If you enjoyed the video please consider donating to my Ko-Fi page! Any amount would be greatly appreciated and would go a long way, the process if very straightforward -> ko-fi.com/offbeat

I had the Honor of befriend Peter Edward Baker in Madrid ,summer of 83 and he was not only a wonderful and infuential drummer but also a very nice person. RIP MY FRIEND.

You MUST mention the Baker-Gurvitz Army when praising Ginger Baker's drumming, those albums are all absolutely UNREAL!

Ginger's atmospheric playing on the song We're going wrong is to me just perfect.

I started playing drums in 1969. Self-taught, without lessons, I followed Cream records and any vinyl I could get hold of. FM radio was also a late-night haven for innovative stuff. Ginger Baker was an icon. I still play today and perhaps Ginger can be heard in some of my backbeat. Cheers.

I'm old enough to have heard Sunshine of your Love when it first hit the radio. In an era where new musical ground was being broken every week this song stood out and it was Baker's unprecedented drumming approach that gave the song a kind of primal power that made it gripping and unforgettable.

Ginger just has a unique power on the drums the rhythm he creates is unbelievable.

For me Ginger always stood out from the crowd, and brought something interesting to the song in a way that you didn't often hear others do. But despite this I didn't ever think he overplayed the drums. Probably my favourite drummer.

Cream were a new type of band that influenced the later heavy blues, progressive and fusion genres. You can thank Ginger who formed the band in 1966.

Both his floor bass and mounted bass playing and technique were both superb and revolutionary.

Masters of Reality! Baker was magnifient!

Phenomenal drummer! UP there with Krupa, Purdy, Starky, Paice etc! \m/

Thank You for your work. I am a lazy percussionist who doesn’t know a lot about the history of percussion and drums in popular music - and that’s exactly what you are bringing to me 🙏

Thank you for this terrific video on Ginger. ❤

Don't forget to subscribe! Drop your suggestions for future drummers to make a video on 👇

No mention of Phil Seaman who introduced Ginger to African rhythms? He was his first mentor. Ginger was a phenomenon: a force of nature who made the drums sing

The talk thru at 5:26 was really helpful. I'll have to listen to that again to get more from it. Great video. Thanks.

As a drummer of years and a self considered serious drummer despite having no fame at all I still wish to offer a caveat. The mentioning of ginger bakers very inspired flipped beat figure for creams big hit which saw ginger baker displace the standard back beat pattern on counts one and three came to being not only by gingers great conception but also by grace or the band members he played with. I cannot count how many times I had an original idea for a song for a band only for the writer of the song veto my idea out and instead have me play the most conventional and standard beat for that track. I have always gladly adapted to what was and is asked of me drumming wise but when it comes to discussing gingers ideas being realised I have to point out that his band were of his mindset also and sanctioned his input equally. To give more examples of drummers having a greater say and part I point to John Bonham in led Zeppelin. Keith Moon of the who. Stewart Copeland of the police, who famously argued with sting about his inputs, and modernly Travis Barker of blink 182. John Otto of limp bizkit clearly also had a free reign for more spirited drumming and compositional function. In contrast the bands I get to play with in small venues unanimously request I play the most striped down beats despite that beat being repeated greatly throughout the set list. I do it and willingly, it's paid work after all. But to attribute genius to individual output in commercial examples is to disregard the true nature of band life. Drummers on KZfaq overcompensate via over the top drum performances.on their channel and I think it's a push back on unfair inhibiting expectations from their band counterparts. Ginger baker never faced expulsion for playing the way he did but many young drummers today do. Mind you, it's worth noting what relationship ginger baker had with his former band mates after

Baker i consider too be one of the best Rock Drummers of all time if not the best i mean he was the best of course till i came along “

Tremendous control, Ginger had in his drumming.

Ginger Baker's Airforce did some good albums too!

Great baker ✌️

I was just recommended your Steve Gadd video and watched that one and this one back to back. Thank you for putting these together! Love the whole presentation, makes me forget I'm on youtube in 2023, which is great! There's a band I think you should check out called Nihiloxica, if you don't know them already. I could name some drummers I like that I'd want you to cover, but I think this is the more interesting recommendation. Thanks again, much love!

