Posted By Steve Harcourt on August 24, 2013

Ginger Baker has lived an intriguing life, with dizzying highs and unbelievable lows.  Journalist Jay Bulger decided to investigate where others have previously feared to tread in an effort to uncover the real Mr Baker.

After a good response to its initial publication, what began as an article entitled In Search of Ginger Baker for Rolling Stone magazine became the basis for this further examination of Baker, returning to his home in South Africa to film additional footage.  In his earlier interviews, Jay Bulger had built a rapport with Baker which allowed him and his crew relatively unfettered access to Baker’s compound and captures a pretty unforgiving portrait of a unique musician.  If anyone could ever be characterised as mercurial, Ginger Baker is one such individual.  Proclaimed by many in this film as the greatest drummer of all time in one breath and then declared a horrible person in the next, he is at the very least a complicated man.

A few months ago, before I saw the film, I had seen the Q&A that Michael Hann of The Guardian had filmed at the Curzon Soho Cinema in London (You can see it here), and based on the difficulties Hann experienced, I was unsure what the film would deliver in terms of detail or insight.  Luckily, the film itself was more illuminating than this Q&A would suggest and Bulger had been able to reveal a more complete picture than I feared would be the case.

Born in 1939, as the Second World War started, Ginger Baker apportions some of his affinity with the drums with the sound of bombs in his youth, but in many ways he was dynamic in all areas of his life, not just musically.  Beginning with a childhood depicted as pretty ‘rough and tumble’, Baker then found music which started to dominate, but all was not plain sailing as drugs and financial excess were to play a part in his life.  Despite becoming one of the most influential drummers of all time and enjoying great success, his life is portrayed as never easy, partly due to the drugs and partly due to the social dynamic he appears to have had with most people.  From Baker’s time in The Graham Bond Organisation, to Cream to Blind Faith and beyond, Bulger has weaved a narrative of mutual musical respect intertwined with bitter personal interactions.  With several marriages and periods of extreme drug addiction, his journey has been documented well, highlighting a list of many places he has called home. With periods in England, America, Nigeria, Italy and South Africa.

This is all captured in both the interviews and through excellent archive footage. Especially the 1970s African period which, for most people, will be new. When there isn’t any archive footage to highlight a particular period or event, the film cleverly uses stark animation to bring it to life.  This works extremely well and adds to the visceral edge of the narrative, giving a sense of how chaotic and difficult life must have been.

My only real issue with the film is that to a certain degree I came away from watching it not knowing as much about certain areas of Baker’s life as I would like, but this is a relatively minor gripe though and the film is a great accomplishment.

What Bulger has managed is an unusual feat in music documentary, where instead of delivering a hagiography with a stream of sycophantic talking heads, what we get is an exceptionally unflattering picture of a brilliant musician.  The film never seems to shy away from showing the darker aspects of its subject and includes many things that would be swept under the carpet in other documentaries right alongside the acknowledgement of his brilliance.

A wonderful documentary not just for the music fan, but also for anyone who is interested in people who have lived extraordinary lives.

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Categories: Movies, Reviews
Tags: 1970s, addiction, America, Blind Faith, Cream, documentary, drugs, Drums, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Italy, Jack Bruce, Jay Bulger, Jazz, Michael Hann, Nigeria, Rolling Stone, South Africa, Steve Winwood, The Guardian, UK