Ginger Baker's Jazz Confusion was welcomed warmly to the
United States last night by a full house at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope
PA. The large audience was attentive and applauded in all the right places
during the two sets, and the musically brilliant but notoriously combative
Baker was appreciative of the reception.
Now 74 years old and in constant pain from a degenerative
spine condition, Ginger still displayed the form that influenced a tide of rock
drummers. Characteristically, Baker’s relentless hi-hat creates a pulse for
every song. The stylistic aspect, so prominent during Baker’s ground-breaking
years with Cream, was soon passed down to a second wave of drummers powering
1970s hard rock bands ranging from Mountain to Cactus.
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Jazz Confusion on stage in London earlier this year. |
That Baker has a legion of rock disciples, of course, has
always annoyed him, for Ginger considers himself a jazz drummer.
And that’s certainly the style that Jazz Confusion deftly
works through, covering material ranging from a Sonny Rollins tune to a bluesy
check-in via a composition written by the late Cyril Davies, a Baker cohort in
the early 1960s. With Baker and Ghanaian percussionist Abass Dodoo merging
swing with African rhythms, an energetic foundation supported bassist Alec
Dankworth and saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis. Ellis, long-time sideman with James
Brown during Brown’s most fertile creative period, took lengthy solos that
varied intensity with playfulness. Dankworth held the low end, partnering with
Baker and Dodoo to support Ellis but also stepping forward with dexterity for
his own moments in the spotlight. No surprise that Dankworth should shine: he’s
the son of the late horn player and composer John Dankworth and wife Cleo
Laine, the only singer nominated for Grammy Awards in jazz, classical, and pop
categories.
At one point Ginger said, "I'm 74 years old and have
a number of physical infirmities, so I apologize if I can't play what you want
to hear." It was an entirely unnecessary apology.