HENDRIX DRUMMER BUDDY MILES DIES
“The baddest of the bad,” drummer Buddy Miles anchored Band of Gypsys, Jimi Hendrix’s second legendary trio. Miles held down an insanely deep and funky pocket for Band of Gypsys, adding blues-y backing vocals that played as a kind of call and response to many of Hendrix’s riffs. Though short-lived, Band of Gypsys had a lasting influence among groups in many genres, from funk, to metal, to acid jazz – and certainly to jam bands all over the world.
Miles died in his Austin home on Wednesday. He was 60.
After Hendrix’s death, Miles would go on to work with Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters, David Bowie and Barry White, among others. But it is his unique, polyrhythmic work with Hendrix that is perhaps his most memorable contribution to the art. Miles thought so anyway.
“All the shows were bad-ass,” Miles said in 1995.
Here’s a clip of Band of Gypsys during their most famous run of shows at New York’s Fillmore East in 1970, the year Hendrix died at 28.
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The Altruistic Messiah ~ Ben Vandagriff ~ The CEO of Rock & Roll ! says
Buddy Miles will be greatly missed by his fans everywhere ~ but his music lives forever !