Cleve Baker

As a youngster after the War, Cleve Baker was turned on to the Traditional Jazz of Lu Watters that he heard on the radio, including live ragtime played by Wally Rose, long before ragtime was revived by The Sting.

He was "hooked" by the history of the music, its composers and how it has played a role in the social history of the United States.

Cleve did his first paying gig at the Red Garter, during his senior year at Stanford Medical School. He has enjoyed playing with a Dixieland band in the North Bay, the Dixon Phirehouse Philharmonics Band, for over 30 years. He's also played with small jazz bands in the Sacramento area and on cruise ships.

At this festival, Cleve will focus on compositions created during the San Francisco Traditional Jazz Revival by Lu Watters, Turk Murphy and Pete Clute, as well as the Ragtime and Traditional New Orleans Jazz which was the object of the San Francisco revival.