ginger baker

Baker Gurvitz Army & Tea – Hastings Pier Sat 1st Nov 1975

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Flyer supplied by Mick Mepham , cuttings supplied by Sarah Harvey

Michael Mepham….One of the best Typos ever, Pea! They were actually a Swiss band called Tea and were excellent, great sense of timing. Got a feeling they may have supported Golden Earring but I can’t be sure of that. I have the album they had out at the time – really good.

Mick O’Dowd….Great band. I worked on the Pier with them. I stood sidestage about 6ft from Ginger. Wot a drummer! Made it look so easy. There were only three of them but the support band had to set up on The Ballroom floor half way up the side.

Glen Piper….Yeah, worked both gigs with these guys on the Pier

Tony Court-holmes….yes i was one of the in house roadies with glen piper

Sarah Harvey…..Baker Gurvitz Army. The article actually appeared in Stephen Turner’s Group Scene article on February 8th, 1975 just after the release of their first album, and they appeared on the pier some 9 months later

Gary Kinch…..Remember that one. Well, when I say “remember” 😉

Nick Webb….I was there again.

Henry Mann…..So was I

Peter Gladwish… Thanks for posting this Sarah Harvey. I went to this performance but whenever I mention the B.G.Army to anyone, I get a blank response. I’ve often wondered if I’d imagined the whole thing! (Maybe I did!!!)

Sarah Harvey… Well if you imagined it Peter Gladwish, then so did I 🙂

Peter Fairless… My ears still hurt just thinking about it

Jim Breeds… I’m more interested in the folk article alongside it. I’m sure I saw Hemlock at the Black Horse, I was there or at the Hayloft regularly at about this time. And the late great Peter Bellamy gets a mention too. 🙂

Eric Cawthraw…  Yep, a great gig and only 40 years ago. I liked the Gun – who morphed into Three Man Army, who morphed into BGH. Tea were spot on too. Here’s a sobering thought – if I’d written this in 1975 about a band seen 40 years ago, it meant I was going back to 1935! ….I’m off to play my Al Bowley wax cylinders.

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Baker Gurvitz Army – Hastings Pier 11th February 1975

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Nigel Ford… I woz there……not overly impressed from memory.

Mick O’Dowd… What a band. What a night. What an experience. I worked on this one and throughout their performance I stood in the wings about 8ft away from Ginger. He made those drums talk! The support band had to set up halfway down the side of the ballroom because there was no room onstage for them amongst the Armies gear.

Alan Esdaile… Agree Mick. Amazing gig.

Matt Thomas… Wasn’t it Paul Gurvitz who was a customer of ours at Masons?

Alan Esdaile… Yes it was one of the relatives of the Gurvitz but not that one that wrote a song in the attic!

Matt Thomas… Oh that old classic

Tony Court-Holmes… helped out as a roadie on the pier the night they played there with Glen Piper

John Wilde… Incredible night, stunning performance

John Coleman… Yep I remember them! Not a very good gig.

Ginger Baker vs Elvin Jones, Lyceum 1970

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Supplied by Colin Gibson

Colin Gibson… Ginger vs Elvin, Lyceum 1970. A young Gibson in the middle.

Alan King… cymbal-head

Claire Hamill… Brilliant!

Steve Cooke… Great pic Colin!

Liane Carroll… WALLOP!!! XX

Bernard Goffredo… I remember that

Marcus J Lamb-Bentley… Fantastic

Jimbo Tipler… Too cool!

Alan King… looking for ‘the one’

Phill Gill… You probably still have the same strings on that bass.

Phil Thornton… Cool pic !!

Tom James Cowan… the best drummers are all jazzers… ginger buddy charlie john densmore….elvin..

Yvonne Cleland… humungous

John McCormack… Cracking shot

Russell Field… Great stuff. Elvin Jones had synesthesia. Must have been mad to play with.

Billy Darlington… Top work Gibson!

Marcus de Mowbray… Yup, I was there! I was about 15 and a teacher took six of us who were keen on music to see that gig. The teacher was a close friend of jazz drummer Phil Seaman, Ginger’s mentor and friend, and this teacher also booked Phil to play a trio gig at the school a bit later. Phil played well but was in a dreadful state and died three weeks later. Many years later I depped for Liam Genocky in Rye and Colin was the bassist, great musician and very nice person!

Alan Esdaile… I wish I had a teacher like that.

Tony Qunta… Marcus, Yes the great Phil Seamen. So sad he left us so tragically. I saw him give a drum clinic at a music shop in Warrington. Absolutely amazing.

Roger Carey… I recall the drum play off with Ginger B and Elvin J being reported in the Melody Maker at the time- amazing you were on that Colin! Remember in Battle I performed ” I keep singing the same old song” by “Heavy Jelly” – you were in the audience (in Battle) and I said it was a mystery song/band and that you might know something about it… you shouted out “I wrote it!” So much great stuff you have been part of including of course one of my favourite bands “The Movies ” !

Chris Jolly… Nice Enough To Eat… almost literally!

 

 

Beware of Mr Baker – Ginger Baker documentary.

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repeated on BBC1 Tuesday 7th July 2015 – 10.40pm. Worth watching.

Chris Giles… I’ll be recording that to watch later

Robert Searle… I thought he lived in Kent now

Colin Fox… I watched it last night. Speaks his mind doesn’t he?

Steve Kinch… Have vague memories of playing cricket with him in the early 80s… or maybe I dreamt it!

Martin Richter… just catching up on the I-player 🙂

Jane Hartley… Just watched it in i player. He’s very opinionated, but it was his life, felt Jay could have done his research a bit better.

Richard J Porter… He used to commute most, if not every day, from this area, he travelled with a mutual friend and two more opposites you couldn’t find. However, they still have great affection for each other. We saw him in Rye a couple of years ago. Maybe he was playing to the camera?

Alex Chapman… I thought that it was excellent and well worth watching! Honest and accurate

 

Ginger Baker chat by Mick Curtis

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Mick Curtis…. About 30 years ago my wife Vanda was an air stewardess with British Caledonian. Ginger Baker was travelling in First Class to Buenos Aires, Vanda worked in First Class, and asked him to sign a menu card. He asked what her name was. “Vanda”. To he wrote “To Banda, love Ginger Baker”. She said “My name is spelled with a V”. So he changed it to “Banva”. I’ll find the evidence today and post a picture on here. He was apparently very proud of his new snakeskin boots that had been hand-made for him in LA. Enjoyed a drink or 30, she seems to remember.

Mick O’Dowd… Sounds about right.

Richard J Porter… LOL, good old Ginger, a friend of ours, still playing and with his son sometimes

Geoff Peckham…. My Ginger Baker story: I once worked with this lovely prudish Oxbridge educated teacher called Annie. On noticing a picture of GB in a magazine I was reading Annie told me she’d met him. Intrigued, I asked how. She said at a May Ball at Cambridge where Cream were playing, she was in the Ladies’ washing her hands. Suddenly, the door burst open and a red-haired man dashed in and threw up in the basin next to her. When she was told he was Ginger Baker, Annie still wasn’t impressed!

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