Editing David Baker (composer)

{{short description|American jazz musician (1931–2016)}}
{{Other people|David Baker}}
{{use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name         = David Baker
| image        = David Baker (far left) leading the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra.jpg
| landscape    = yes
| caption      = David Baker (far left) leads the [[Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra]] during the [[NEA Jazz Masters]] awards ceremony and concert in 2008.
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|1931|12|21}}
| birth_place  = [[Indianapolis]], Indiana, U.S.
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|2016|3|26|1931|12|21}}
| death_place  = [[Bloomington, Indiana]]
| genre        = [[Jazz]], [[classical music|classical]]
| occupation   = Musician, composer, educator, author
| instrument   = Trombone, cello
| years_active = 1950s–2016
}}

'''David Nathaniel Baker Jr.''' (December 21, 1931 – March 26, 2016) was an American [[jazz]] composer, conductor, and musician from [[Indianapolis]], as well as a professor of jazz studies at the Indiana University [[Jacobs School of Music]]. Baker is best known as an educator and founder of the jazz studies program. From 1991 to 2012, he was conductor and musical and artistic director for the [[Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra]]. He has more than 65 recordings, 70 books, and 400 articles to his credit.

He received the [[James Smithson Medal]] from the Smithsonian Institution, an [[NEA Jazz Masters|American Jazz Masters]] Award, a National Association of Jazz Educators Hall of Fame Award, a [[Sagamore of the Wabash]] award, and a Governor's Arts Award from the State of Indiana. Baker also held leadership positions in several arts and music associations. The [[Indiana Historical Society]] named Baker an Indiana Living Legend in 2001. The [[John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts]] named him a Living Jazz Legend in 2007.

==Early life and education==
David Nathaniel Baker Jr. was born in [[Indianapolis]], Indiana, on December 21, 1931, to Patress Lasley Baker and David N. Baker Sr., a postal carrier. His siblings included two sisters, Shirley and Clela, and a brother, Archie.<ref name=HTonline>{{cite news|title=David N. Baker Jr., 84|type=obituary|newspaper=[[The Herald-Times]]|location=Bloomington, Indiana|date=March 31, 2016 |url=https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/obituaries/obituaries-march/article_691eeda8-c591-533d-ba64-9f2419d52863.html |access-date=July 2, 2018 |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811103305/https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/obituaries/story-obituaries-2016-03-31-obituaries-march-31-2016-47909689 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="De Lerma">Liner note essay in {{cite web|author=Dominique-Rene De Lerma |url=http://www.dramonline.org/albums/african-heritage-symphonic-series-vol-iii/notes|title=African Heritage Symphonic Series Vol. III |work=CDR066 |publisher=Cedille Records |access-date=June 29, 2018}}</ref>

Baker attended [[Indianapolis Public Schools]] and graduated from [[Crispus Attucks High School]], a segregated public school for [[African Americans|African American]] students.<ref name=Higgins>{{cite news|author=Will Higgins|title=David Baker's unplanned yet remarkable life|newspaper=[[The Indianapolis Star]]|location=Indianapolis, Indiana |date=March 30, 2016|url=https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2016/03/30/david-bakers-unplanned-yet-remarkable-life/82338144/|access-date=July 2, 2018}}</ref> He continued his education at [[Indiana University Bloomington|Indiana University]] in [[Bloomington, Indiana]], where he earned a [[bachelor's degree]] in music education in 1953 and a [[master's degree]] in music education in 1954. Baker also studied with [[J. J. Johnson]], [[János Starker]], and [[George Russell (composer)|George Russell]]<ref name="IU page">{{cite web|title=David N. Baker|publisher=Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University |url=http://info.music.indiana.edu/sb/page/normal/22.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061024203824/http://info.music.indiana.edu/sb/page/normal/22.html |access-date=October 24, 2006 |archive-date=October 24, 2006}}</ref> and attended the [[Lenox School of Jazz]] in [[Lenox, Massachusetts]], from 1959 to 1960 on a scholarship.<ref name=Trombone>{{cite web|title=David Baker |work=Trombone Page of the World |publisher=Rene Laanen, Trombone Page of the World |date=September 16, 2015 |url= http://www.trombone-usa.com/baker_david_bio.htm |access-date=June 29, 2018}}</ref>

