Kashmir_montreal Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 I just heard on the radio that Buddy Mile past away last night. He was such a amazing drummer. He really impressed me when I heard him play with Henderix on "Band of Gyspys". He played with a bunch of musicians. Stevie Wonder, SRV, Santana, Henderix, Ike Turner and etc... Rest In Peace Buddy!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth_Prime Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 quite sad, quite sad indeed respect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHD Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 I just heard on the radio that Buddy Mile past away last night. He was such a amazing drummer. He really impressed me when I heard him play with Henderix on "The Band Of Gypies". He played with a bunch of musicians. Stevie Wonder, SRV, Santana, Henderix, Ike Turner and etc... Rest In Peace Buddy!!! How sad, I hadn't heard. Band Of Gypsys is one of my all time favourites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 http://www.variety.com/article/VR111798152...yid=16&cs=1 Drummer Buddy Miles Dies at 60 Band of Gypsies Member played with Hendrix By PHIL GALLO Buddy Miles, the rock and R&B drummer who worked with Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana and was best known for the song "Them Changes," died Tuesday at his home in Austin, Texas, according to a report on Miles' website. He was 60. Among the first artists to fuse psychedelic rock with soul, blues and jazz, Miles got his start performing with his father George's jazz band the BeBops at the age of 12 in and around their hometown of Omaha, Neb. He played with a number of performers and toured with Ruby & the Romantics, the Ink Spots and Wilson Pickett. It was after a gig in Brooklyn, N.Y., where guitarist Michael Bloomfield, who had just left the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, inquired if Miles would be interested in forming a new band. The band became the Electric Flag, which issued only one album with Bloomfield and Miles. After the break up of the Electric Flag, Miles created the first edition of Buddy Miles Express and recorded "Expressway to Your Skull," with Hendrix producing. The two alternated in returning favors: Miles played on Hendrix's "Electric Ladyland"; Hendrix produced Miles' "Electric Church"; and the two created Band of Gypsys after Hendrix broke up his trio, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The Express was curtailed when Miles formed Band of Gypsys with Hendrix and Billy Cox; that band only made one album, a live disc recorded in New York. Following Hendrix's death in 1970, Miles restarted the Express and had considerable success. Their album "Them Changes" was on the pop music chart for 74 weeks; the act had hits such as "Them Changes," a cover of Neil Young's "Down By the River" and a disco number "Rockin' and Rollin' on the Streets of Hollywood." Miles recorded a live album in Hawaii with Santana in 1974 that became a top seller. Much of his work after that pairing was in the studio, often with superstar acts such as Stevie Wonder, David Bowie and Bootsy Collins. He kept a relatively low profile until the mid-1980s when he was the talent behind the California Raisins, producing and singing on the three albums released by the animated characters. Their popularity led to him rejoining Santana as lead singer and, in 1994, creating a new edition of Buddy Miles Express. Over the past 15 years, Miles has been key in sustaining the legacy of Hendrix, making promotional appearances on behalf of Hendrix projects and appearing in Hendrix tribute concerts. At the time of his death, Miles was working on three album projects and helping to raise money for several organizations and sponsors that support hurricane-disaster relief efforts and the Children's Craniofacial Assn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JethroTull Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 That's sad. Does anybody know what made him famous? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kashmir_montreal Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 That's sad. Does anybody know what made him famous? In addition to his father's band The Bebops, as a teenager Miles played in a variety of bands including Ruby & the Romantics, the Ink Spots and the Delfonics. In 1967 he formed Electric Flag with guitarist Mike Bloomfield. While the lead vocalist for the Flag was Nick Gravenites, fans of the Flag always looked forward to the numbers sung by Miles. Listen to the slow blues song "Texas" by the short-lived Flag and you will get a sense of what Miles brought to the group. The group broke up after their 2nd album, and Miles formed the Buddy Miles Express. After Electric Flag, Miles would begin involvement with the legendary Jimi Hendrix. Miles had met Jimi Hendrix in an earlier time when both were acting as sidemen for other artists in the early 60's. The meeting had occurred in Canada at a show both were participating in. This prefaced a later friendship that would result varied collaborations between the two artists. An extremely busy Hendrix would produce the Buddy Miles Express release, "Electric Church" in 1969. There was obvious public curiosity as to whether the name of the band "Buddy Miles Express" was influenced by Hendrix's act, "The Jimi Hendrix Experience". Soon after, Jimi Hendrix started opening his recording style to now include guest artists. And in this mode Hendrix was working in, Buddy Miles quite naturally was invited to participate. He played with Jimi Hendrix on the hugely influential Electric Ladyland album. Miles played on the songs "Rainy Day, Dream Away" and "Still Raining, Still Dreaming". Soon after the release of this groundbreaking album, he would join Hendrix in a short lived band called Band of Gypsys. One of the notable features of this band was the fact that all of the players were black. This was a first for Hendrix as an international recording star but his choice of players resulted from musical preferences and not racial ones according to all published sources concerning the act. The band was based in New York City where Hendrix was spending the majority of his time. Hendrix, who was tangled in legal litigation concerning contracts he had signed in the past prior to his becoming internationally recognized, was required to release a record to the Capitol Records label as part of the agreement in court. This fact led to the live recording of his collaboration with Buddy Miles and Billy Cox. The Band of Gypsys made a