Of all the guitarists who helped transform rhythm & blues into rock & roll, Mickey Baker was one of the very most important, ranking almost on the level of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. The reason he wasn't nearly as well known as those legends is that a great deal of his work wasn't issued under his own name, but as a backing guitarist for many R&B and rock & roll musicians. Baker originally aspired to be a jazz musician, but turned to calypso, mambo, and then R&B, where the most work could be found. In the early and mid-'50s, he did countless sessions for Atlantic, King, RCA, Decca, and OKeh, playing on such classics as the Drifters' "Money Honey" and "Such a Night," Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle & Roll," Ruth Brown's "Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean," and Big Maybelle's "Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On." He also released a few singles under his own name, and made a Latin jazz-tinged solo album, Guitar Mambo. Baker's best work, though, was recorded as half of the duo Mickey & Sylvia. Their hit "Love Is Strange," as well as several other unknown but nearly equally strong tracks, featured Baker's keening, bluesy guitar riffs, which were gutsier and more piercing than most anything else around in the late '50s. Mickey & Sylvia split in the late '50s (though they recorded off and on until the middle of the next decade), and Baker recorded his best solo album, the all-instrumental The Wildest Guitar which is on the list to post leke the other 500...lol!.....In 1961, he took the male spoken part (usually assumed to be Ike Turner) on Ike & Tina Turner's first hit, "It's Gonna Work Out Fine." Shortly afterwards he moved to France, making a few hard-to-find solo records and working with a lot of French pop and rock performers, including Ronnie Bird, the best '60s French rock singer. He recorded only sporadically after the mid-'60s. Mickey Baker died at his home in Montastruc-la-Conseillère, France on November 27, 2012, at the age of 87. Hear the classic hits he played on by Ruth Brown, Amos Milburn, Big Joe Turner, Nappy Brown, Little Willie John to name a few.He recorded 24 studio albuma and about the same 45,s....The R&B sound like the classic soul sound thankfully lives on..but what the hell has happened to current black music ? After checking the track no,s 8 & 23 have different artists to the Back cover so i dont honestly know if this a geniune mistake by jasmine or a boot?..But Mickey did play on all these sessions.
AMM
The Tasters!
18 comments:
Very glad to have this compilation! Thanks for review, P.
Thanks AMM. One down and only 499 to go - no worries.
Jasmine guarantee of a good soul session, thank you very much for the review AMM!!
Thanks, AMM..well written. Probably the most recorded guitarist in R&B. Curious while in France he can be seen in Goddard's "Masculine/Feminine" (1966) recording Chantal Goya, as he also produced other French Ye-Ye chicks. And worked with Melvin Van Peebles (another Black American living in France) on the controversial film "Story of a 3 Day Pass"(1967)
So many sessions, so little fame. It's not fair, is it?
Thanks, AMM!
Great stuff
This from Wiki:
"The trumpet was his first choice for an instrument, but with only $14 saved up, he could not find a pawnshop with anything but guitars for that price". Bit different now! Superb guitarist!
Big fan of Mickey Baker, and don't have this one, thanks for the review.
Great Review Thank you AMM
Mickey Baker was along side Sylvia and he began to be known by many. Thank you AMM.
yes me also liked his killer picking much many thanks AMM
One of my all time favorite guitar slingers! Thanks AMM for the review.
Wonderful share AMM thanks very much Reb
Thanks for the review AMM
Thank you for this review. Great guitar player.
Thanks for Mickey Baker set and another great review AMM
Cheers Pedro
Hi AMM,
Looks a great album, thank you for the review.
I think I published the comment about him in another, great guitarist
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