Richard Royall "Duck" Baker IV (born July 30, 1949) is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist who plays in a variety of styles: jazz, blues, gospel, ragtime, folk, and Irish and Scottish music. He has written many instruction books for guitar.

Musical career

His reputation rests on his work as a solo fingerstyle guitarist in multiple genres: Irish and Scottish music, American

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

, and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

. He was born Richard Royall Baker IV on July 30, 1949, in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Virginia. As a teenager he played in rock bands before becoming interested in acoustic blues and jazz. He listened to the Jazz Crusaders, Jimmy Smith, and

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

, but ''Misterioso'' by

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...

got his attention most at the age of 16. He learned about ragtime from his teacher, stride pianist Buck Evans. In the early 1970s, he moved to San Francisco and performed a wide range of material, which can be heard on his debut album, '' There's Something for Everyone in America'', on Kicking Mule Records. In addition to developing his solo style, he immersed himself in the local

swing jazz Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement ...

and

avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz, experimental jazz, or "new thing") is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through the late 1 ...

scene. He was in a swing guitar duet with Thom Keats and a bluegrass band. From the late 1970s to the middle 1980s, he lived in Europe, spending time among

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

musicians in London. During these years, he played with

Eugene Chadbourne Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic. Life and career Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, Mount Vernon, New York, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He started playing guitar wh ...

John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conducting, conductor, saxophonist, arrangement, arranger and record producer, producer who "deliberately resists category". His Avant-garde music, avant-garde and experimental music, ex ...

, Henry Kaiser,

Woody Mann Haywood Lee Mann (December 30, 1952 – January 27, 2022) was an American guitarist. Biography He was born in New York, where he studied acoustic guitar with blues guitarist Reverend Gary Davis from 1968–72. From 1973–78, he continued pri ...

, and Jim Nichols. He toured throughout the world and released an album of Scottish and Irish music before returning to America in 1987.

Discography

As leader

* '' There's Something for Everyone in America'' ( Kicking Mule, 1975) * ''When You Wore a Tulip'' (Kicking Mule, 1975) * ''The King of Bongo Bong'' (Kicking Mule, 1977) * '' The Art of Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar'' (Kicking Mule, 1979) * '' The Kid on the Mountain'' (Kicking Mule, 1980) * ''Under Your Heart'' (Edition Collage, 1985) * ''The Salutation'' (

Day Job ''Day Job'' is the fourth studio album by Canadian country music artist Gord Bamford. It was released on April 6, 2010, by Royalty Records. Its first single was the title track. Track listing Chart performance Singles References External li ...

, 1988) * ''A Thousand Words'' with

John Renbourn John Renbourn (8 August 1944 – 26 March 2015) was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo care ...

(Acoustic Music, 1992) * ''Opening the Eyes of Love'' (Shanachie, 1993) * ''The Clear Blue Sky'' (Acoustic Music, 1995) * '' Spinning Song: Duck Baker Plays the Music of Herbie Nichols'' (

Avant Avant can refer to: People * Avant, part of music production team Bloodshy & Avant * Avant (singer), Myron Avant, an American singer * Clarence Avant, a music executive * Jason Avant, is a US American football player Places * Avant, Oklahoma, ...

, 1996) * ''Ms. Right'' (Acoustic Music, 1998) * ''My Heart Belongs to Jenny'' (Day Job, 2000) * ''Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans'' (Day Job, 2005) * ''The Ducks Palace'' (

Incus The ''incus'' (: incudes) or anvil in the ear is one of three small bones (ossicles) in the middle ear. The incus receives vibrations from the malleus, to which it is connected laterally, and transmits these to the stapes medially. The incus i ...

, 2009) * ''Everything That Rises Must Converge'' (Mighty Quinn, 2009) * ''The Roots and Branches of American Music'' (Les Cousins, 2009) * ''The County Set'' (Southern Summer, 2016) * ''Outside'' ( Emanem, 2016) * ''Shades of Blue'' (Fuilca, 2017) * ''The Preacher’s Son'' (Fuilca, 2017) * ''Pareto Sketches'' (Barcode Records, 2017) * ''Duck Baker Plays Monk'' (Triple Point, 2017) * ''Les Blues Du Richmond: Demos & Outtakes 1973–1979'' (Tomkins Square, 2018) * ''Plymouth Rock'' (Fuilca, 2019) * ''I’m Coming, Virginia'' (Fuilca, 2020) * ''Not The First Time'' (Fuilca, 2021) * ''Confabulations'' (ESP-Disk, 2021) * ''Wink The Other Eye'' (Fuilca, 2022) * ''Contra Costa Dance'' (Confront, 2022)

As sideman

With

* ''Guitar Trios'' (Parachute, 1977) * ''Vision-Ease Vol 2'' (House of Chadula, 1978) * ''Wild Partners'' (House of Chadula, 1998) With others * John James, ''Descriptive Guitar Instrumentals'' (Kicking Mule, 1976) *

Stefan Grossman Stefan Grossman (born April 16, 1945) is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist and singer, music producer and educator, and co-founder of Kicking Mule records. He is known for his instructional videos and Vestapol line of videos and DVDs. ...

, ''Thunder on the Run'' (Kicking Mule, 1980) *

Roswell Rudd Roswell Hopkins Rudd Jr. (November 17, 1935 – December 21, 2017) was an American jazz trombonist and composer. Although skilled in a variety of genres of jazz (including Dixieland, which he performed while in college), and other genres of musi ...

, '' Broad Strokes'' ( Knitting Factory, 2000)

References

External links

* *

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

*
Duck Baker: Folk ist Jazz ist Folk
(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Duck 1949 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists American jazz guitarists American fingerstyle guitarists Guitarists from Washington, D.C. 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Incus Records artists Shanachie Records artists Emanem Records artists Sonet Records artists