My Story

My best friend, My teacher Ginger Baker has been always like a father to me.

From a young age, I knew this name from my uncle JC Commodore he was in AFRICAN FORCE in the 80s; he always mentioned Ginger Baker, but I had no idea who he was. I knew about Bob Marley, James Brown and Michael Jackson, all black men so whenever the name Ginger Baker was mentioned I always heard Jamaica; so, the picture I had in my head was a black man with long dreadlocks

In 2007, I was living and working in London, when I had received a random phone call from a lady called Tina saying she was from Zildjian asking me if I would like to do a gig with Ginger Baker and Tony Allen. I said yes because I wanted to meet this black man with dreadlocks my Uncle was always talking about. So, a few days later, I turned up at the studio for rehearsals. And guess what, he turned out to be a white man!! During one rehearsal Ginger turned to me saying; “On the first day of the gig, Abass, I want you to carry on playing and the only stop when you see me on the floor, dead”. I never stopped playing.

If there was one thing about Ginger that impressed me the most, it was his willpower. He never gave up and was not afraid of change.
We have had a lot of fun together and I have learnt a lot from him he was a loving and caring man that I don't know how to describe it A few months ago, we talked about how we were going to help the young people who were getting involved in knife crime. We talked about setting up a charity, and we started working on it. He liked the idea and wanted the charity to be his legacy. But before everything was ready, he went into the hospital. We waited for him to get better and come back home, so we can plan for the launch of our Charity, the One-Drum Foundation, together. Instead, I must give this speech about him. I feel so lost without him.

Every gig he would always finish with the song, Why? And now he has left me with the question, Why? So, I am going carry on with his legacy; and I am going to find the answer to Why? Love you and will remember you always**