Jonathan Cohen of Billboard.com reports: Buddy Miles, who co-founded and played drums in BAND OF GYPSYS with Jimi Hendrix, passed away yesterday (Feb. 26) in Austin, Texas, at the age of 60. A cause of death has yet to be announced.

Miles was born Sept. 5, 1947, in Omaha, Neb., and was introduced to music at a young age by his father, who played in a band called the BEBOPS. As a young man he also played with WILSON PICKETT, the DELFONICS and the INK SPOTS.

One report has said that he's been battling congestive heart failure. Well, another one of Jimi's very dear friends has now joined him. The Band of Gypsys album was one special piece of music.

This is a bit of a shock to me, 60 is far too young to go. It was only a few days ago that I considered ordering "Them Changes". I saw Buddy Miles live in '87, singing dual lead for Santana together with Alex Ligertwood. His stint in Electric Flag should also be mentioned.

I saw & briefly met Miles when he played (guitar rather then drums) at a Seattle small club gig in the 80's. Nice show, but he was the opposite of gracious when I told him at a set break (I believe politely) how much his music had meant to me.

IMO, Miles had 2 great albums, Them Changes & BM Live, & several good ones including We Got To Live Together.

Geff,

Do you mean the BM Live he recorded with Carlos Santana?

miles' version of neil young's "down by the river" is exceptional.

renny

I enjoyed Buddy's music quite a bit and may he rest in piece. Unfortunately, like Geff, when I met
him and worked with him he was less then gracious...let's just say I understand why we was given a
time out in the late 70's early 80's!

No, there is a 2 LP set called Buddy Miles Live that was never released on cd. It was issued in the 70's before the Santana collaboration & is much better then the Santana duo. The catalog # is Mercury 7500.

I've found it inexpensively in both used record stores & on ebay. It's worth picking up; I consider it his 2nd best after Them Changes. It's a 1971 release.
.

From Billboard online. Pathetic that they don't mention his solo career except in reference to Hendrix or Electric Flag.

Buddy Miles
February 27, 2008, 3:45 PM ET
Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
Buddy Miles, who co-founded and played drums in Band Of Gypsys with Jimi Hendrix, passed away yesterday (Feb. 26) in Austin, Texas, at the age of 60. A cause of death has yet to be announced.

Miles was born Sept. 5, 1947, in Omaha, Neb., and was introduced to music at a young age by his father, who played in a band called the Bebops. As a young man he also played with Wilson Pickett, the Delfonics and the Ink Spots.

Miles met Hendrix in the early 1960s but didn't begin collaborating with him until 1969, when Hendrix produced an album by the Buddy Miles Express.

Miles, often decked out in sequined clothes and an enormous Afro, went on to drum on Hendrix's landmark "Electric Ladyland" album before officially joining Band Of Gypsys with bassist Billy Cox a few months later.

The group's lone self-titled album chronicled a New Year's Eve 1969/1970 concert at New York's Fillmore East, and is regarded by many as one of the best live albums of the era.

After Hendrix's death on Sept. 18, 1970, Miles contributed drums to a handful of posthumous Hendrix releases, including "Cry of Love" and "Crash Landing." He spent time in jail in the late 1970s and early 1980s on drug related charges, but returned to the spotlight in 1986 when he served as the voice for the hugely successful California Raisins claymation TV ads.

Miles and a studio band recorded a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" as part of the campaign, which became a minor radio hit in 1988.

In 2004, Miles and Cox revisited the Band Of Gypsys material for a live album, "The Band of Gypsys Return," which was released two years later.

Throughout his career, Miles played with such superstars as David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Barry White and George Clinton. According to his Web site, Miles' family is planning a tribute show with details to be announced.

I bet Janie Hendrix (Experience Hendrix) is madly trying to compile a CD featuring Buddy Miles as she did with Noel Redding when he passed.

RIP Buddy Miles

It would be nice if Universal USA would reissue something in addition to the greatest hits comp they did a few years ago. To the best of my knowledge, NONE of his original Mercury LP's have ever been released on USA cd.

I just heard a recording of Eric Clapton & Stevie Winwood doing Them Changes on their current tour. They're following Miles' original studio arrangement almost 100% other then an extended guitar solo.

Buddy Miles was a perfect vocalist for Santana on the "Freedom" album, right up there with Greg Walker in Santana history. He will be missed.

I was at the show last night, they did a great version of "Them Changes" dedicated to Buddy Miles. Fantastic show overall.

P.S. JohnG was at the show too, and even though we ordered our tickets separately, he and his wife were sitting in the next section over from me. Not surprised; in fact, I fully expect coincidences like this to happen.

I was at the Springsteen show in Hartford last night and I fully expected him to make some reference to Buddy Miles. He didn't though. It was a great show though...very loose for an opening night after being off for a while. He even threw in some great oddball tracks like "So Young And In love", "Loose Ends" and "Janey Don't You Lose Heart". During the encores, he absolutely ripped through "Kitty's Back" too. Overall, an excellent show.

I played a CD rarity today in memory of Buddy Miles, The Electric Flag's OST of the Roger Corman B-movie "The Trip". It was reissued by Curb in 1996.

And here's the cover:



Great period film, by the way.