Documentary On Legendary CREAM Drummer, Ginger Baker

[Bart Elliott]

There's a new documentary on the legendary CREAM drummer, Ginger Baker, entitled "Beware Of Mr. Baker." The documentary, which features appearances from Neil Peart, Eric Clapton, Johnny Rotten, Carlos Santana and Charlie Watts, will screen multiple times at SXSW (South By Southwest) in Austin, Texas starting March 10.

Beware Of Mr. Baker synopsis: Ginger Baker is known for playing in CREAM and BLIND FAITH, but the world's greatest drummer didn't hit his stride until 1972, when he arrived in Nigeria and discovered Fela Kuti's Afrobeat. After leaving Nigeria, Ginger returned to his pattern of drug-induced self-destruction, and countless groundbreaking musical works, eventually settling in South Africa, where the 73-year-old lives with his young bride and 39 polo ponies.

http://www.rollingstone.com/videos/new-and-hot/beware-of-mr-baker-trailer-for-ginger-baker-documentary-20120301#ooid=gzb3FtMzq6IFydS34rM1bGGWzUkVT4Hc]Sneak Peak video trailer  - BE WARNED ... there's a lot of filthy language, so don't view this at work or around children ... YOU may not want to view it at all for that matter.

[Hank Gagnon]

i read his book hellraiser. why he  is still alive  is a mystery. maybe because he's so cantankerous. very interesting book.

[Paul DAngelo]

Ginger Baker was a major influence on me as I was about 13 years old when Cream really arrived.  That would be an age of being very impressionable.  I saw him with Cream and Blind Faith and I thought he was amazing.  In 1970 or '71 I saw him with Air Force which was pretty much pushing their music into more of anAvant-garde mode.  His style was incredibly unique and you could feel the African rhythm influences in his playing. 

That being said, I've seen two rather lengthy interviews with him in the past several years and he seems like a really crusty old S.O.B.  There is an interview on the DVD for their appearance at Royal Albert Hall in 2005 and another one in a documentary "Cream: Classic Artists" that I caught on streaming Netflix.  The latter documentary is where Baker really comes across as a totally unpleasant human being on a personal level.  He gets to the level of complaining that he never got credit for making the beginning of "White Room" in 5/4 and saying in no uncertain terms that Cream was better than the Jimi Hendrix Experience and he was certainly a better drummer than Mitch Mitchell. 

I'm better than you are?  How trite.

But boy, did he influence my style of playing at the time.

[Bill Bachman]

I'm sure it'll make for an interesting character study. And I'll bet it has some entertaining moments. :)