Steve Baker (musician)

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Steve Baker (2006)

Steve Baker (born May 1, 1953 in London ) is a British harmonica player and blues musician. He has lived near Hamburg for many years.

biography

Because of his specialist books and workshops, but especially because of his virtuoso playing on the blues harp , Steve Baker is the most famous harmonica player in Germany. He came to Hamburg in 1976 with the Anglo-American band Have Mercy. In the 1980s he worked with both the rock legend Tony Sheridan and the songwriter Franz Josef Degenhardt , with whom he recorded several LPs. He has been working as a studio musician since the late 1970s and has contributed to hundreds of recordings, including for hit and pop artists such as Dieter Bohlen , Truckstop or Howard Carpendale , but also for songwriter Hannes Wader and the avant-garde composer Irmin Schmidt from the group Can . 2014 he is u. a. heard on new publications by Stefan Stoppok and Achim Reichel . Steve Baker has worked musically in various film and television productions, for example from 1995 to 2001 at NDR Tatort with Manfred Krug and Charles Brauer under the musical direction of Klaus Doldinger or in Fatih Akıns film Soul Kitchen from 2009. Baker has been working since 1987 as a consultant for the world's leading harmonica manufacturer Hohner . Here he was involved in the development of numerous new models. He has played regularly with the German blues icon Abi Wallenstein since 1990 and formed a highly respected duo with the guitarist and singer Chris Jones, who died in 2005 . The musicians Steve Baker, Abi Wallenstein and Martin Röttger form the band " BluesCulture ". From 2010 to 2018 he worked with the Canadian singer, composer and guitar virtuoso Dave Goodman. At the beginning of 2018 his first solo album "Perfect Getaway" was released, where he also sings his self-composed songs. Since then he has played them live with a band. Steve Baker has been giving regular harp workshops at home and abroad since 1990, including in Western Europe, the USA, Australia, Russia, India and China.

Discography (selection, CDs only)

  • 1993 Have Mercy, Have Mercy (CrossCut Records)
  • 1993 Abi Wallenstein with Henry Heggen and Steve Baker, Two Times 2
  • 1995 Chris Jones & Steve Baker, Slow Roll (Acoustic Music)
  • 1996 Abi Wallenstein with Henry Heggen, Steve Baker and Christoph Buse, Blues Avenue (Stumble Records)
  • 1998 Chris Jones & Steve Baker, Everybody's Crying Mercy (Acoustic Music)
  • 2003 Chris Jones & Steve Baker, Smoke and Noise (Acoustic Music)
  • 2003 Abi Wallenstein with Henry Heggen, Steve Baker, Martin Röttger and others, Step In Time (nullviernull)
  • 2005 Chris Jones & Steve Baker, Gotta Look Up (Acoustic Music)
  • 2007 Abi Wallenstein & BluesCulture, Blues Culture (Blue Moon Records)
  • 2008 Steve Baker & Dick Bird, King Kazoo (Acoustic Music)
  • 2009 Abi Wallenstein & BluesCulture, In Concert (Blue Moon Records)
  • 2012 Dave Goodman & Steve Baker, The Wine Dark Sea (Acoustic Music)
  • 2016 Alexis Korner, Tony Sheridan & Steve Baker at RIAS (RWA, ACD 12510)
  • 2018 Steve Baker, Perfect Getaway (Timezone Records, TZ1473)
  • 2020 Steve Baker & The LiveWires, The Great Divide (Timezone Records, TZ1884)

Works

  • The Harp Handbook (1990), 4th edition 2006, Bosworth Edition (book with CD). ISBN 3-86543-052-X ISMN M-2016-5121-7
  • Blues Harmonica Playalongs - Vol. 1 , artist ahead Musikverlag, 2000 (book with CD). ISBN 978-3-936807-00-4
  • Blues Harmonica Playalongs - Vol. 2 , artist ahead Musikverlag, 2003 (book with CD). ISBN 978-3-936807-86-8
  • Blues Harmonica Playalongs - Vol. 3 / The third kind , artist ahead Musikverlag, 2007 (book with CD). ISBN 978-3-936807-84-4

Others

  • 1998 Steve Baker / Bertram Becher / Siegi Genschow "Interactive Blues Harp Workshop CD-ROM" (Voggenreiter)
  • In 2000 he and Abi Wallenstein received the Talking Blues Award "Blues Act of the Year 1999".
  • In 2004 he and Abi Wallenstein were awarded the Ravensburger Kupferle .
  • Steve Baker has been leading the Harmonica Masters Workshops in Trossingen since 2003. There he teaches together with other internationally leading lecturers, including Joe Filisko and David Barrett, in parallel courses over several days for beginners and advanced learners at the highest level. As you could see from the participants in the past, it is a world-class event.
  • From 2009 to 2018 he was musical director of the European Music Workshops in Munster (France). Harmonica, guitar, cajon and singing are taught in parallel courses here.
  • In 2019, he received the Pete Pedersen Lifetime Achievement Award from the US SPAH.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Baker, Steve
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British harmonica player, singer and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH May 1, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH London