Just listened to my favorite Cream album, Cream Live Vol. 2.
Maybe Blind Faith next...
Prayers for him.
I shot Ginger’s videos of his jazz band when he lived here in Colorado in the 90s. We became good friends with his (now) ex-wife Karen. She was great and my cousin ended up dating her for a while. Ginger, however, was a nasty self-absorbed ‘queen’. I think he’s an amazing drummer, of course. His son, Kofe, is a good guy and also talented.
All this talk about drummers and no-one has mentioned Bill Bruford?
Is he still alive?
Is he still alive?
By far the most underrated drummer in rock history
He lived hard...a long life for someone like him
You’ll be amongst friends and hopefully his legendary temper will chill
However, the typically short lifespans of musicians, whether due to their lifestyle or other factors, would seem a high price to pay for stardom and adulation. Their fans--and they are numerous, on all continents, in all age groups--must savor their memories of live performances just as those fans of Mozart , Paderewski and Rachmaninoff did in previous centuries.
The reason being, recordings don't do justice to music performed before an audience. To add to LS's comment about Buddy Rich, no matter how well-done and technically proficient the musician, it lacks soul. You had to be there, whether it's Woodstock or Fillmore or some out-of-the-way lounge. The dynamics of a friendly audience don't normally extend to vinyl or tape. (Studio recordings, overdubbed, overmixed and over-equalized, are too-often sterile, unlikely to be replicated before an audience, and that's probably for the best.)
In Ginger Baker's case, as several on this thread have noted, he's beat the odds up until now. Many who were his fans in the '60s and still alive would express astonishment to learn that so was Mr. Baker.
His interests extend far beyond drumming and music, as reported in this lengthy article of twenty years ago in Denver's "alternative" weekly, Westword.
He was just 60 then, and as troubled as he was in his 20s, but in different ways.
May the good Lord have mercy.
All the rockers are dying. We are getting old.
All the heros and pillars youth are passing even before I do. My grandfather’s world, and even my father’s world, ended so long ago it seems like fiction or as if it never was.