Baker Gurvitz Army were an English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

group. Their self-titled debut album featured a blend of

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

laced with

Ginger Baker Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and Music of Africa, Africa ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

- and

Afrobeat Afrobeat (also known as Afrofunk) is a West African music genre, fusing influences from Nigerian (such as Yoruba) and Ghanaian (such as highlife) music, with American funk, jazz, and soul influences. With a focus on chanted vocals, complex i ...

-influenced drumming. The lengthy "Mad Jack" was that album's outstanding track, and the album hit the US ''Billboard'' 200

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

, and peaked at number 22 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. The two following albums contained similar material, although neither charted in the UK nor the US.

History

When

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

split up in 1968,

was invited to join

Blind Faith Blind Faith were an English rock supergroup that consisted of Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Ric Grech. They followed the success of each of the member's former bands, including Clapton and Baker's former group Cream and ...

, which formed the following year. This was not such a successful venture and following its demise, Baker put together his own outfit,

Ginger Baker's Air Force Ginger Baker's Air Force was a jazz-rock fusion supergroup led by drummer Ginger Baker. History The band formed in late 1969 upon the disbandment of Blind Faith. The original lineup consisted of Ginger Baker on drums, Steve Winwood on organ ...

, in 1970. Former The Gun and

Three Man Army Three Man Army was a British hard rock band active in the first half of the 1970s. History The group was formed by Adrian Gurvitz and Paul Gurvitz, formerly of the Gun. Following that band's dissolution, Adrian played with Buddy Miles and P ...

members, brothers Paul and

Adrian Gurvitz Adrian Israel Gurvitz (; born 26 June 1949) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. His prolific songwriting ability has gained him hits with Eddie Money's No. 1 ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock hit " The Love in Your Eyes" a ...

were looking for a new way ahead after early successes, so they joined forces with Baker in 1974, changing the name of the band to reflect the union, plus switching branches of the military. In 1975 they recorded two studio albums, following with one more studio album in 1976. No live albums were released during the band's lifetime. However, the death of their manager led to the band breaking up in 1976. In 2003, a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

, ''Flying in And Out of Stardom'', was released, including four new live songs.

Discography

Studio albums

*''

Baker Gurvitz Army Baker Gurvitz Army were an English Rock Music, rock group. Their Baker Gurvitz Army (album), self-titled debut album featured a blend of hard rock laced with Ginger Baker's jazz- and Afrobeat-influenced drumming. The lengthy "Mad Jack" was th ...

'' (1975) *''

Elysian Encounter ''Elysian Encounter'' is the second album by the English band Baker Gurvitz Army, released in 1975. Track listing All tracks composed by Adrian Gurvitz; except where noted. #"People" (Ginger Baker, Adrian Gurvitz) – 4:17 #"The Key" (Ginger ...

'' (1975) *'' Hearts on Fire'' (1976)

Live albums

* ''Live in Derby '75'' (2005) * ''Live Live Live'' (2005) * ''Still Alive'' (2008) * ''Live in Milan Italy 1976'' (2010) – Part of ''The Official Ginger Baker Bootleg Series''

Other release

*''Flying In & Out of Stardom – The Anthology'' (2003) (compilation)

Members

: drums *

: guitar, vocals *Paul Gurvitz: bass guitar, backing vocals *Mr Snips a.k.a.

Stephen W. Parsons Stephen W. Parsons (born 19 June 1951, in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire), also known as Steve Parsons, Stephen Parsons, Snips, Mr. Snips, SWP, is an English musician, composer, songwriter and record producer. Career Steve Parsons debut ...

: lead vocals *

Peter Lemer Peter Naphtali Lemer (born 14 June 1942) is an English jazz musician. He worked with the Pete Lemer Quintet, Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Annette Peacock, Harry Beckett, Gilgamesh, Baker Gurvitz Army, Seventh Wave, Harry Beckett's Joy Unlimited ...

: keyboards

References

External links

Baker Gurvitz Army article from the official Ginger Baker archive
* * {{Authority control English hard rock musical groups Musical groups established in 1974 Musical groups disestablished in 1976 Atco Records artists