Prism Presents Duck Baker, Apr 15 – ARTIST CANCELLATION

Duck Baker-web

WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU THE ARTIST HAS DUE TO MEDICAL REASONS CANCELLED THIS CONCERT.  ALL PREVIOUSLY ORDERED TICKETS WILL BE REIMBURSED.
Friday, April 15, 2016
C’ville Coffee (1301 Harris St, Charlottesville, VA)
Show time: 7:00 pm, 2 sets
Ticket prices: $14 adv*/ $16 door
*Name will be added to list at door in lieu of actual ticket.  Day of show ticket price is $16.

Please note advance tickets can NOT be purchased at C’Ville Coffee.  You must purchase them from the Prism.  You can either order them on-line, or by e-mailing prismcoffeehouse@gmail.com.

For those without a credit card, you can also e-mail prismcoffeehouse@gmail.com to reserve your ticket(s).

Duck Baker is excited to be returning to the Prism Coffeehouse, where he first appeared some 50 years ago. He is one of the most highly regarded fingerstyle guitarists of his generation. His repertoire ranges from traditional Irish music through old-time mountain music and bluegrass to blues, gospel, ragtime and swing. Baker has a reputation as a virtuoso but his performances depend as much on his humorous and informative stage manner and relaxed, tuneful vocals as on technical bravura. Baker’s greatest success has come in the guitar world; his arrangements have influenced hundreds of players who have learned from his books and recordings, and his tunes and arrangements have been recorded by other pickers like Stefan Grossman, John Renbourn, Pat Kirtley, and Joe Miller. He has appeared at guitar festivals and concerts all over America and Europe, but it is perhaps more important to realize that he has made a considerable name for himself in several different musical camps. Unlike some guitarists who borrow superficially from various traditions for their solo performances, Baker has developed by learning to play each style in group situations and basing his solo arrangements on that experience. His ability to interpret the traditions faithfully is reflected in range of musicians with whom he has performed and/or recorded, from traditional Irish and Scottish players like Pat Kilbride, Brian McNeill, and Tony McManus, to such old-timey and bluegrass artists as Art Rosenbaum, Jeff Davis, Dan Crary, and Tim O’Brien, to bluesmen Jerry Ricks, Charlie Musselwhite, and Mike Cooper.

Duck was born Richard R. Baker IV in 1949 and grew up in Richmond, Virginia. His teenage years were devoted to playing in rock and blues bands before becoming interested in fingerpicking blues and old-time country in local coffeehouses. Ragtime pianist Buck Evans was a major influence on Baker’s evolution, exposing the young guitarist to ragtime and early jazz at a time when they had been largely forgotten. By the time he moved to San Francisco in the early seventies, Duck was performing the wide range of material heard on his first record, There’s Something for Everyone in America (Kicking Mule Records, 1976). During his San Francisco sojourn he worked regularly in a bluegrass band and also tapped into the burgeoning swing and traditional jazz scene, in which young musicians like Duck, Tom Keats, Tony Marcus and Paul Shelasky learned from Bay Area veterans like pianist Burt Bales and clarinetist Bob Helms.

In the late seventies, Baker recorded four more solo records, including the first ever solo guitar record of Irish and Scottish music (The Kid on the Mountain, Kicking Mule). He also began touring as a soloist, traveling throughout North America, Western Europe, and Australia. He eventually moved to Europe where he was based for nine years before returning to San Francisco in 1986. He became a familiar figure at Irish pub sessions in London, and in the mid-eighties formed a musical association with County Galway fiddler Kieran Fahy that lasted for over ten years.

Upon returning to London to live in 2004, Baker and singer/flautist Maggie Boyle began a trio with fiddler Ben Paley devoted to exploring the ties between Irish and American traditional music, called The Expatriate Game. Many of Duck’s recordings since 1980 have focused on his own compositions, but he also made recordings of blues and gospel material, a collection of early European Christmas carols, another devoted to Irish and Scottish tunes, a collaboration with Kieran Fahy, and two highly acclaimed CD’s with the great Appalachian traditional singer Molly Andrews. Baker has also written several books on fingerstyle guitar and made numerous tutorial videos.

“Duck Baker is a true genius of the guitar.”  – Stefan Grossman
“I think he sets a standard we all can aspire to.”  – Leo Kottke
“Listening to Duck Baker makes me feel good.” – Charlie Byrd
“One of the most interesting pickers around” – Chet Atkins