I met drummer Ginger Baker once, on 29 September 1989, at McCabes Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. Mr. Baker was performing in a duo with my father. I was 21 years old. Charlie knew Cream was one of my favorite bands. As a teenager, I listened to Fresh Cream, Disraeli Gears, and Wheels Of Fire hundreds of times. I didn’t know what to expect. Would the backstage be full of drugs and groupies? It turned out Ginger was pretty normal. There was no entourage. He chain smoked. He seemed a little anxious. A young woman was constantly at his side.
On 2 March 1994 my dad, Ginger, and guitarist Bill Frisell convened at Ocean Way Recorders in Hollywood. They were making an album for Atlantic. According to an article Bill wrote for Rolling Stone on Ginger’s passing, the matchup was the idea of producer Chip Stern. The resulting record, Going Back Home, is really great. They do a version of Ornette’s “Ramblin’”. It was in the Billboard jazz top ten for awhile.
The cassette has no label. No identifying features. Bill’s playing is so recognizable to me I knew what the tape was after a few minutes of listening. They seem like rough mixes. You can hear either Charlie or Ginger count in on each track. There are two takes of Ginger’s song “I Lu Kron". One song, their version of my father’s “Taney County” didn’t make it on the album. Charlie originally wrote it for the first Quartet West album in 1986. Taney County, MO. is where Charlie spent most of his childhood. Forsyth, Rockaway Beach, Branson. Springfield is one county over. Solid, Jackson.
In this Substack podcast I listen to albums and cassettes from the collection of my father, the late jazz bassist Charlie Haden. If you like what you hear, please consider subscribing. I’m writing a book of Memoires about life, death, jazz, slowcore, and survival. The address is joshhaden.substack.com
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