Revisiting the music of Cream and Eric Clapton

Legacies are tricky. You can’t see or touch them, yet they can be an unbearable weight to carry around. One has to imagine that’s the case for Kofi Baker, son of late Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Ginger Baker. Like his father, the younger Baker is a drummer.

The Music of Cream (TMOC) is the current musical connection he has to his pop. TMOC is a quartet that also counts Cream guitarist Eric Clapton’s nephew Will Johns as a member. An earlier incarnation of the group was as a trio, with Cream bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce’s son Malcolm filling in on bass. A guitarist/keyboardist by nature, the younger Bruce left to pursue his own music. Baker and Johns are currently joined by Kris Lohn (bass, vocals) and Stephen Ball (keyboards).

What started out as a 50th anniversary tour commemorating the original Cream back in 2016 now finds the quartet, after seeing touring interrupted by the pandemic, hitting the road and performing a pair of sets — the entirety of Cream’s 1967 album, “Disraeli Gears,” followed by a slate of Clapton classics.

“The Cream stuff is a bunch of really good songs that are fun to play. ‘White Room’ is fun. It’s very simple, but it jams at the end. ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ is kind of simple, but again, it’s got a jam at the end. Most of these songs have jams at the end,” Baker said. “I’m an improvisational drummer — that’s what I like to do. I get to play this stuff the way I want to play it. What’s even more of a great thing is that I get to go on the road. Normally, when I’m at home, I’m a session player.”

Credit: Courtesy of The Music of Cream

Credit: Courtesy of The Music of Cream

The Chicago native has managed to carve out a career separate from his father. A jazz-fusion enthusiast, Baker’s favorite time-keepers include Gene Krupa, Stewart Copeland, Dave Weckl, Tony Williams and a pair of Frank Zappa drummers — Terry Bozzio and Vinnie Colaiuta. Over time, he’s toured with Uli John Roth (The Scorpions) and Rick Derringer, and spent a decade in OHM, a jazz-rock power trio that also included Chris Poland of Megadeth.

Baker’s own time as a drummer started when he was a child. When told it was a pretty bold move to decide to play the same instrument as a parent who was considered to be an all-time great in his own right, Baker admitted it wasn’t necessarily his decision.

“It wasn’t really a choice. I started playing drums because my dad taught me how to play drums. He was really hard on me. He’d give me a pair of sticks and buy me these plastic drum kits that I’d bash to pieces. So then he wouldn’t let me on a drum kit until I learned all the rudiments. He made me sit there, playing a paradiddle and then he’d leave the room and say I’d better not stop,” Baker recalled. “With my dad, there was no debating. I’d play the paradiddle and two hours later, my hands were hurting and I was crying because they hurt so much. When he came back, at least I’d gotten my paradiddle down. So that’s kind of how I started.”

Credit: Courtesy of The Music of Cream

That boot camp approach to percussion had Baker make his live debut performing alongside his father on the BBC TV music show “The Old Grey Whistle Test” when he was only six. His father left when he was 10, during which time the younger Baker’s family was evicted and faced homelessness. During that time, Baker rigorously practiced his drumming, eventually being forced to start playing professionally when he was 14. Meeting up with his father a year later to show off what he learned didn’t exactly result in any kind of positive reinforcement, particularly given how strained the duo’s relationship had been, and would continue to be, until the elder Baker’s death in October of 2019.

“My relationship with my dad has always been a bit weird, because he wasn’t the most normal person. But it was basically just him being very tough on me, because I suppose he wanted me to be tough. There wasn’t much, ‘I love you’ or anything like that. It was more like, ‘Do this. I was this drummer and you’ve got to work on this and do that.’ He’d always point out the negative instead of the positive. In a way, that was good. It made me practice...,” Baker said. “He was never really happy with me it seemed. But when I saw him at the end, it was completely different. He was really happy.”

While Ginger Baker went through life and was seemingly in a state of perpetual anger, his son has found a far more tranquil path.

“The best piece of advice I’ve ever gotten was to do something that you’re happy doing. Don’t go after money, go after happiness, because money does not buy you happiness,” he said. “I’ve turned down gigs and all kinds of stuff because it’s not really my thing. I’d rather play for less money at some little bar gig versus getting the big money and going on the road doing something I won’t like.”