Relive The Life and Career Of Ginger Baker From His Archives

Ginger Baker, following in the footsteps of jazz drummers before him, popularized the double-bass drum sound and made the rolling, roaring, booming solos that had long been a jazz staple into an essential part of heavy rock. Baker’s diverse musical output included styles as diverse as Dixieland, blues, fusion, Afrobeat, free jazz, post-punk, and more. In 2012’s “Beware of Mr. Baker,” the drummer notoriously caned movie director Jay Bulger for focusing too much on rock music when dealing with him.

A pioneering rock drummer who said he “never played rock,” a heavy metal pioneer who despised his own genre, and a native Londoner who mastered traditional African drumming techniques, he was a man of many contradictions. Thus, if you’re just familiar with him from one of his many incarnations as a member of Cream, Blind Faith, Fela Kuti’s band, or one of his later jazz ensembles, you’re losing out on a more complete picture of the impact this volatile superstar had on his field.

Thankfully, we’re blessed with Ginger Baker’s past ventures courtesy of his History Archives website. The site accurately details the life of the late legendary drummer, whose career has spanned more than decades. His hot-blooded personality might’ve made the other legends that he once worked with keep an eye on him, but absolutely no one could deny his status as a rocker who pioneered metal-rock (even with his countless denials) and the fact that he’s one of the reasons why children picked up drumming as their choice for the instrument.