Legendary producer, DJ and remixer Arthur Baker has announced a memoir. Looking for A Perfect Beat will be published by Faber on 27th March 2025.
The reflective book focuses on memories “remixing and reshaping hip-hop, rock & rhythms”, exploring a career that began with soul sets in Boston nightclubs during the early-1970s before moving to New York at the start of the following decade. There, Russell shot to acclaim — and copyright notoriety — by using ‘cut and paste’ sampling to transform Kraftwerk’s ‘Trans-Europe Express’ into Afrika Bambaataa and Planet Patrol’s iconic electronic-hip hop landmark, ‘Planet Rock’.
Russell is also known for inviting DJs to remix and sit in on recording sessions to offer input on how to maximise dancefloor impact. Over the course of a career now spanning more than 50 years, he has worked with the likes of New Order, Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, The Rolling Stones, Al Green, Pet Shop Boys, Quincy Jones, Hall & Oates, Neneh Cherry, Mogwai and Fleetwood Mac, to name but a few.
More recently, 2024 has seen Russell collaborating with hip hop star Nas on a Broadway musical adaptation of ‘Beat Street‘, a landmark rap movie. He also continues to host the Baker’s Revenge show on SiriusXM and in October contributed a previously unreleased collaboration with late-jazz legend Pharaoh Saunders, ‘Love Hymn’, to ‘TRAИƧA‘, a compilation raising awareness for trans rights.
Buy Looking for A Perfect Beat here.
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