stop where we sang ‘bus, bus hurry up’ together. He was excited at the prospect of collecting his script and getting high. Yet he maintains that after Lady Frankau had praised me as a ‘beautiful child’ he looked at my face and ditched the precious script on the way home. He then attempted to do a tour of the North of England whilst going ‘cold turkey.’ When he returned he went back to Lady Frankau and asked for help to withdraw using a process he tried on every occasion he got ‘messed up’ again. This involved the use of a drug called ‘physeptone’, though to me it is a ‘word’ I’m familiar with hearing very often throughout my childhood and beyond. The difficulties of withdrawal and stresses of running a band and dealing with family life only increased the conflict at home.