famous and enduring live album that was recorded in New York's Fillmore East on New Year's Eve 1969/70. However during a follow up performance a month later, Hendrix had a minor, drug-related meltdown on stage and Miles was fired by Hendrix manager, Michael Jeffery. Miles continued to work with Hendrix during early and mid 1970 after the Jimi Hendrix Experience had failed to reform to record. Miles would share recording studio drumming duties on songs that would appear on records released after Hendrix's September 1970 death such as "Cry of Love" and the controversial "Crash Landing" produced by Alan Douglas. Buddy Miles went on to produce other records under his own name. A song he had written and recorded with the Band of Gypsys, "Them Changes" was again recorded by Miles with his own band on a release soon after Hendrix's passing on Mercury Records. By this time Miles had dropped the "Buddy Miles Express" act name and shortened it to just his own name, Buddy Miles. That band included bassist David Hull (who would go on to work with Joe Perry of Aerosmith) and guitarist Charlie Karp. The same band would release a live album entitled "Live" which again included his by now signature song, "Them Changes". In late 1968, they appeared in the Monkees television special "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee" which aired in April 1969. Miles would see the song released yet a fourth time on a collaborative live record he made with Carlos Santana. This particular version was particularly notable for its intense energy, horn lines and blazing guitar work supplied by a very young and energetic Santana. Miles would then go on to be signed by the 70's-80's ear record label, Casablanca Records, best known for their rock act KISS. Miles' work for the label included the excellent album released under his own name, "Bicentennial Gathering Of The Tribes". It would include on its liner notes a quote from President John F Kennedy concerning the American Indians. That quote would include the line "When we neglect the heroic past of the American Indian, we thereby weaken our own heritage". This was interesting in relationship to his former friendship and collaborations with Jimi Hendrix who, in fact, had much American Indian blood in his family line. It should not go unmentioned that part of Miles' appeal as a rock musician was his physical appearance. He drew many stares and smiles as he held court from the drumset in the Electric Flag days, with his American flag or sequined shirts, his high-brushed Afro, and his massive frame and smile. Buddy was an eyeful for the hippies and concertgoers of the day. In 1986 Miles performed vocals for the California Raisins claymation ad campaign, most notably singing I Heard It Through the Grapevine and was also lead vocals on two California Raisins albums featuring 1960's R&B covers. In 1986 and 1987, after spending the late 1970s and early 1980s incarcerated for drug charges, he also rejoined Carlos Santana as a vocalist on Santana's album Freedom. Buddy Miles was seen in the Hendrix-family-owned, official video release The Making of Electric Ladyland on Rhino Records. That video featured interviews with the majority of players who were involved in recording the legendary Hendrix album. Miles even went as far as to be video recorded playing his same drum tracks yet again in the studio to the original multi-track recordings of Hendrix. In 1999 Miles appeared on the late Bruce Cameron's album, Midnight Daydream that included other Hendrix alumni Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell along with Jack Bruce and others. In 2004 Miles reunited yet again with Billy Cox of the Band of Gypsys to re-record songs from the original live album of 1970 with guitarists Eric Gales, Kenny Olsen, Sheldon Reynolds and Andy Aledort. The album, titled "The Band Of Gypsys Return", was released in 2006. Until his death, Buddy Miles continued to be active musically and performed many shows with proceeds going to help support victims of natural disasters and other noble causes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pagemeister Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Band of Gypsys - Hendrix - Who Knows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadScreamingGallery Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Buddy Miles R.I.P. Band of Band of Gypsys is one of my favorite Hendrix albums. I read this evening that “Them Changes” was performed at the Clapton/Winwood concerts at MSG and the song is to be played again tonight along with a special dedication to Buddy Miles. If anyone is in the Austin area, there will be a memorial for Buddy Miles at Threadgills on March 30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternal light Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 In 1967 he formed Electric Flag with guitarist Mike Bloomfield. While the lead vocalist for the Flag was Nick Gravenites, fans of the Flag always looked forward to the numbers sung by Miles. Listen to the slow blues song "Texas" by the short-lived Flag and you will get a sense of what Miles brought to the group. The group broke up after their 2nd album, and Miles formed the Buddy Miles Express. I saw Electric Flag live in 1967; rest in peace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootingstar Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 ...that's sad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragster Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Now he's rockin' with Jimi somewhere.......NEVEr to be forgotten bro!! :(...RIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 This is very sad. Band Of Gypsys is indeed an awesome album, but so is this: RIP Buddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melanie_72 Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Very talented man, may he R.I.P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 His fro is right up there with Billy Preston's: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmie ray Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 That is bad news - he gave alot of psychedelic/blues music a real drumming presence! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Jam Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 RIP Buddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubleNecker Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 God damn! That sucks! I thought Buddy was super awesome! Shit this sucks something bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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