Meet Phil Baker
"Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered." -W. H. Auden 1962
"The fire of suffering becomes the light of consciousness." -Eckhart Tolle 2005
The music biz is tough. Or, to paraphrase Steve Swallow: "The music biz
is tough if it's what you want to do, and easy if it's what you have to
do." I've seen great talent waste their careers needlessly, while
lesser talent thrived, buoyed by posturing, hype and jive.
In 1983 I played on the "Motown 25" TV show. I was in Diana Ross' band
and was honored to back up legends like Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson,
and Stevie Wonder. James Jamerson, who was my idol, had preceded
me in Diana's band by two bassists. I was shocked to learn after the
fact that he had to buy a scalped ticket to get in to the show! This
was a TV show that should have had a thirty-minute tribute to him! He
died soon after a broken man.
Flash back to 1977. I'm hanging out with my teenage buddies behind the
Paramount Theatre in Portland hoping to meet another one of my idols,
Jaco Pastorius, who was playing there with Weather Report. Well, as the
old saying goes: "You don't want to meet your idols." In this case it
was only half true. Although he was obviously under the influence of
something, there were pearls of wisdom surrounded by all the bull#$% he
was talking.
I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that both men (and many
others) died way too early. Yes, both men had substance abuse problems
but they also felt that their careers had taken a downturn. If either
were alive today they would be worshiped as the iconoclasts that they
were. Fashion in music, just like fashion in clothing, is fickle and
cyclical. The demand for Jamerson's warm tubby grooves had given way to
popping and slapping and synth bass lines but his bass lines on the
Motown hits will always be classics. Similarly, Jaco's contribution to
Weather Report and several of Joni Mitchell's albums are timeless.
It can be tough as a musician to weather some of the inevitable lows
that almost every career faces but if we remember why we started to
play music and the joy that playing with gifted musicians can bring it
can help us through tough times. Before her comeback Bonnie Raitt said
that her record label considered her vinyl records not important enough
to release on CD. Guess who had the last laugh.
