For a single show, when Hendrix’s bass player couldn’t make the show, Baxter was the bassist in a Hendrix-led band called Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, along with fellow Manny’s employee – Randy California, the late great guitarist from Spirit. At Manny’s, Baxter met guitarist Jimi Hendrix, who was just beginning his career as a front man. While still a high school student, he worked at Manny’s Music Shop in Manhattan in 1966. In the late 50s and early 60s, if you knew three or four chords, you could play in a band.”īaxter joined his first band at age 11 – the Tarantulas. “A little while later, I got a guitar and a friend introduced me to three or four chords. “When I was 10, we were living in Mexico City, and I wanted a guitar for my birthday. “I was listening to and learning to play music before I was in school. “I asked my mom for piano lessons when I was five and she said - yes,” said Baxter, during a phone interview Wednesday morning. In 1974, Baxter left Steely Dan to join the Doobie Brothers, a band that produced such hits as “Listen to the Music,” “China Grove,” “Jesus Is Just Alright,” “Black Water” and “Long Train Runnin’.”īaxter’s love of performing goes back to when he was young – very young. In 1972 he became a founding member of Steely Dan, a band that produced such hits as “Reelin’ In the Years,” “My Old School,” “Do It Again,” and “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.”
However, if it’s Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, it makes sense.īaxter, who will headline a show at City Winery (990 Filbert Street, Philadelphia, /philadelphia) on May 5, became self-taught in missile defense systems in the 1990s, and, at one point, wrote a five-page paper that proposed converting the ship-based anti-aircraft Aegis missile into a rudimentary missile defense system. He gave the paper to California Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, and his career as a defense consultant began.īaxter’s main career began in the late 1960s – a career as one of the premier guitarists in the world of rock music and one of the most sought-after session players.Ĭasual music fans might not recognize Baxter’s name, but they almost certainly have heard his guitar work. It’s hard to imagine a guitarist who has consulting contracts with the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency. It’s hard to imagine music fans heading to a concert by a member of the NASA Exploration Systems Advisory Committee.
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