Radcliffe "Bakes" Baker

                          Radcliffe Baker aka Bakes

THE EVOLUTION OF STEELPAN (South Trinidad)

Meet the Baker, the Panman, the Bandleader

Steelpan researcher Hollis John Clifton goes into the memory of Radcliffe “Bakes” Baker at his home on Black Street, San Fernando, Trinidad & Tobago on his contribution to the only percussion musical instrument founded since the twentieth century. 

In his effort to fulfill a childhood dream to become a panman Radcliffe Baker enlisted as a member of Destroyers Steelband at the age of 17. The band was then located at the corner of Marryat and Cooper Streets in San Fernando, Trinidad. “Bakes” as he was fondly called resided on Drayton Street then, and he used to lime with a side from on the Coffee named “Limers” with whom he attended fetes and bazaars, among other pleasurable activities.

Baker, now eighty one years young, was employed at TCL (Trinidad Cement Limited) as a rigger but his basic trade was that of a mechanic as he had successfully completed his apprenticeship at TGR (Trinidad Government Railways). In those days TGR was located at “Channel” – the waterfront Kings Wharf, San Fernando. That location is now used by PTSC as a bus garage.

As a visionary Bakes always believed that pan would reach the standard that it has today. He, nonetheless, had a job attempting to convince his cohorts as they felt that classical music was not suited for pan but rather for traditional orchestras which embraced violins and other wind instruments - trumpet or flute. He cited the days of the Trinidad and Tobago born renowned pianist Winifred Atwell and he collaboration with the legendary Pan Am North Stars steelband in 1969 deep “Down Under” in their world tour. This resulted in the album “Ivory and Steel”.

                                    Radcliffe & wife Judith

The Coffee Boy, Bakes, procreated six sons with his wife Judith. They include Canada based Rodney who continues to play pan, though in church these days; Raymond (deceased); Renwick, Richard, Gerrard and Valdez. Three of the boys played pan with Hillside Symphony which as the name suggest was located on (Upper) Hillside Street, a stone’s throw away from the Baker family homestead. Hillside was then led by Juno Hinds with Ali Cooper as Musical Director. Richard, Renwick and Valdez continue to be the backbone of a DJ outfit called Black Gold. 

FROM DESTROYERS TO MELODY MAKERS 

Within a year the band started a metamorphosis. A name change was in the making. The name Melody Makers emerged in lieu of Destroyers.

In the 1940s, during the formative years of pan, this definite pitch percussion instrument in the idiophone class, didn’t have many notes and “Bakes,” like all other pannist of his time was not conversant with the theory of music he, nonetheless, was a lover of classical music which he use to “hum and lala” in his effort to teach the other players. So if the band had a gig over the weekend and classical piece(s) was to be a part of the repertoire they were faced with a big challenge. They, therefore, had to create the required note(s). The ingenuity at the time on the island saw them pushing a note up or down to meet the required sound.

“Bakes” recalled that on one occasion the band had to participate at a Local Talent Show at Globe Cinema on Prince of Wales Street in San Fernando. It was a regular feature hosted by Holly Betodeau. The Destroyers came up against the likes of Southern Marines Steelband, among others.

One day as “Bakes” strolled into the pan yard he was cordially greeted by the band’s first captain, Neville “Bolvin” Sandy who informed him that he was voted captain of the band in his absence. A studded “Bakes” protested saying “Sandy alluh crazy, I don’t know anything bout pan” In response Sandy replied “… never mind that was unanimous”.

A self-effacing Baker eventually took up the challenge.

Prior to that Melody Makers was being accommodated at Rupert Bob father’s premises and as the group evolved there appeared to have been a fracas among members which did not go down too well with Bob’s father. This resulted in band being evicted. Alternative accommodation was had at La Cour Harpe Settlement – St Joseph Street, between two barracks building.

Later the outfit moved to Coffee Street at Ms Mander, under a large tamarind tree, in a barrack yard. Ms Mander was “Bolvin’s mother who turned out to be the custodian of the instruments when the band was not practicing.   

