Buddy Miles

Buddy Miles - Tribute to Jimi Hendrix - 1996 - Cas

Chicago's Hottest Power Trio Keeps Hendrix Legacy Alive: - MST – Miles, Smith and Thomas. That's Buddy Miles – vocalist, composer and former Jimi Hendrix drummer. That's Kevon Smith – producer, guitarist, songwriter and bandleader of Ooze Magazine and Action Figures. That's Joe Thomas – bassist, songwriter and killer-funk, groove master for everyone from the international stars to the local champions. Put them together and you have the hardest, funkiest most soulful rock-and-roll trio since the Experience turned on the ward the torch that Jimi lit when he first set his guitar on fire at Monterey. Since he was 13, Buddy Miles has made his living on the skins. He writes classic song like Them Changes, and he has helped forge the partnership between blues, rock and soul that informs so much music today – no only with Hendrix but also with Wilson Pickett, Mike Boomfield and the Electric Flag, Leon Russel, Carlos Santana, Steve Miller, Albert King, Sam and Drive, and many more. Buddy remains a master drummer and an outstanding, singer / song-writer who uses the free-flowing trio format of WST to push the musical bound-aries of the sonic lands-cape first explored with Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsies. Kevon Smith is a musical heavy-weight in Chicago and a top-noth pro who has worked with Ritchie Havens, John Mayall, Harvey Mandel, Ivan Neville, Sugar Blue, Smokehouse and others. He has penned songs for The Stray Cars, Jermaine Stewart, Bang Orchestra and Aura. He is also one of the baddest guitarists ever to come up through the 'take-no-prisoners' Chicago circuit, where what you play. With soulful blues licks and burning rock and roll edge, Kevon delivers fury and flash to WST’s live shows. Kevon triggered mass deja-vu at a tribute concert in Chicago for Jimi's 50th birthday, when he closed out a dramatic set by igniting his guitar. Joe Thomas is God's ideal bass player – melodic, fanky, driving, soulful and smooth. He can lay a groove, drop a fill, set a riff of push a drum roll through the roof with demon licks that can shame some of the gamiest guitarists in town. Joe has worked the concert and club scene in the US and Europe, including tours with world beat master Foday Musa Suso, and blues guitarist Lefty Dizz. He hase shared the stage with blues giant Muddy Waters, rock and roll pioneer Bo Diddley and Rolling Stone Mick Taylor. He has recorded with jazz pianist and composer Herbie Hancock, and pop-soul stylists Luther Vandrose, Warlion Jackson, and Betty Wright. He remains one of the most in-demand performing and recording artists in Chicago's thriving blues, rock and reggae scene. His vocals on Voodoo Child sound so much like the original it's scary. [ from http://wap.meloman.b.qip.ru/?1-0-0-00007328-000-10001-0 ]

The late Buddy Miles [George Allen Miles, Jr. (September 5, 1947 – February 26, 2008)], was an American rock and funk drummer, best known as a founding member of The Electric Flag in 1967, and as a member of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys from 1969 through to January 1970. "Tribute to Jimi Hendrix" was recorded live at the New Morning Rock Heroes Festival Arthur's Club, Geneva, Switzerland, on April 8th, 1995. Although the album is a "tribute" to Jimi from his Band Of Gypsy's drummer, the music should not be compared to Jimi Hendrix. Jimi penned only one track on the album, "Red House". However, the bass and vocals of Joe Thomas, the great guitar of Kevon Smith, and of course the drums and vocals of Buddy himself all combine to create a very good soul and funk rock album. N.B: This is a 320 Kbps version, with a file size of 154 Mb. Listen to Buddy's "Expressway to Your Skull" and "Them Changes" albums

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 Bad Bad Misses - Buddy Miles & Kevon Smith 7:00
2 Knock on Wood - Steve Cropper & Eddie Floyd 8:26
3 Red House - Jimi Hendrix 12:09
4 Come Together - Lennon & McCartney 12:58
5 Medley: Peter Gunn - Henry Mancini/Take Higher - Sly Stone/Superstition - Stevie Wonder
6 Life Is What You Make It - Buddy Miles 13:17

