Newman Taylor Baker

Newman Taylor Baker, Arts for Art - Vision Festival 2024. Photo by Marek Lazarski Newman Taylor Baker (born February 4, 1943) is a jazz drummer and a washboard player.

Early life Newman Taylor Baker's paternal grandfather, Thomas Nelson Baker Sr., was the only former slave to receive a PhD from Yale University (1906). His father and siblings graduated from Oberlin College and Conservatory. Edith Baker (voice and piano), Ruth B. Baker (voice and piano), and Harry B. Baker (piano and organ), his aunts and uncle, were graduates of Oberlin Conservatory of Music. His maternal grandfather, Reverend Newman D. Taylor, known as the "Roland Hayes" of Mississippi, gave vocal recitals throughout the state and his uncle, Newman C. Taylor, accompanied him on piano. His aunt, India Taylor Johnson (a classmate of Dr. Billy Taylor at Virginia State University), was a vocal music and piano teacher in the Norfolk, VA public school system.

His parents were Ruth Taylor Baker, born Yazoo City, Mississippi, and Dr. T. Nelson Baker, Jr., born Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Newman's mother was an associate professor of English, and his father was head of the chemistry department. He sang bass in the a cappella choir and played oboe in the concert band and the symphony orchestra. His parents played four-hand transcriptions of Brahms and Beethoven symphonies at home. They lived on the campus in faculty housing. Newman's brother, Dr. T. Nelson Baker, III, was Newman's source for recordings of Max Roach and Clifford Brown, Horace Silver, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Ella Fitzgerald, Art Blakey, and many others.

Newman Taylor Baker received his first drum the Christmas before he turned three; soon he was playing at home with jazz and classical recordings. Growing up on the campus of Virginia State University, he attended performances of leading international artists and orchestras. He was mentored by members of the music faculty. He began formal study of drums at five years as a member of the children's band for the campus elementary school and played in the university concert band from fourth-seventh grade. He was the youngest member of both bands.

As a child, and later as a college student, Baker studied with Virginia State University music faculty members including Dr. F. Nathaniel Gatlin, Dr. Undine S. Moore, and Dr. Thomas C. Bridge. Baker is a graduate of Kent School in 1961 and earned a Bachelor of Science with a major in education from Virginia State University. He went on to study with Fred Begun, solo timpanist National Symphony Orchestra Washington, D.C., and Harold Jones, School of Music East Carolina University at Greenville, North Carolina, where he completed a Master of Music in Education. Settling in New York City, he studied with Saul Goodman, solo timpanist New York Philharmonic Repertoire Institute, and Billy Hart. WashboardXT has appeared at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina; Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco, California; Port Townsend Blues Camp and Festival in Port Townsend, Washington, three cities in Bulgaria under the auspices of the U.S. Embassy and collaborated with the Irish traditional band Téada on a series of U.S. concerts. Newman has also played washboard with percussionist Warren Smith at the Stone; at the Williamsburgh Music Center with Steve Berrios, Gerry Eastman, Joe Ford and Carlton Holmes, and at the 2013 Washboard Music Festival in Logan, Ohio.

Singin' Drums His solo drumset project, Singin' Drums, premiered at the Williamsburgh Music Center in 1995 and grew with projects Virginia Peanuts Meets Buffalo Chips with saxophonist Joe Ford (The Internet Cafe 1996) and Sound of the Drum/Language of the Heart with dancer/choreographer Mickey Davidson (The Internet Cafe/JVC Jazz Festival 1997). In 1997, he collaborated with Horacee Arnold in Dialogue for 2001: A Duet for Drumset, as part of Many Festival, Performance on 42nd, Whitney Museum of American Art. See Discography below for two recordings of Singin' Drums on Innova label. In 1999, Singin' Drums was presented live-in-concert on Jazz Corner, the BETA Award-winning New York cable TV jazz show. As artistic director for A Celebration of the Drum Set: Give The Drummer Some, on the opening night of the Warwick Summer Arts Festival 2001 Warwick, NY, he performed Singin' Drums, and presented guest artists Steve Berrios and Susie Ibarra in solo and trio settings. In 2012, Baker collaborated with his niece, mezzo-soprano Andrea Baker, along with pianist Richard Lewis, on Singin' Drums: Voice and Drum which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.

Touring Baker has performed internationally with Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Kenny Barron, Henry Grimes, John Hicks, Kevin Eubanks, Ahmad Jamal, Yvette Glover, Tom Harrell, James Moody, Lou Donaldson, Gloria Lynne, Frank Morgan, Cecil Bridgewater, Benny Powell, Stanley Cowell, John Blake, Jymie Merritt, Frode Gjerstad, Marilyn Crispell, Bobby Bradford, Leroy Jenkins, Myra Melford, Eileen Fulton, Billy Harper Quintet, Henry Threadgill Sextett, Billy Bang Quintet, Francesca Tanksley Trio, Reggie Workman's Topshelf, Sam Rivers Quartet, Charlie Rouse's Cinnamon Flower, Diedre Murray and Fred Hopkins, Gerry Eastman Quartet, Jeanne Lee Quartet, Craig Harris and Tailgator's Tales, Bern Nix, Bobby Zankel, Abdullah Ibrahim and Ekaya, Ebony Hillbillies, and the Monnette Sudler Quartet. He has participated in USIA tours to Turkey, Poland, Romania, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia. (music by Leroy Jenkins, libretto by Homer Jackson), 2001 Running Man, Obie Award (music by Diedre Murray with text by Cornelius Eady), 1999 Walcott Songs (music by Henry Threadgill, with poetry by Derek Walcott), 1998 You Don't Miss the Water (music by Diedre Murray, words by Cornelius Eady), 1997 Mu Lan Pi (music and text by Diedre Murray), 1996 Unending Pain (music and text by Diedre Murray), 1996 A Sense of Breath (music by Jeanne Lee, choreography by Mickey Davidson, text by Ntozake Shange), 1991 National Broadway tours: Jelly's Last Jam, Your Arms Too Short to Box with God, Don't Play Us Cheap, Jesus Christ Superstar, Oliver!, Ann Corio's This Was Burlesque