Unlike most other bands Melody Makers never had an outside tuner. Prior to Baker’s involvement with the band Neville Sandy was the tuner, cum captain. In fact there were a few guys who could have tuned pans. There was also Cyril aka “Dougla” who came from Free French. But Baker challenged him as to why would one want to leave a big band like Free French to come to play for Melody Makers – a less popular outfit?

In response Dougla recounted … “because Theo Stephens aka “Black James” won’t give him a break and he feels he could tune pan too”.  Following some deliberations the members agreed and Baker gave Dougla the opportunity to tune instruments for the band. With time fresh barrels were acquired and the band went further into tuning its own pans. As it panned out Baker admitted that he was much more skilled than the others as he actually prepared the barrels for tuning ie cut, sink, grove and burn. When the instruments returned from the tuner he would further clean and polish them.

Between Dougla and himself they were able to place the notes which were deficient in the original set of Destroyers pans. Eventually, however, Sandy emerged as the background tuner specialist while Dougla focused on the front line pans.

It is interesting to note that in 1949 another band with the same name of Melody Makers emerged though, briefly, in Port of Spain under contrasting circumstances. Through share determination Curtis Pierre defied his middle class Portuguese parents when he got involved in the poor Afro centric subculture. During his student tenure at St Mary’s College he recruited some of his cohorts of White, Portuguese, Chinese and Black middle class backgrounds. As leader of the band Pierre changed the band’s name from Melody Makers to Dixieland in 1951 when they paraded the streets for the first time during carnival. Many moons later the said Pierre were to become a Lawyer cum Social Worker where he kept himself busy defending steelbandsmen in the courts of law and organizing the movement into a representative body.

THE EFFECT OF TASPO ON THE STEELBAND MOVEMENT

Dougla remained in the band in excess of two years after which he migrated to the United Kingdom just after the Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra (TASPO) appeared at the Festival of Britain on the South Bank on July 26^th 1951. The experience of TASPO caused the bands in Trinidad & Tobago to progress from playing pan around the neck to the use of stands.

 The departure of Douglar heralded the emergence of Edwin “Fire” Jack as a tuner from within the band.

  L-R – Lennox “Gunz” Gonzalez, Keith Cassiram, Michael “Scobie” Joseph, Radcliff                                                  “Bakes” Baker, Angus Lalsingh

Baker recalled that Lieutenant Griffith (of Barbados) who was the musical director of the T&T Police Band was given the opportunity to prepare the TASPO for the trip to the UK. He was in fact on his way to undertake further studies in music in the UK when he was made the offer.

Melody Makers met its demise when Baker threw in the towel after the island’s premier music festival which was held at Empire Cinema in San Fernando. A union among Free French, Metronomes and Southern All Stars appeared evident as Free French and Metronomes merged in 1959 and participated in the music festival. Melody Makers were victorious playing “Mambo Granada and Gold and Silver Waltz”.  Southern Symphony emerged second with a piece entitled “Alma Llanera”. The lineup included Cross Winds, among other steel orchestras.

The circumstances saw Sandy going to Port of Spain to join forces with Carib Tokoyo as a bass player. He was so skilled on the bass that they gave him the sobriquet “Baseman”. George aka “Starlight”, one of the best tenor players migrated to the United Kingdom; Carlton “Screw punch” Wallace joined Cavaliers as a tenor player.

An interesting character of the band was Tunkey Boy (of East Indian descent). He never played pan during rehearsals but, will take a knock after practice. Vic Lange used to attempt to teach music to the players by writing the chord structures on the board. The seasoned players, however, never showed any interest except for Tunkey Boy who would write down the theory in a copy book. The two Ferguson brothers, Collin & Ken, who were also accomplished guitarists, got so frustrated that they eventually pulled out and formed their own combo side in Volt Express. In fact they used to have to walk from Ste Madeline to de Coffee and back for practice.  