MUSICIANS

Kevon Smith - Guitar
Joe Thomas - Bass, Vocals
Buddy Miles - Drums, Vocals

BIO

Best known as the drummer in Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys, Buddy Miles also had a lengthy solo career that drew from rock, blues, soul, and funk in varying combinations. Born George Miles in Omaha, NE, on September 5, 1947, he started playing the drums at age nine, and joined his father's jazz band the Bebops as a mere 12 year old. As a teenager, he went on to play with several jazz and R&B outfits, most prominently backing vocal groups like Ruby & the Romantics, the Ink Spots, and the Delfonics. In 1966, he joined Wilson Pickett's touring revue, where he was spotted by blues-rock guitarist Mike Bloomfield. Bloomfield had left the Paul Butterfield Blues Band earlier in 1967 and was putting together a new group, the Electric Flag, which was slated to be an ambitious fusion of rock, soul, blues, psychedelia, and jazz. Bloomfield invited Miles to join up, and the band made its debut at the Monterey Pop Festival; unfortunately, the original lineup splintered in 1968. With founder Bloomfield gone, Miles briefly took over leadership of the band on its second studio album, which failed to reignite the public's interest. With the Electric Flag's horn section in tow, Miles split to form his own group, the similarly eclectic Buddy Miles Express. Signed to Mercury, the group issued its debut album, Expressway to Your Skull, in 1968, with Miles' fellow Monterey Pop alum Jimi Hendrix in the producer's chair. In turn, Miles played on Hendrix's Electric Ladyland album, and later took part in an all-star jam session that resulted in Muddy Waters' Fathers and Sons album. Hendrix also produced the Miles Express' follow-up, 1969's Electric Church, and disbanded his backing band the Experience later that year; shortly afterward, Hendrix, Miles, and bassist Billy Cox formed Band of Gypsys, one of the first all-black rock bands. Bluesier and funkier than Hendrix's previous work, Band of Gypsys didn't last long in its original incarnation; Miles departed in 1970, replaced by Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell, but not before his powerhouse work was showcased on the group's lone album, the live Band of Gypsys. After backing John McLaughlin on 1970's Devotion, Miles returned to the role of bandleader and recorded his most popular album, Them Changes, in 1971; it stayed on the charts for more than a year, and the title cut became Miles' signature song. From December 1971 to April 1972, Miles toured with Carlos Santana, which produced the CBS-released concert document Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live!; recorded inside an inactive volcano in Hawaii, the album sold very well, climbing into the Top Ten. Miles cut a few more albums for CBS, participated in a short-lived Electric Flag reunion in 1974, then moved to Casablanca in 1975 for a pair of LPs. Aside from a one-off album for Atlantic in 1981 (Sneak Attack), Miles kept a low profile over the next decade, partly to battle personal problems. Miles returned in 1986 as the lead voice in a TV ad campaign that featured clay-animated raisins singing "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"; the ads proved so popular that a kid-friendly musical franchise was spun off, and thus Miles became the lead singer of the California Raisins, performing on two albums (mostly R&B covers) and a Christmas special. Additionally, Miles rejoined his old friend Carlos Santana as the official lead vocalist of Santana during part of the late '80s, making his studio debut on 1987's Freedom. In the early '90s, Miles played with Bootsy Collins (both solo and as members of Hardware), and in 1994 he formed a new version of the Express and recorded Hell and Back for Rykodisc. Miles Away From Home followed in 1997 on Hip-O. Miles toured steadily through the '90s, and subsequently formed a more straightforward blues band called the Blues Berries with guitarist Rocky Athas; their first album, Blues Berries, appeared on Ruf in 2002. © Steve Huey © 2011 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/buddy-miles-p4914/biography