Former Hendrix drummer dies
2008-02-28 12:00
Los Angeles - Drummer Buddy Miles,
who played with Jimi Hendrix in his short-lived group, Band of
Gypsys, died at his home in Austin, Texas on Tuesday, his
publicist said.
Miles, who was 60, suffered from congestive heart failure,
Duane Lee said on Wednesday. He did not know the official cause
of death.
With his bombastic style, the former teen prodigy helped
develop such musical forms as funk metal and acid jazz thanks
to his work with such guitarists as John McLaughlin, Mike
Bloomfield and Carlos Santana.
In 1967, he and Bloomfield co-founded Electric Flag, whose
rock-brass sound influenced Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears.
But Miles is probably best known for his stint with Band of
Gypsys, an all-black group put together by Hendrix in 1969
after the dissolution of the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Afrocentric, polyrhythmic groove
Miles and bass player Billy Cox, an old Army buddy of
Hendrix's, kicked the guitarist into a higher gear with an
Afrocentric, polyrhythmic groove.
The funky sound marked a strong contrast from the melodic
stylings of Hendrix's English band mates in the Experience,
drummer Mitch Mitchell and bass player Noel Redding.
The Band of Gypsys are immortalised on an acclaimed album
of the same name, which drew from four shows performed on New
Year's Eve and New Year's Day 1970 at the Fillmore East in New
York City. Miles contributed two of his own compositions, We
Gotta Live Together and Changes.
"All the shows were bad-ass," Miles told Seconds magazine
in 1995. "It was the highlight of my life, and I had a good
time playing those shows. That was vintage James Marshall
Hendrix."
Disastrous performance
But the group crumbled following a disastrous performance
at Madison Square Garden later in January.
Hendrix eventually
reunited with Mitchell and started work on a new album before
dying of an accidental overdose in September 1970.
Miles kept busy working with the likes of Stevie Wonder,
Muddy Waters, Barry White and David Bowie.
Asked by Seconds how he would like to be remembered, Miles
said: "The baddest of the bad. People say I'm the baddest
drummer. If that's true, thank you world."