Fred Thelonious Baker is an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 guitarist and bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

ist from Tibshelf

Tibshelf

Tibshelf is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England. It is in the Bolsover district of the county. Its population at the 2001 UK census was 3,548....

, Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

. He is known for playing in Phil Miller

Phil Miller

Phil Miller is an English progressive rock/jazz guitarist who was part of the Canterbury scene.He was a member of the bands Delivery, Matching Mole, Hatfield and the North, National Health, Short Wave and has since worked in solo projects and in his band In Cahoots, which he founded in 1982...

's Canterbury scene

Canterbury Scene

The Canterbury scene is a term used to loosely describe the group of progressive rock, avant-garde and jazz musicians, many of whom were based around the city of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s...

 band In Cahoots

In Cahoots

In Cahoots is a Canterbury scene band led by guitarist Phil Miller, their main composer.The band was formed in November 1982 by Miller with Pip Pyle , Richard Sinclair and Elton Dean , as the Phil Miller Quartet. It was expanded to a quintet and given its definitive name when Peter Lemer joined...

.

Baker played the guitar until his mid-teens, at which point he began to take an interest in the bass as well. He played in The John Etheridge

John Etheridge

John Michael Glyn Etheridge is a British jazz/fusion guitarist associated with the Canterbury Scene....

/Ric Sanders

Ric Sanders

Richard 'Ric' Sanders is a British violinist who has played in jazz-rock, folk rock, electric folk and folk groups, including Soft Machine and Fairport Convention.-Biography:...

 Group in the early 1980s. He has also worked with his own group, the Fred Thelonious Baker Group who recorded a self-titled album in 1984. Baker has recorded several albums with Harry Beckett

Harry Beckett

Harold Winston "Harry" Beckett was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player.-Biography:A resident in the UK since 1954, Harry Beckett had an international reputation. In 1961, he played with Charles Mingus in the film All Night Long. In the 1960s he worked and recorded within the band of bass...

. They have also made a concert tour in Europe together. Recently, Baker accompanied Beckett's band on a Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...

 tribute tour in the UK. Other artists Baker has worked with include Horace Parlan

Horace Parlan

Horace Parlan is an American hard bop and post-bop piano player.He is noted for his contributions to the classic Charles Mingus recordings Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots....

, Vikki Clayton and Elton Dean

Elton Dean

Elton Dean was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello and occasionally keyboard....

.

Baker joined In Cahoots in April 1988, replacing their bassist Hugh Hopper

Hugh Hopper

Hugh Colin Hopper was a progressive rock and jazz fusion bass guitarist. He was a prominent member of the Canterbury scene, as a member of Soft Machine and various other related bands.-Early career:...

. He has toured and recorded six albums with them, and remains a key member of the band. He also works as a teacher at Birmingham Conservatoire.

Discography

With Phil Miller/In Cahoots

• Split Seconds (1988)
• In Cahoots Live 86–89 (1989)
• Digging In (1991)
• Double Up (guitar duo with Phil Miller, 1992)
• In Cahoots Live in Japan (1993)
• Recent Discoveries (1994)
• Parallel (1996)
• Out of the Blue (2001)
• All That (2003)
• Conspiracy Theories (2007)

With Harry Beckett

• Bremen Concert (1987)
• Live, Vol. 2 (1987)
• All Four One (1991)

Solo recordings

• Fred Thelonious Baker Group (1984)
• Missing Link (1999)

External links

• 1999 Interview with Baker from Calyx