I consider Ginger the best all time, both on rock and ethnically influenced music, which was also a jazz fusion genre. He could change playing a rhythm in an instant, could also play in a low stick style as good as any drummer who played the kit. He revolutionized the bass drum technique that supplemented his play on snare and the toms, everything in perfect sync. One of the truly great rudimental players in music as well. The drummers I consider in his orb or close would be Carl Palmer, Bill Bruford, Cozy Powell, John Bonham, Ian Paice and Neil Peart. Ginger was simply the best ever.

Yes

Like him or loath Ginger was up there with the best of drummers in my opinion ........he shares first place with John Bonham in my books

He was also an influence on another rock drummer who was actually a jazz drummer - Bill Ward from Black Sabbath. Most metal drummers can't do him justice bc they can't swing or sit behind the beat like he did

Check out the drum solo on "What I Say" John Mayall & the blues breakers w/ Eric Clapton before cream. i think That's the first drum solo for a "Blues" band to release on a album

Yes was my favorite and later loved Jim Gordon 🙂

Such a talented drummer but marred by a violent temper, witness his behaviour in the film 'Beware Mr Baker' where he broke a film maker's nose with his cane!!! I'm not surprised Clapton and definitely Bruce were very wary of him. Could you imagine him in the same room as John Lennon?

Animal's father. Today's master of the double kick who sometimes plays the bottom independently from the top ... at supersonic BPM's comes from an unlikely source; Akane Hirose who is a female Japanese rock drummer with the group: "BAND-MAID." And, as a drummer myself, I did look to Ginger Baker as a lighthouse ... long after Cream was gone.

I'm NOT a bloody rock drummer! Loved him there no BS in him what you saw was what you got!!!!

Is the Dakota building in the background at 2.22, they could have visited John Lennon.

Ginger-drums/Jimi-guitar

Great group groundbreaking music wasn't long but very influential first rock group with top-notch musicians

Bill bruford next?

Charlie Watts

How high are you, Ginger? Yes...

Ginger was a jazz drummer more than a rock one

Ginger was playing at least ten tears and touring before Cream

Ginger Baker in the 60s is as equal to Jimmy Chamberlain to the 90s.

Now if he could only master being a decent human being

It's a shame he was such a nut!!! After as much research about him as I could absorb my educated guess would be that the use of some serious drugs coupled with some childhood trauma created the monster he unfortunately became. I definitely agreed with his dressing down of Buddy Rich who was another, different kind of mental case!!! I never thought of Rich being anything special, every other quality drummer could move just as fast as him but fast doesn't equate to it being music, Rich's solos were nothing but fast noise to my ears and never sounded like music to me. It's unfortunate how the media and an individual being given public face time determines who's "great" which is totally erroneous to say the least and that's my opinion of Buddy Rich. Anyone else who had as many appearances on "The Tonight Show" as Rich would've eventually convinced the public of HIM being "the greatest" also. There's plenty of people I'd take over Rich and some of them twice on Sunday😮

What do Eric Clapton and coffee have in common?

He had a solid Rock and Roll time sense-- he was NOT a great Jazz drummer by any means-- his technique was average- He DID get a great sound which is what counts and the production work on the first 3 Albums regarding the drums was really good and interesting-- you can’t fault Ludwig!!!

Pour boiling water over the tea.

Aside from flams and triplets, Ginger Baker's generous use of heroin put him in company with prominent jazz musicians of the time as well. That he was able to eventually kick the habit without missing a beat made him a survivor ... which added much to his cachet.

Baker was a great Rock drummer up there with the greatest ever but in jazz he was okay I loved his sound and approach and everything in jazz some of my fave (roof) he got nowhere near where he got and rock, come on let's be real he was a rock drummer Toad is not a jazz drum solo. Did cream ever really do a jazz piece. Infuenced yes but pure jazz no.

This video really does nothing to live up to its title. I see nothing groundbreaking about Ginger's drumming, and I've been playing drums since the 70s. Am I the only one who feels this way?

No he isn't stop praising peter Baker

How? He played limp wristed drums over songs other people wrote. And thinks hes the second coming of God because of it.

Way overrated like the hack band Cream. I can think of scores of drummers that could play circles around him: Ansley Dunbar is one that comes to mind. Plus Dunbar wasn't mentally ill. Baker was a marketing genius by picking "fights" with jazz drummers to promote his brand. Tony Williams put this mutt in his place. Next...

Pronounced " BAAYY -KR

Ginger-drums/Jimi-guitar