Ginger Baker's Air Force Ginger Baker's Nutters Live At The Marquee Club 1981 (CD + DVD)

(MIG Music) 18 tracks, digisleeve
In 1980, Ginger Baker briefly belonged to the band Hawkwind, which he left again after the album “Levitation”. However, Ginger Baker's manager Roy Ward had already planned a tour of Italy at that time, which was to begin in March 1981, albeit for Hawkwind. But that didn't stop Ginger from hastily putting together a band to play the concerts himself.

He wanted to present the organizers with a fait accompli. The new band was called “Ginger Baker Nutters” and included Keith Hale (keyboards, vocals) from Hawkwind, his old friend Rikki Legair (bass) as well as Ian Trimmer (sax / vocals) and Billy Jenkins (guitar / vocals), who had previously recorded two great albums with Burlesque on Arista and were then on the road as an idiosyncratic comedy jazz fusion duo. The band immediately began working on new songs that were difficult to pigeonhole stylistically, a mixture of jazz, blues and rock with lyrics that were typically British humor à la Monty Python. Baker decided to continue working with the band. He liked the young musicians. They were fresh, had lots of ideas and enjoyed jamming. He believed in the success of his new band, especially as the audience was totally enthusiastic at every performance.

After a highly successful tour of Italy, the Nutters worked on new songs and gave two concerts at the legendary “Marquee Club” in London on May 18 and 19, 1981, which were recorded by Ian Trimmer's friend Andy Shuttleworth and his camera team. The original U-Matic tapes were lost for a long time and resurfaced in the fall of 2023 and were then extensively restored. Now, for the first time, this concert by this great band, which Ginger described in an interview as his most innovative band since “Airforce”, is available on CD and DVD.

Geboren am 19.8.1939 in Lewisham, England Schlagzeuger Ginger Baker, bereits heute glorifiziertes Denkmal des Rock-Rhythmus, begann seine Karriere unter dem Einfluss der großen Big-Band-Trommler wie Gene Krupa oder Buddy Rich. Er arbeitete zunächst in Dixielandbands wie Acker Bilk oder Terry Lightfoot und gab sein Rock-Debüt bei Graham Bond Anfang der 60er Jahre. Die Meisterschaft auf seinen Trommeln zeigte sich schließlich mit der legendären Super-Formation „Cream“ in den Jahren 1966 bis 1968. Nach Gründung und Auflösung der Gruppe Blind Faith baute Baker sich 1970 seine „Air Force' auf, der jedoch nur geringer kommerzieller Erfolg beschieden war. 1971 zog Baker sich nach Nigeria zurück. Die afrikanische Musik, die ihn schon stets beeinflusst hatte, brachte er 1 Jahr später mit nach Europa, als er mit „Fega Ransome Kuti And The Africa Band' eine Englandtournee unternahm. Nach einem weiteren Zwischenspiel mit der Gruppe SALT, die zu gleichen Teilen aus weißen und farbigen Musikern bestand, arbeitet Baker derzeit mit den Brüdern Gurvitz in der „Baker Gurvitz Army'. Original Presse-Info: Deutsche Grammophon GmbH