  

THE SOCIOCULTURAL IMPACT OF PAN

During the 1950s steelbands were a must at carnival fetes. The more popular dance halls included Eastern Unity, Windsor Hall, The Loan, Hart and Hand Lodge, The Coterie, E C School (Coffee EC). J’ouvert morning at the culmination of fetes it was customary for all partygoers to head for the Coffee. Most revelers were waiting for Melody Makers to chip down the road. Such was the popularity of the band. It’s interesting to note that all the fete venues were on or around Coffee Street.     

In the year 1956 Melody Makers participated in a competition in which there was a test piece plus two tunes of choice. The venue was St Benedicts College Grounds (now called Presentation College Grounds). The test piece was Toselli’s Serenade – the said piece which was played at the Festival of Britain in 1952. Other band included Sea Bees and another one from Princes Town. Melody Makers had a lineup which included some seven ping pong players. The players included Starlight, Screw Punch, Padmore, Stork St Hill, Dougla, Cyril “Skull” Barker Cedrick and Freddie Whorwood and Carlton “Musmus” Lynch on guitar. He will be remembered for tuning his own pan so that when Makers folded he teamed up with Winston Moore as a tuner.   

According to Bakes people from North Trinidad only recognised one band from South – Free French. He recalled Oscar Pile leaving Port of Spain on a visit to San Fernando scouting for players with the intention of forming the island’s premier Steelband Association.(1950). This led to an encounter with Emile “Zola” Williams who, in the view of Bakes, erred in that he only made reference to Casablanca from where pans were had which led to the founding of Free French.

 Again, Bakes posited that Spree Simon is alleged to be originally from Point Fortin but, however, his family engaged in internal migration in an effort to gain social mobility and they thus ended up in the nation’s capital, Port of Spain.

THE EFFECT OF THE WORLD WAR ON THE STEELBAND MOVEMENT

It is argued that the first steelband emerged from Kings Wharf in San Fernando; whereas the first steelpan is said to have been made from a TM&R drum (coconut oil container). It was much smaller than the present 40 gallon drum now commonly used in shaping the only musical instrument to have emerged since the twentieth century. It was played with the use of a broom stick. Again, the first steelband to hit the road in San Fernando was Pearl Harbour, i.e. as far as he could recall. That most significant event occurred on “V-J Day.”

(On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 & 15 have been known as “Victory over Japan day,” or simply V-J Day.” The term has also been used for September 2, 1945, when Japan’s formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in in Tokoyo Bay. Coming several months after the surrender of Nazi Germany, japan’s capitulation in the Pacific brought six years of hostilities to a final and highly anticipated close.

On that occasion revelers with Pearl Harbour recited a chant as they chipped down the road

with a rhythmic motif accompanying the chant wells.  The chant was:-  

            “Chinee never had a V-J Day”

            Chorus - “Lai Fung, Lai Fung Yeea”

The man on the ping pong was “Tall Boy”. Free French went through its own transformation in that it was at one stage called “Snow” and before that “Cross of Lorraine” well before its demise as “Free French.” 

An emphatic Bakes posited that the majority of bands emerged from the bowels of Free French and Bataan. The former was located in the Bideau (a short cut leading from upper Cipero Street to Roy Joseph Scheme houses, HDC nee NHA; while the latter was located on Medine Street just behind the Ice Factory on Coffee Street.  

From his recollection some of the bands which were around during the early post war period were: Lil Carib, (Upper Hillside) Melody Makers nee Destroyers, (Coffe St.) Texas, (Train Line, Mon Repos) United Circle, (Jarvis St.) Sea Bees, (Mon Repos, Skinner Street by the Lalsinghs), Southern Marines, (Marabella), West Stars, (Springvale) Hoytonians, (La Romaine) Criss Cross, (Victoria Village), Teenage Symphony, (Prince Alfred St.), Rogues Regiment, (Irving St.)  Vibratones, (Broadway) (Hatters) Southern All Stars (Carib St.), Sundowners, Southern Symphony (Oropouche).

By   Hollis John Clifton

Pan Pan Diaspora Visionary

pandiaspora@gmail.com

If you are interested in stories like this and of how the steelpan, the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, has impacted the universe you could follow the website: www.pangenealogy.com; or contact info@pangenealogy.com.