1. Mickey Baker's mother was black, and his father, whom he never met, was believed to be white.
19 Facts About Mickey Baker
1. 2.
In 1936, at the age of 11, Baker was put into an orphanage.
3.
Mickey Baker ran away frequently, and had to be retrieved by the staff from St Louis, New York City, Chicago, and Pittsburgh.
4.
Mickey Baker found work as a laborer and then a dishwasher, but after hanging out in the pool halls of 26th Street, he gave up regular work to become a full-time pool shark.
5.
Mickey Baker enrolled at The New York School of Music, but found the learning pace too slow, so he dropped out and resolved to teach himself instead only to give up shortly afterwards.
6.
Mickey Baker decided to move west, but found that audiences there were not receptive to progressive jazz music.
7.
Mickey Baker was stranded without work in California when he saw a show by blues guitarist Pee Wee Crayton.
8.
Mickey Baker found a few jobs in Richmond, California, and made enough money to return to New York.
9.
Mickey Baker did sessions with Doc Pomus, The Drifters, Ray Charles, Ivory Joe Hunter, Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner, Louis Jordan, Coleman Hawkins, Dion and numerous other artists.
10.
In late 1959, Mickey Baker released his debut solo album, The Wildest Guitar, on Atlantic.
11.
Mickey Baker would remain in France for the rest of his life.
12.
Up until the end of his life, Mickey Baker was rarely without work.
13.
Mickey Baker appeared at the 1975 version of the Roskilde Festival.
14.
Some media sources claimed that Mickey Baker had grown tired of the business aspects of the commercial music industry in the United States, while others stated that the bi-racial Mickey Baker was angered by the growing rate of hate crimes in the Southern United States, during the burgeoning civil rights movement.
15.
Mickey Baker guarded his personal life as much as possible, giving few interviews and making only sporadic public appearances.
16.
Mickey Baker died on November 27,2012, near Toulouse, France, aged 87.
17.
Mickey Baker's self-tuition method book series, the Complete Course in Jazz Guitar is a mainstay for introducing students of guitar to the world of jazz.
18.
In 1999, Mickey Baker received the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.
19.
In 2003, Mickey Baker was listed at No 53 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".