==Marriage and family==
Baker eloped from Missouri, where he began working as a university professor in 1955, to Chicago, Illinois, to marry Eugenia ("Jeanne") Marie Jones.<ref name="Legacy">{{cite book | author1=[[Monika Herzig]]|author2=Nathan Davis| title=David Baker: A Legacy in Music |location=Bloomington |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2011 |pages=20–21 |edition=Print| isbn =9780253356574}}</ref> Baker and his first wife, Jeanne, were the parents of a daughter, April. The marriage ended in divorce.<ref name=NYT>{{cite news| author=[[Margalit Fox]]| title =David Baker, Who Helped Bring Jazz Studies into the Academy, Dies at 84 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| date = March 29, 2016| url =https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/arts/music/david-baker-who-helped-bring-jazz-studies-into-the-academy-dies-at-84.html | access-date =June 29, 2018}}</ref> Baker had a granddaughter, Kirsten, and a great-grandson, Dylan.<ref name=Buckley>{{cite news|author=Madeline Buckley |title=David Baker, jazz teacher and musician, dies at 84|newspaper=[[The Indianapolis Star]]|date=March 26, 2016 |url=http://www.indystar.com/story/entertainment/music/2016/03/26/david-baker/82293442/ | access-date =June 29, 2018}}</ref> Baker's second marriage was to [[flautist]] Lida Belt.<ref name=NYT/>

==Career==
Trained as a music educator and trombonist, Baker spent the early part of his career in the 1940s and 1950s as a jazz musician, performing and recording in the United States and in Europe. A facial injury suffered in an automobile accident in 1953 ended his career as a trombonist, but Baker switched to cello and turned his attention to teaching and musical composition. In 1966 he joined the music faculty at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he established the school's jazz studies program. He was later named an IU distinguished professor and chair of the university's Jazz Studies department in the [[Jacobs School of Music]]. In addition, he became one of the co-musical directors of the [[Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra]] in 1991. He composed music, mostly on commission, and wrote hundreds of scholarly works related to music. He was active in numerous musical arts organizations.<ref name="De Lerma"/><ref name="IU page"/>

===Early years===
After earning his master's degree from Indiana in 1954, he began teaching at [[Lincoln University (Missouri)|Lincoln University]] in [[Jefferson City, Missouri]], in 1955.<ref name=HTonline/> Lincoln, a historically black institution, had recently begun to admit white students to diversify its student body; however, Baker had to resign from his teaching position after he married Eugenia ("Jeanne") Marie Jones, a white opera singer, due to Missouri's anti-[[miscegenation]] laws.<ref name="Legacy"/> One of his students at Lincoln was the composer [[John Elwood Price]].<ref name="Biblio">{{cite web | author=Calvert Johnson| title=Organ Works by Composers from Africa and the African Diaspora: Bibliography | url=https://www.agohq.org/ | publisher=American Guild of Organists | year=2013 | access-date=January 16, 2016}}</ref> Baker returned to Indiana and taught private music lessons in Indianapolis and performed in local bands. He did not resume his academic teaching career until 1966.<ref name="De Lerma"/>

===Musical performer===
Baker began performing as a trombonist in Indianapolis during high school and college. He played in clubs along [[Indiana Avenue]], the heart of the city's jazz scene of the late 1940s and early 1950s, with [[Jimmy Coe]], [[Slide Hampton]], J. J. Johnson, and [[Wes Montgomery]]. He mentored [[Freddie Hubbard]] and [[Larry Ridley]].<ref name=HTonline/> He later credited the Hampton family, especially noted jazz trombonist Slide Hampton, for mentoring him in his early years. The Hamptons let him and other local musicians rehearse with their family's jazz band at their Indianapolis home.<ref name=Conversation>{{cite web| author=David Johnson| title =The Basics of David Baker: A Conversation | work =Night Lights | publisher =Indiana Public Media | date =August 28, 2007 | url =https://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/the-basics-of-david-baker-a-conversation/ | access-date =July 2, 2018}}</ref>

