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Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (born August 19, 1939, Lewisham, London), British percussionist who gained fame as a member of Cream from 1966 until 1968 with Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton, and later joined Clapton and Steve Winwood in the 1969 group Blind Faith. In the early 1970s, Baker toured and recorded with a fusion rock group, Ginger Baker's Air Force.
Baker's drumming attracted notice for its virtuosity, showmanship, and use of tympani and other percussion instruments rarely heard before in rock music. While at times performing in a bombastic manner similar to that of Keith Moon of The Who, Baker was also capable of more restrained playing informed by years of work with British jazz groups during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and he established new standards of professionalism in rock percussion. Baker also performed lengthy improvisational drum solos (such as "Toad") on his elaborate drum kit; he was perhaps the first rock drummer to use two bass drums as part of his drum set, a practice inspired by jazz drummer Louie Bellson.
Since 1986, Ginger Baker has released several albums of ethnic fusion and jazz percussion, and has toured with various jazz, classical music, and rock ensembles, including a reunited Cream. He has collaborated often with Bill Laswell. As well as bands carrying his own name, such as Ginger Baker's Airforce, Baker Gurvitz Army (1975-1976), and Ginger Baker's Energy (1976), Baker has also at various times been a member of Hawkwind (1980), Atomic Rooster (1980), Public Image Ltd (1986), and Masters of Reality (1990). For a detailed chart of Ginger Baker's band membership, see this page (http://members.tripod.com/rant58/id368.htm).
Highlights of Ginger Baker's solo career include:
- Horses and Trees (1986)
- Middle Passage (1990)
- Going Back Home (1994)
- Coward of the County (1999)
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