Teaching artist Baker offers clinics and master classes in collaboration with saxophonist Sylwester Ostrowski to music conservatories throughout Poland. With Mickey D and Friends and the Avodah Dance Company, Baker brings dance/music residencies and workshops to schools, communities, and correctional facilities throughout the U.S. He has also led masterclasses through such organizations as Jazzmobile, Young Audiences, and Arts Horizons, and served as faculty at Rutgers University-Newark, Widener College, Livingstone College and Shaw University. Baker also teaches privately. and grants from Meet The Composer and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Discography

As soloist Drum Suite Life (Innova, 2013) The NYFA Collection (Innova, 2011)

As ensemble member With Vienna Carroll Harlem Field Recordings (Independent, 2020) With Matthew Shipp The Unidentifiable (ESP-Disk', 2020) Signature (ESP-Disk', 2019) Piano Song (Thirsty Ear Records, 2017) The Conduct of Jazz (Thirsty Ear Records, 2015) With Sylwester Ostrowski and SO Jazz Kansas City Here I Come, Deborah Brown Quartet featuring Sylwester Ostrowski with the NFM Leopoldinum and Kevin Mahogany, (Agora S.A., 2016) Just Music, Makoto Kuriya and Sylwester Ostrowski Quintet (P-Vine Records, 2014) Don't Explain (Jazzmania Nordea, 2013) When The Groove Is Low (SO Jazz Records, 2011) With Jemeel Moondoc The Zookeeper's House (Relative Pitch Records, 2014) The Astral Revelations (RogueArt, 2018) With Ted Daniel Zulu's Ball – Ted Daniel Plays The Music Of King Oliver (Altura, 2017) With The Ebony Hillbillies Barefoot and Flyings (2011) With Billy Bang Da Bang! (Tum Records, 2013) Prayer for Peace (Tum Records, 2010) With David Schnitter The Spirit of Things (CIMP, 2008) With Henry Grimes Live at Edgefest, Ann Arbor, MI (HenryGrimes.com, 2006) Sublime Communication (HenryGrimes.com, 2005) With Bobby Few & Avram Fefer 4tet Sanctuary (CIMP, 2006) With Judi Silvano Let Yourself Go (Zoho, 2004) With Patrick Brennan The Drum Is Honor Enough (CIMP, 2004) Rapt Circle (CIMP, 2004) With Carl Grubbs Stepping Around the Giant (CIMP, 2002) With Francesca Tanksley Journey (DreamCaller, 2002) With the Billy Harper Quintet Destiny Is Yours (Steeplecase, 1990) Live on Tour in the Far East (Steeplecase, 1991) Live on Tour in the Far East Vol. 2 (Steeplecase, 1991) Live on Tour in the Far East Vol. 3 (Steeplecase, 1991) Somalia (Evidence, 1995) If Our Hearts Could Only See (DIW, 1997) Soul of an Angel (Metropolitan, 2000) With Yuka Aikawa All Beings in the Whole Universal (Kings Records, 1999) With the Bobby Zankel Trio Human Flowers (CIMP, 1996) With Diedre Murray and Fred Hopkins Stringology (Black Saint, 1994) Prophecy (About Time, 1991) With the Bern Nix Trio Alarms and Excursions (New World Records, 1993) With Jeanne Lee Natural Affinities (Owl Records, 1992) With Gerry Eastman Songbook (WMC Records, 1995) Native Son (WMC Records, 1992) My Real Self (WMC Records, 1986) With the Henry Threadgill Sextett Rag, Bush and All (RCA/Novus, 1989) With Haze Greenfield All About You (Black Hawk Records, 1987) With Monnette Sudler Live in Europe (Steeplecase, 1979) Brighter Days (Steeplecase, 1978) Time for a Change (Inner City Records/Steeplecase, 1977) With Cullen Knight Looking Up (Tree Top Records, 1978)

Media One in 7 (Healing Voice-Personal Stories, 2021) Meet 'Washboard XT' musician plays washboard in honor of enslaved grandfather (ABC7NY WABC-TV, 2020) Interview with Tomasz Dec, host of Kind of Jazz (Akademinicke Radio Pormorze, Szczecin, Poland, 2015) Avodah Dance Ensemble with Newman Taylor Baker, Resident Musician (Avodah Dance, 2014) Lawrence D. Butch Morris: Black February (Vipal Monga, 2012) Billy Bang: Long Over Due (Oscar Sanders/Malcolm Entertainment, 2012)