Middle Passage • Ginger Baker

Middle Passage

by Oz Fritz

One thing I really picked up from Jason (Corsaro) was his intensity, focus and commitment to the work. He aimed for mixes that broke barriers and reached for new levels of sonic expression. It's hard to get across just how intense the space was when he was working. You had to be at your highest degree of presence and attention, more so than you ever thought possible because that's where he was at. He was going for sounds, especially in the low end, that would present powerful music, such as the Ginger Baker album, Middle Passage, to be heard more powerfully than ever before; to strike a Universal chord, create a vibrational pattern that would, perhaps, resonate throughout the planet. At times it would seem that Jason would mix as if the fate of the World hung in the balance. He loved what he was doing which probably contributed significantly to the success his work enjoyed.

Bill Laswell introduced me to Jason, and the 3 of us began to work together in 1989 right at about the same time Bill Graham and Amensty International brought the first tour of Western music to the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. These events took place only a few months before the peaceful collapse of Communism and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.

One example of how strong the mood became for me was during the mix of the Swans cover of Can't Find My Way Home written by Steve Winwood and originally performed by Blind Faith, the 'super-group' with Winwood, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Ric Grech.

Come down off your throne and leave your body alone
Somebody must change
You are the reason I've been waiting so long
Somebody holds the key
Well I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time
And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home...

 Read the full article on the OZ Fritz blog: Here

  Ginger Baker • drums
Jah Wobble • bass
Jonas Hellborg • Wal MIDI bass, fretless & acoustic bass
Bill Laswell • bass, fretless & six string bass
Nicky Skopelitis • 6 & 12 string guitars, baglama, coral sitar, electric banjo, fairlight
Faruk Tekbilek • ney, zurna
Bernie Worrell • Hammond organ
Aiyb Dieng • doff, talking drum, metals
Mar Gueye • sabar (hand drum)
Magette Fall • tama (hand drum)  
Produced by Bill Laswell    Label: Axiom 539 864-2
Format: CD, Album, Files
Country: US
Released: 1990
Genre: Jazz, Rock, Reggae
Style: Dub, Fusion  

Ginger Baker

RIP

Ginger Baker
19th August 1939

6th October 2019