During the 1950s Baker played in several big bands, including [[Lionel Hampton]]'s orchestra. After moving to California in 1956, he played with the West Coast jazz orchestras of [[Stan Kenton]] and [[Maynard Ferguson]] before returning to Indianapolis to lead his jazz band for two years. He performed in clubs across the United States, including the [[Five Spot Café]] in New York City with [[George Russell (composer)|George Russell]] in the late 1950s.<ref name=Conversation/><ref name=Scholarship>{{cite web | title =David N. Baker Jazz Composition Scholarship | publisher =BMI Foundation | url =https://bmifoundation.org/programs/info/david_n._baker_jazz_composition_scholarship | access-date =June 29, 2018 | archive-date =July 2, 2018 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20180702233152/https://bmifoundation.org/programs/info/david_n._baker_jazz_composition_scholarship | url-status =dead }}</ref> In 1960 he toured Europe as a member of [[Quincy Jones]]'s band.<ref name=Trombone/> He also performed in Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand during his more than sixty-year career.<ref name=Buckley/>

Baker abandoned the trombone after a car accident in 1953 injured his jaw, but he began learning to play the cello in the early 1960s. Although he played trombone on the George Russell Sextet's album ''[[Ezz-thetics]]'' (1961), after sustaining the injury, Baker switched to cello for [[Charles Tyler (musician)|Charles Tyler]]'s album, ''[[Eastern Man Alone]]'' (1967).<ref name=Buckley/><ref>{{cite AV media notes |title=Ezz-thetics |others=George Russell |type=liner notes |year=1961 |publisher=Riverside Records |id=RLP-9375 |first=Martin |last=Williams}}</ref><ref name="Wynn">{{cite web|author=Ron Wynn|title=David Baker: Artist Biography|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/david-baker-mn0000143360/biography|website=AllMusic|access-date=November 18, 2016}}</ref> Baker was also able to play trombone with Russell's orchestra on ''Living Time'' (1972), a collaboration with [[Bill Evans]], before the jaw injury finally caused him to give up the trombone and focus on teaching and composition.<ref name=Tamarkin-Haga>{{cite magazine|author1=[[Jeff Tamarkin]]|author2=Evan Haga| title =David Baker, Composer and Educator, Dies as 84| magazine=[[JazzTimes]]| date =March 27, 2016 | url =https://jazztimes.com/news/david-baker-composer-and-educator-dies-at-84/ | access-date =July 2, 2018}}</ref>

Baker is credited on sixty-five recordings, including performances on two of Russell's albums, ''[[Stratusphunk]]'' (1960) and ''[[The Stratus Seekers]]'' (1962).<ref name=Scholarship/><ref name=Wynn/> Beginning in the 1990s he performed with his second wife, Lida Belt Baker, a classically trained flautist.<ref name=Higgins/>

===Music educator and author===
Although he began as a performer on trombone and cello, Baker is better known for his fifty-year career as a professor of jazz music and for his published works and musical compositions. Because his facial injury in 1953 largely ended the performing aspect of his career, he returned to his home state of Indiana and began a period of increased interest in musical composition and pedagogy.<ref name=Trombone/><ref name=Wynn/>

In 1966 he began teaching at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University, where he established a jazz studies program. He was the music school's second African American faculty member and its sole jazz studies instructor for his first ten years at the school.<ref name=Conversation/><ref name=NYT/> The jazz studies curriculum was approved as a degree program in 1968, a time when only about a dozen American universities taught jazz as an academic discipline.<ref name=Higgins/>

Baker eventually became an IU Distinguished Professor of Music, serving as chair of the Jazz Studies department from 1968 to 2013 and as an adjunct professor in the African American and African Diaspora Studies department.<ref name="IU page"/> His work as an educator helped make IU a highly regarded school for students of jazz. His students included [[Michael Brecker]], [[Randy Brecker]], [[Pharez Whitted]], [[Peter Erskine]], [[Jim Beard]], [[Chris Botti]], [[Shawn Pelton]], [[Jeff Hamilton (drummer)|Jeff Hamilton]], and [[Jamey Aebersold]].<ref name=Higgins/>

Baker was among the first to codify the largely aural tradition of jazz. He is credited with writing 70 books, including several on jazz, such as ''Jazz Styles & Analysis – Trombone: A History of the Jazz Trombone Via Recorded Solos'' (1973), ''Jazz Improvisation'' ( 1988), and ''David Baker's Jazz Pedagogy'' (1989).<ref name=NYT/><ref name=Baker-JI>{{cite book | last =Baker | first =David | title =Jazz Improvisation: A Comprehensive Method for All Musicians | publisher =[[Alfred Publishing]] | year =1988| isbn=0-88284-370-2}}</ref> He is also credited with writing 400 articles.<ref name=Scholarship/>

