Riley Baker: Swingin’ in the Golden State

Multi-instrumentalist Riley Baker is a California native. He is the son of musician Clint Baker and the brother of  TST contributing writer Ramona Baker. Riley is one of the youngest musicians playing Traditional Jazz and Swing today, but he is also one of the most accomplished and highly-regarded by everyone who has heard him perform. Hal Smith: You certainly have music in your DNA. How old were you when you started listening to music? Riley Baker: You are very right, Music has always been a part of my life. I think I’ve been listening to music before I could remember. Since my mother works at KSCM (the West Coast Jazz radio powerhouse) the radio was always on and if it wasn’t, the record machine was blasting the daily flavor of jazz, classical, soul, rock—you name it. What were some of the recordings that attracted you to various types of music? One of my most prized possessions of my childhood was an old iPod my dad gave me. My father had built such a vast musical library that I was instantly exposed to all kinds of music. Playlists of traditional French Creole and Caribbean music, George Solti and the Vienna Philharmonic, and of course, hundreds upon hundreds of trad jazz records and albums. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can trace it back to any specific recordin