Ginger Baker finds himself in the situation of being classed as the first great rock drummer yet this enthralling documentary shows he would rather be classed as great jazz man. He snorts in dismay in his role in creating heavy metal as a member of Cream. Testament from band mates like Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Steve Winwood show a man who could perform on an artistic level yet off stage would often commit such acts such as having fights over a concert performance. An all star line up of other drummers pay tribute to him, including Charlie (The Rolling Stones) Watts,Nick (Pink Floyd) Mason, Bill (Black Sabbath) Ward, Simon (Bad Company) Kirke and Stewart (The Police) Copeland to name just a few. Yet for his musical genius he has many failings of a personal note, His son and two daughters suggest he would better off not having kids, a foray into Polo has him landed a large tax bill. In the end you are left with the impression he would the same things again without a moment's doubt.

Ginger Baker illustrates how artistic greatness can be fed by a loathsome character that we see close-up and personal, thanks to brave filmmaker Jay Bulger. Just how brave you will see in the film.It's not hard to see how Ginger Baker was formed. He was a child in one of those horrible, dreary, violent British working-class neighborhoods. He started out life by losing his father (killed in war), then getting his face slashed with razors for not joining a local gang. Then, he gets a posthumous letter, the only input he every got from his "hero" father, advising him that "your fists are your best friend". So, partly for survival, partly out of values, Baker became a young tough.The watershed occurred when Baker was introduced, at the same time, to African drums and heroin. Drums fed into his violent nature, and heroin, he claims, gave him insight into "time," which Baker considers the key to drumming and which very few have.Deserted his wife and kids for a bimbo who left him, introduced his 15- year-old son to cocaine to do a gig, then kept the proceeds, sending the son home on a bus. Chronically unpleasant to be around, except to the four drummers he worships. Calls dogs and horses the only creatures he can depend on, while at the same time being utterly undependable to his family. Complains about his poverty, after blowing millions on drugs and polo ponies.The plus side of the ledger is that Ginger Baker is arguably the greatest drummer -- rock or jazz -- in modern history. His long-suffering son, whom he finally kissed-off, says that Baker should never have had a family, that he is only about the drums.It's not ironic that the only person in the film who seems to adulate Baker is Johnny Rotten. Even the colleagues who prize him as a talent can't stand him as a person, except perhaps, Jack Bruce, of Cream, who says he "loves" Ginger, but goes on to say that living on a different continent from Baker is still "a bit too close".

Not an obvious choice for a documentary, grumpy old man, no make that just grumpy man, celebrated Cream drummer Ginger Baker spectacularly opens his own film by beating up his director, followed by a glowing tribute from of all people John Lydon and then proceeds to diss the majority of the several people who crossed his path in later life. I started off thoroughly disliking him and his "#*^!"-off outlook to life but by the end, if I didn't exactly like him, I had warmed a little to him even if I still don't understand why he is as ornery as he appears.His story gets told mainly from his own viewpoint but naturally we get tributes from the drummers union including the likes of Charlie Watts, Neil Peart and Stewart Copeland as well as most of his past collaborators including of course his Cream band-mates Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton together with archive footage and some animation to highlight his world travels.I've not heard much of Cream outside of their most popular tracks but I do know he takes the dubious responsibility for introducing the extended drum solo to rock recordings and concerts. It certainly seemed to me that his playing, good as it is, pales next to some of his jazz heroes with whom we see him engaging in "drum wars" in the early 70's.Of more interest then is the picture painted of this very eccentric man, with apparently a greater love for animals, particularly horses and dogs than his own family and ex-wives, indeed I had no idea he was such a keen polo player. There are anecdotes a-plenty, rarely to his credit, I mean who else would introduce his 15 year old drumming son to cocaine to get through a gig, plus I just can't have much sympathy for a guy who blows £5,000,000 from the Cream reunion gigs in 2005 and then pleads poverty.And yet, while I wouldn't care to meet him, it was fascinating to watch this story of his varied life. Post-Cream there's little here to engage with musically unless you like endless drum solos but this unlikely documentary will capture and hold your attention and who amongst us wouldn't share to some degree his rebellious outlook against conformity for the last 50 years.

Ginger Baker just liked banging things around. And as soon as some directed him in the way of drums - and some of the premier jazz drummers of the 1950's, which was kind of the apotheosis of jazz - he was set for life. And this life included being apart of two of the major rock bands of the 1960's (Cream and Blind Faith) along with others, then became a figurehead of African drumming in the 1970's, and then... semi-obscurity, polo, playing with some band that got lost in the shuffle of the 90's grunge scene, polo, ex-wives, polo, and um... I said polo right? Though Cream was sort of cited as the grandfather or forefather for heavy metal (hey there's Lars from Metallica in the doc), Baker comes off more like a craggly jazz-man-cum-punk-rocker, who didn't give a f**k and even gives the director of his documentary a piece of his mind with his cane! Kind of a prime example of a man who you know you wouldn't want to spend more than two minutes with - hard to feel sorry for a man who wasted all his money, and Cream reunion money no less (I couldn't afford those tickets man!) on horses and dogs (he says they are more trustworthy and loving of humans) - yet he really is just one of the drummers that changed the game for everyone.Also fascinating to find out a musician from the 60's - and husband and father - who really could have just torpedoed all of his good luck from the era in two decades afterward. A good documentary on what the Brits could call a 'right old nasty bastard.'