===Composer===
Baker's compositions are often cited as examples of [[third stream]] jazz, although they included traditional jazz, [[chamber music]], [[sonata]]s, [[film score]]s, and [[Symphony|symphonic]] works. He is credited with writing more than 2,000 compositions, including his concerto "Levels" (1973) which received a [[Pulitzer Prize]] nomination, and the musical score for the [[PBS]] documentary film ''For Gold and Glory'' (2003), which won him an [[Emmy Award]].<ref name=HTonline/><ref name=BakerSongbook>{{cite web| author=David Johnson| title =The David Baker Songbook | work =Night Lights | publisher =Indiana Public Media | date =December 21, 2011 | url =https://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/david-baker-songbook/ | access-date =June 29, 2018}}</ref>

Baker's best-known composition, which also received significant media attention, was Concertino for Cell Phones and Orchestra, a commission from Chicago Sinfonetta.<ref name=NYT/><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Martens |first=Cynthia |date=2006-09-28 |title=A Symphony for Cell Phones |url=https://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1540442,00.html |access-date=2024-06-13 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title='Concertino for Cell Phones' Draws in Audience|publisher=[[NPR]]|date=2 October 2006|access-date=7 June 2024|url=https://www.npr.org/2006/10/02/6180007/concertino-for-cell-phones-draws-in-audience}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pasles |first=Chris |date=2006-06-18 |title=A concertino with a too familiar ring |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jun-18-ca-artsnotes18.3-story.html |access-date=2024-06-13 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Baker's other compositions include a tribute to [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] in 1968, a violin concerto for [[Josef Gingold]], a flute concerto for James Pellerite, as well as Cello Concerto (1975), which he dedicated to cellist [[János Starker]], and "Ode to Starker" (1999).<ref name="De Lerma"/>

He received over 500 commissions from individuals and ensembles, including compositions that he wrote for Gingold, Starker, [[Ruggiero Ricci]], [[Harvey Phillips]], trumpeter David Coleman, the [[New York Philharmonic]], the [[Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra]], the [[Beaux Arts Trio]], the [[Fisk Jubilee Singers]], and the [[Audubon Quartet]], in addition to the [[Louisville Symphony]], Ohio Chamber Orchestra, and the [[International Horn Society]].<ref name="De Lerma"/> Other musical groups have recorded his compositions. The [[Buselli–Wallarab Jazz Orchestra]]'s album ''Basically Baker'' (2005) includes interpretations of his compositions, many of them written for [[big band]]s and ensembles.<ref name=BakerSongbook/>

==Later years==
In 1991, in addition to his work at IU, Baker and [[Gunther Schuller]] became the artistic and musical directors of the [[Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra]], which was founded in 1990.<ref name=NYT/> Five years later Baker became its sole artistic and musical director. He concluded his time with the orchestra in 2012 as maestro emeritus. Among the orchestra's notable performances under Baker's leadership was a concert in Egypt in 2008 when it played at the [[Cairo Opera House]], the Alexandra Opera House, and at the Pyramids.<ref name=Mansky>{{cite web| author=Jackie Mansky| title = Jazz Legend David Baker's Soaring Legacy| publisher =Smithsonian Institution | date =March 28, 2016 | url = https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/jazz-legend-david-bakers-soaring-legacy-180958584/ | access-date =July 2, 2018}}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Baker died on March 26, 2016, at the age of eighty-four in Bloomington from complications due to [[Parkinson's disease]] and [[Lewy body dementia]].<ref name=Buckley/><ref name=Higgins/>

In the 1960s he introduced jazz studies as academic discipline at Indiana University. It was accepted as an academic degree program in 1968, making it one of the earliest to be established in an American university. In addition to chairing IU's Jazz Studies department from 1968 to 2013, he served as musical and artistic director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra from 1991 to 2012. In these roles he became a leader and mentor to the next generation of jazz musicians.<ref name=Tamarkin-Haga/><ref name=Mansky/> His range of interests is reflected in the dozens of books and hundreds of articles he wrote, as well as the hundreds of musical compositions, including many that George Russell called "21st-century soul music."<ref name=Johnson>{{cite web| author=David Brent Johnson| title =David Baker's 21st-Century Soul Music | work =Take Five | publisher =[[NPR]] Music | date =January 19, 2012 | url=https://www.npr.org/sections/ablogsupreme/2012/01/19/145450813/david-bakers-21st-century-soul-music | access-date =July 2, 2018}}</ref>

==Awards and honors==
* Lifetime Achievement Award, Jazz Education Hall of Fame (1994), New Star Award for trombonists (1962), ''DownBeat'' magazine<ref name="IU page"/>
* Emmy Award, score for PBS documentary film, ''For Gold and Glory'' (2003)<ref name=HTonline/>
* [[Pulitzer Prize]] nomination, for "Levels" in 1973<ref name=Trombone/>
* [[Grammy Award]] nomination, 1979<ref name=Buckley/>
* National Association of Jazz Educators Hall of Fame Award (1981)<ref name=IUMourns>{{cite web|title=Indiana University mourns David Baker|website=Indiana University|date=March 26, 2016|url =http://archive.news.indiana.edu/releases/iu/2016/03/david-baker-tribute.shtml | access-date =July 2, 2018}}</ref>
* [[Arts Midwest]] Jazz Masters Award (1990)<ref name=IUMourns/>
* American Jazz Masters Award, National Endowment for the Arts (2000)<ref name="De Lerma"/>
* [[James Smithson Medal]], Smithsonian Institution (2002)<ref name=HTonline/>
* Satchmo Award, Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation (2014)<ref name=HTonline/>
* Living Jazz Legend, [[John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts]] (2007)<ref name=NYT/>
* Governor's Arts Award, State of Indiana (1991)<ref name=IUMourns/>
* Indiana Living Legend, [[Indiana Historical Society]] (2001)<ref name=HTonline/>
* [[Sagamore of the Wabash]], State of Indiana, (2011) <ref name=HTonline/>
* President's Award for Distinguished Teaching (1986) and the President's Medal for Excellence (2102), Indiana University<ref name=HTonline/>
* Black History Month Living Legend Award (2015), City of Bloomington, Indiana<ref name=IUMourns/>
* David N. Baker Jazz Composition Scholarship, Indiana University (2015)<ref name=Scholarship/>
* Honorary doctorate degrees from [[Wabash College]], [[Oberlin College]] (2004), and [[New England Conservatory of Music]] (2006)<ref>{{cite web|title=David Baker|website=Philadelphia Chamber Music Society|url=https://www.pcmsconcerts.org/composer/david-baker/|access-date=July 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712025342/https://www.pcmsconcerts.org/composer/david-baker/|archive-date=July 12, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Memberships==
* Former Member, National Council on the Arts<ref name=Trombone/>
* Former Board member, [[American Symphony Orchestra League]]<ref name="IU page"/>
* Former Board member, Arts Midwest<ref name=IUMourns/>
* Former Board member, Afro-American Bicentennial Hall of Fame/Museum<ref name=IUMourns/>
* Past chairperson, Jazz Advisory Panel to the Kennedy Center<ref name="IU page"/>
* Former chairperson, Jazz/Folk/Ethnic Panel of the [[National Endowment for the Arts]]<ref name="IU page"/>
* Past president and vice president, [[International Association for Jazz Education]]<ref name=Trombone/>
* Founding president, National Jazz Service Organization<ref name="IU page"/>
* Senior music consultant for the [[Smithsonian Institution]]<ref name="De Lerma"/>
* Conductor and musical and artistic director, Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, from 1991 to 2012<ref name=HTonline/>

==Selected discography==
* ''Steppin' Out'' (Liscio, 1998)<ref name=Trombone/>
* ''How to Learn Tunes'' (2000)

'''With [[John Lewis (pianist)|John Lewis]]'''
* ''[[The Golden Striker]]'' ([[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]], 1960)

'''With [[George Russell (composer)|George Russell]]'''
* ''[[Jazz in the Space Age]]'' ([[Decca Records|Decca]], 1960)
* ''[[George Russell Sextet at the Five Spot]]'' (Decca, 1960)
* ''[[Stratusphunk]]'' ([[Riverside Records|Riverside]], 1960)<ref name=Trombone/>
* ''[[George Russell Sextet in K.C.]]'' (Decca, 1961)
* ''[[Ezz-thetics]]'' (Riverside, 1961)<ref name=Trombone/>
* ''[[The Stratus Seekers]]'' (Riverside, 1962)<ref name=Trombone/>

