He was married to Kudzai Machokoto, Karen Loucks Rinedollar, Sarah Dixon and Elizabeth Ann Finch. With his studio essentially lost, he left Africa altogether, though he would come back to play and perform from time to time.Bond’s instrumentation mirrored many typical jazz groups of the time, with organ, saxophones, bass, and drums, though the leader’s rough ’n’ tough vocal delivery added an aggressive element that would assure the band stood out. He is blissed out, and even though that could be the result of drugs, his glassy thousand-yard-stare only adds to the music’s hypnotism.Another signature Baker rhythmic flavor, downbeats without crashing, would also emerge with distinction around this period. He’d fold the influence of these explorative years into another period in his career, one where he took his explorations even further and finally began to make people understand that he was much more than a “rock drummer.”Truth be known, the beats, solos, and improvisations that the drummer concocted with the British supergroups Cream and Blind Faith, with his own bands, and with fellow iconoclasts like Fela Kuti, John Lydon, and Bill Laswell, are just as intriguing as the bullet points of his biography.
But it was on “Toad” that Baker announced his true arrival on the world stage. Elsewhere there’s the lilting cymbal play and heavy rock guitar solo middle section of “Presence of the Lord” and more jazzified 5/4 caressing and drum soloing on Baker’s own “Do What You Like.” Blind Faith disbanded shortly after its last tour, but Baker would retain both Winwood and Grech in his next musical adventure, Ginger Baker’s Air Force.Until this point, Baker always made his presence known and felt by way of his massive setup, his massive sound, and/or his massive personality. IMDB. His work with Air Force highlights this influence even more clearly.
Yet this recording strips back many of those elements. He died on October 6, 2019 in Canterbury, Kent, UK. The album rounds out with more heavy-handed swinging brushes (“Train Time”) and 12/8 balladry (“Tammy”), and though the release didn’t burn up the charts, a new sound from the drummer’s seat was undoubtedly here.Today Ginger Baker is as well known for his volatile personality as he is for his contributions to the evolution of our instrument. The song develops as a flowing triplet vamp while sax, organ, and guitar melodies cascade around the groove. You put Baker in Africa and it immediately turns into a pyschedelic African adventure. And Baker’s playing is grander and more perpetual than in his rock projects from the ’60s.On “Let’s Start,” the album’s lead-off track, the band’s percussion section (all seven of them) sounds like one drunken virtuoso—loose and woozy but with intent and passion. Trek thru the Sahara--- narrated the whole time by Baker's far out poetry--- to arrive in Nigeria where he experiences the traditional and participates the rawest of jam sessions that are nothing short of an African style Bitches Brew--- it's 1971!
Baker said that the studio failed because of a potentially violent feud with corrupt local businessmen. More organ instrumentals and energetic drumming would pepper the disc, with Baker working his ride and toms on “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” whipping out fancy 32nd-note fills at the end of “What’d I Say?,” and honing his blues chops on “The Night Time Is the Right Time.” Most importantly, “Camels and Elephants” is yet another solo drum showcase for Baker, this time improving on the previous album’s “Oh Baby” with a further developed level of chops and melodic invention played against a steady hi-hat pulse ostinato.