Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer and a co-founder of the rock band Cream.^[1] His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer," for a style that melded jazz and African rhythms and pioneered both jazz fusion and world music.^[2]

Baker began playing drums at age 15, and later took lessons from English jazz drummer Phil Seamen. In the 1960s he joined Blues Incorporated, where he met bassist Jack Bruce. The two clashed often, but would be rhythm section partners again in the Graham Bond Organisation and Cream, the latter of which Baker co-founded with Eric Clapton in 1966. Cream achieved worldwide success but lasted only until 1968, in part due to Baker's and Bruce's volatile relationship. After briefly working with Clapton in Blind Faithand leading Ginger Baker's Air Force, Baker spent several years in the 1970s living and recording in Africa, often with Fela Kuti, in pursuit of his long-time interest in African music.^[3] Among Baker's other collaborations are his work with Gary Moore, Masters of Reality, Public Image Ltd, Hawkwind, Atomic Rooster, Bill Laswell, jazz bassist Charlie Haden, jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and Ginger Baker's Energy.

Baker's drumming is regarded for its style, showmanship, and use of two bass drums instead of the conventional one. In his early days, he performed lengthy drum solos, most notably in the Cream song "Toad," one of the earliest recorded examples in rock music. Baker was an inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Cream in 1993, of the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2008,^[4] and of the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2016.^[5] Baker was noted for his eccentric, often self-destructive lifestyle, and he struggled with heroin addiction for many years. He was married four times and fathered three children.

EARLY LIFE 

Peter Baker was born in Lewisham, South London; he was nicknamed "Ginger" for his shock of flaming red hair.^[6] His mother, Ruby May (née Bayldon), worked in a tobacco shop; his father, Frederick Louvain Formidable Baker, was a bricklayer employed by his own father, who owned a building business,^[1] and a lance corporal in the Royal Corps of Signals in World War II; he died in the 1943 Dodecanese campaign.^[7] Baker attended Pope Street School, where he enjoyed being in the football team and was considered "one of the better players" and then, after he passed the Eleven-plus, at Shooter's Hill Grammar School. While at school he joined Squadron 56 of the Air Training Corps, based at Woolwich and stayed with them for two or three years.^[1]

Baker began playing drums at about 15 years of age.^[8] In the early 1960s he took lessons from Phil Seamen, one of the leading British jazz drummers of the post-war era.

Solo

Blind Faith discography

• Blind Faith (Polydor, 1969)

Cream discography

• Fresh Cream (Polydor, 1966)
• Disraeli Gears (Polydor, 1967)
• Wheels of Fire (Polydor, 1968)
• Goodbye (Polydor, 1969)
• Live Cream (Polydor, 1970)
• Live Cream Volume II (Polydor, 1972)
• BBC Sessions (2003)
• Royal Albert Hall London, 2–3 and 5–6 May 2005 (Reprise, 2005)

The Storyville Jazz Men and the Hugh Rainey Allstars

• Storyville Re-Visited (1958) also featuring Bob Wallis and Ginger Baker

Alexis Korner Blues Incorporated

• Alexis Korner and Friends (1963)

Graham Bond Organisation

• Live at Klooks Kleek (1964)
• The Sound of '65 (1965)
• There's a Bond Between Us (1965)

Ginger Baker's Air Force

• Ginger Baker's Air Force (Atco, 1970)
• Ginger Baker's Air Force II (Atco, 1970)

Baker Gurvitz Army

• Baker Gurvitz Army (Janus, 1974)
• Elysian Encounter (Atco, 1975)
• Hearts on Fire (Atco, 1976)
• Flying in and Out of Stardom (Castle, 2003)
• Greatest Hits (GB Music, 2003)
• Live in Derby (Major League Productions, 2005)
• Live (Revisited, 2005)

with Fela Kuti

• Fela's London Scene (EMI, 1971) – uncredited
• Why Black Man Dey Suffer (African Sounds, 1971)
• Live! (Regal Zonophone, 1972)
• Stratavarious (Polydor, 1972)

with Hawkwind

• Levitation (Bronze, 1980)
• Zones (Flicknife, 1983)
• This Is Hawkwind, Do Not Panic (Flicknife, 1984)

with others

• Stratavarious with Bobby Gass (Polydor, 1972)
• Album by Public Image Ltd (Elektra/Virgin, 1986)
• Unseen Rain with Jens Johansson and Jonas Hellborg (Day Eight, 1992)
• Sunrise on the Sufferbus by Masters of Reality (Chrysalis, 1992)
• Cities of the Heart by Jack Bruce (CMP, 1993)
• Around the Next Dream by BBM (Capitol, 1994)
• Synaesthesia by Andy Summers (CMP, 1996)
• Coward of the County by Ginger Baker and the Denver Jazz Quintet-to-Octet (DJQ2O) (Atlantic, 1999)

Ginger Baker plays a Drum Workshop kit with Zildjian cymbals.

Ginger's current kit

• 10"x 8",12" x 9" ,13" x 10" ,14" x 12", Toms on front rack stands 
• 20"x 14" & 22" x 14" Bass drums 
• 13" Edge Snare drum Snare 
• 14" Leedy Snare (Spare) 
• DW 5000 Accelerator Bass Drum Pedals 
• 4 DW cymbal stands 
• 1 DW 5000 HiHat Stand 
• 1 DW Snare Stand 
• Zildjian Ginger Baker 7a sticks 

From 1966 to 1968, Ginger played a Ludwig Silver Sparkle:

• 20"x 11" Bass (right foot) 
• 22"x 11" Bass (left foot) 
• 12x8" & 13x9" top toms 
• 14x14" & 16x14" floor toms 
• Ludwig Fleetfoot pedals with leather straps
• Ludwig sticks 

Ginger gave his silver sparkle kit to a roadie. Lucky roadie!

In May 1968 Ginger purchased a new Ludwig kit:

• 20"x14" & 22"x14" bass drums
• 14"x5" toms
• 14"x5" metal Super-Sensitive snare

Cymbals 

In 1963 Ginger purchased his first Zildjian cymbals - he still uses them today. 

Ginger looks after his cymbals - the 22" rivet ride cymbal and the 14" hi-hats he currently uses are the same ones he used on the Cream tours in 1968!

• 17" crash left upper 
• 16" crash left lower 
• 14" hi-hats left 
• 16" crash right front lower 
• 17" ride right front upper 
• 22" rivet crash/ride right back upper 
• 18" crash right back lower 
• 8" what Ginger once called a "joke effect" splash right of middle 

Percussion

• 16" K Dark Thin Crash 
• 14" A New Beat Hi Hats 
• 8" A Splash 
• 8" A Fast Splash 
• 10" A Splash 
• 8" A Splash 
• 13" Top Hat 
• 22" A Series Medium Ride Rivet Ride 
• 18" China 
• 18" A Medium Crash 
• Cow bells front right

https://www.gingerbaker.com