==Selected published works==
Baker wrote more than sixty books, including:
* ''Jazz Styles & Analysis – Trombone: A History of the Jazz Trombone via Recorded Solos'' (1973)
* ''Jazz Improvisation'' (1988)<ref name=Baker-JI/>
* ''David Baker's Jazz Pedagogy'' (1989)<ref name=NYT/>

He is also credited with authoring 400 articles.<ref name=Scholarship/>

==Selected compositions==
{{Div col}}
'''Orchestra'''
* Alabama Landscape (1990)
* Alto Saxophone Concerto (1989)
* Concert Piece for Trombone and String Orchestra (1991)
* Concertino for Cellular Phones (2006)
* Concerto for Trumpet, String Orchestra, and Jazz Band (1987)
* Concerto for Two Pianos, Jazz Band, Strings, and Percussion (1976)
* Concertpiece for Viola and Orchestra (1989)
* Homage: Bartok, Bird, Duke (1988)
* Images of Childhood (1990)
* Jazz Suite for Clarinet and Orchestra: Three Ethnic Dances (1993)
* Life Cycles (1988)
* Parallel Planes (1992)
* Piece for Brass Quintet and Orchestra (1988)
* Refractions (1998)
* Shades of Blue (1993)
* Suite from The Masque of the Red Death Ballet (2002)

'''Jazz Band'''
* An Evening Thought (1978)
* Concerto for Cello and Jazz Band (1987)
* Concerto for Violin and Jazz Band (1969)
* Honesty (1961)
* Soft Summer Rain (1977)

'''Vocal'''
* Give and Take for soprano and chamber ensemble (1975)
* Some Not So Plain Old Blues for Voice and Violin Soli with Mixed Sextet (1989)
* Through this Vale of Tears: In Memoriam: Martin Luther King, Jr. for Tenor or Soprano and Piano Quintet (1986)
* Witness: Six Original Compositions in Spiritual Style for Baritone and Double Bass (1990)

'''Solo/chamber'''
* Blues (Deliver My Soul) for violin and piano (1991)
* Clarinet Sonata (1990)
* Concertpiece for Viola, Piano (1989)
* Contrasts for Piano Trio (1976)
* Duo for Clarinet and Cello (1988)
* Ethnic Variations on a Theme of Paganini for Violin, Piano (1982)
* Faces of the Blues for solo alto sax and satb sax quartet (1988)
* Five Short Pieces for Solo Piano (1970)
* Flute Sonata (1989)
* Impressions for 2 Cello (1988)
* Inspiration for Flute, Piano (1987)
* Jazz Dance Suite for Solo Piano (1989)
* Jazz Suite for Violin, Piano (1979)
* Piano Sonata No. 1 (1968)
* Piece for Solo Tuba/ Tuba Quartet (1990)
* Reflections on a Summer's Day for 8 Celli (1986)
* Roots II for Violin, Cello, Piano (1992)
* Singers of Songs, Weavers of Dreams for Cello and Percussion (1981)
* Six Poemes Noir for Flute, Piano (1981)
* Sonata for Cello and Piano (1973)
* Sonata for Solo Cello (1990)
* Sonata for Tuba & String Quartet (unspec.)
* Suite for Unaccompanied Violin (1981)
* Summer Memories for string quartet (1988)
* Theme and Variations for Woodwind Quintet (1971)
* Violin Sonata (1991)
* Woodwind Quintet No. 1 (1971)
* Woodwind Quintet: From "The Black Frontier" (1971)
{{Div col end}}

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite news|last =Harvey|first =Jay|title=Pianist Monika Herzig works to promote women in jazz|work=[[The Indianapolis Star]]| date =2010-02-07|ref=none}}

==External links==
* [https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Baker David Baker], ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''
* [https://keisersouthernmusic.com/composers/david-baker Composer's page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913002522/https://keisersouthernmusic.com/composers/david-baker |date=September 13, 2018 }} on Keisersouthernmusic.com
* {{cite Grove|last=Crain|first=Timothy M.|title=Baker, David (Nathaniel)|id=A2227656|date=2013|ref=none}}

{{Portal bar|Biography|Jazz|Classical music}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, David}}
[[Category:1931 births]]
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[[Category:African-American classical composers]]
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