Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Ginger Baker's Air Force

For a change, the late 1960s yielded up a supergroup that lived up to its hype and then some. Ginger Baker's Air Force was recorded live at Royal Albert Hall in January of 1970. A show that must have been a wonder to watch, as the ten-piece band blazed away in sheets of sound, projected delicate flute parts behind multi-layered African percussion, or built their songs up Bolero-like, out of rhythms from a single instrument into huge jazz-cum-R&B crescendos, considering that this was only their second gig. The band features Steve Winwood, Denny Laine, Chris Wood, Rick Grech, Graham Bond, Remi Kabaka and Ginger Baker himself. It's a must-own for jazz-rock, Afro-fusion, blues-rock, or percussion fans.

No comments: