Mickey Baker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Background information | |
|---|
| Mickey Baker | |
|---|
Mickey Baker in concert, 1982 | |
| Birth name | MacHouston Baker |
|---|
| Born | October 15, 1925
Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
|---|
| Died | November 27, 2012 (aged 87)
near Toulouse, France |
|---|
| Genres | R&B, jazz, rock |
|---|
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
|---|
| Instrument(s) | Guitar |
|---|
| Years active | 1950s–1980s |
|---|
| Labels | Savoy, Cat, Rainbow, MGM, Atlantic, King |
|---|
MacHouston "
Mickey"
Baker (October 15, 1925 – November 27, 2012) was an American guitarist, best known for his work as a
studio musician and as part of the recording duo
Mickey & Sylvia.
Early life
Baker was born in
Louisville, Kentucky. His mother was black, and his father, whom he never met, was believed to be white.
In 1936, at the age of 11, Baker was put into an
orphanage. He ran away frequently, and had to be retrieved by the staff from
St. Louis,
New York City,
Chicago, and
Pittsburgh. Eventually the orphanage quit looking for him, and at the age of 16, and he stayed in New York City. He found work as a laborer and then a dishwasher, but after hanging out in the pool halls of 26th Street, he gave up regular work to become a full-time
pool shark.
By 19, Baker, once again, decided to make a change in his life and went back to dishwashing, but remained determined to become a
jazz musician. 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.
He enrolled at The New York School of Music, but found the learning pace too slow, so he dropped out and resolved to teach himself instead only to give up shortly afterwards. Six months later, he met a street guitarist who inspired him to start playing again and he resumed taking private lessons from different teachers over the next few years. His musical style was influenced by
saxophonist Charlie Parker.
Career
By 1949, Baker had his own combo, and a few paying jobs. He decided to move west, but found that audiences there were not receptive to progressive jazz music. Baker was stranded without work in
California when he saw a show by
blues guitarist
Pee Wee Crayton. Baker said of the encounter:
"I asked Pee Wee, 'You mean you can make money playing that stuff on guitar?' Here he was driving a big white
Eldorado and had a huge bus for his band. So I started bending strings. I was starving to death, and the blues was just a financial thing for me then."
He found a few jobs in
Richmond, California, and made enough money to return to New York.
After returning east, Baker began recording for
Savoy,
King and
Atlantic Records. He did sessions with
Doc Pomus,
The Drifters,
Ray Charles,
Ivory Joe Hunter,
Ruth Brown,
Big Joe Turner,
Louis Jordan,
Coleman Hawkins,
Dion and numerous other artists.
Inspired by the success of
Les Paul & Mary Ford, he formed the
pop duo Mickey & Sylvia (with
Sylvia Robinson, one of his guitar students) in the mid-1950s. Together, they had a
hit single with "
Love Is Strange" in 1956. After the duo split up in the late 1958, Baker recorded with Kitty Noble as Mickey & Kitty. They released three records on
Atlantic Records in 1959. In late 1959, Baker released his debut solo album,
The Wildest Guitar, on Atlantic. Mickey & Sylvia reunited in 1960 and sporadically worked together on additional tracks until the mid-1960s.
Around this time he moved to
France, where he worked with
Ronnie Bird and
Chantal Goya and made a few
solo records. He would remain in France for the rest of his life. Up until the end of his life, Baker was rarely without work. As well as his influential series of guitar tutor books, he recorded two albums during the 1970s with British label
Big Bear Records, one,
Take A look Inside, as the featured artist and another as sideman to
trombonist Gene Conners.
Baker appeared at the 1975 version of the
Roskilde Festival.
Because Baker revealed very few details about his private life, reasons for his move to France were never made completely clear. Some media sources claimed that Baker had grown tired of the business aspects of the commercial music industry in the
United States, while others stated that the bi-racial Baker was angered by the growing rate of hate crimes in the
Southern United States, during the burgeoning
civil rights movement.
Books
Baker's self-tuition method book series, the
Complete Course in Jazz Guitar is a mainstay for introducing students of guitar to the world of jazz. They have remained in print for over 50 years.
my note: as a beginner guitarist I bought Mickey's Jazz Guitar Course books Vol. 1 and 2 in the mid 1960's. The jazz chords were so far over my head it was unbelievable....
