Miles was fired by Hendrix manager, Michael Jeffery and the Band of Gypsys all too short life came to an end. However during a follow up performance a month later, Hendrix had a minor, drug-related meltdown on stage which has also been speculated to have be an act of sabotage. 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. This fact led to the live recording of his collaboration with both Miles and Billy Cox. 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. The band was based in New York City where Hendrix was spending the majority of his time. “Live at the Fillmore East” was arguably Miles and Hendrix’s most riveting recording. It also had the effect of re-associating rock with its African American roots. This was a first for Hendrix as an international recording star and this choice reflected a move toward reconnecting with his soul roots. One of the notable features for his auidience at the time was the fact that all of the players were black. Soon after the release of this groundbreaking album, he would join Hendrix in a short lived Band of Gypsys. Miles played on the songs “Rainy Day, Dream Away” and “Still Raining, Still Dreaming”. He played with Jimi Hendrix on the hugely influential “Electric Ladyland” album. And in this mode Hendrix was working in, Miles quite naturally was invited to participate. Soon after, Hendrix started opening his recording style to include guest artists. 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”. An extremely busy Hendrix would produce the Buddy Miles Express release, “Electric Church”, in 1969. This prefaced a later friendship that would result in varied collaborations between the two artists. Their meeting had occurred in Canada at a show both were participating in. Miles had met Hendrix in an earlier time when both were acting as sidemen for other artists in the early ’60s.
BUDDY MILES FULL
Their first album, Expressway To Your Skull, was full of driving, electric soul rhythms that had the blessing of Jimi Hendrix, who produced the album and wrote the sleeve notes.Īfter Electric Flag, Miles would begin his involvement with the legendary Hendrix. This exciting unit also included former Mitch Ryder guitarist Jim McCarthy. Although the band collapsed in the wake of a disappointing second album, Miles retained its horn section for his next venture, the Buddy Miles Express. 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.
While the lead vocalist for the Flag was Nick Gravenites, fans of the Flag always looked forward to the numbers sung by Miles. In 1967 he formed the Electric Flag with guitarist Mike Bloomfield. By 1967, he had moved to Chicago, where he was a founding member of the Electric Flag. As a teenager he also worked with soul and rhythm-and-blues acts, among them the Ink Spots, the Delfonics and Wilson Pickett. in Omaha, Nebraska, his aunt nicknamed him after the big-band drummer Buddy Rich, and began playing drums as a child and was 12 years old when he joined his father’s jazz group, the Bebops. Buddy Miles passed away this week in Austin, Texas at the age of 60.īorn George Allen Miles Jr. Within moments, the audience recognized the tune, Buddy rocked ’em and left the stage. Undaunted, the affable Miles laughed and told the crowd that Chick and Carlos would soon be out and began to sing a line from his trademark song, “Oh my mind’s been goin’ through them changes”. As I recall, the crowd began to chant rather impatiently for the headliners, blissfully unaware they were seeing the drummer of Jimi Hendrix’s beloved Band of Gypsys. In 1976, I caught my first glimpse of the now legendary “Buddy” Miles when he opened the show at D.C.’s Capital Centre for Chick Corea’s group Return to Forever and Carlos Santana.