When I was 8 years old, George "Buddy" Miles was 12 and in the State Training School (Reform school for juvenile delinquents ages 7-17) at Plankinton, South Dakota, and my father was his music teacher.
My dad jumped on him about something having to do with drums, and "Buddy" spouted off about how he was going to be famous and have this incredible drum set. "Buddy" was already quite plump and somewhere I have a couple of pictures of him, one in the chow line. They are B&W and if I find them I'll scan them and put them up! Miles' prediction did come true. (Miles also wanted to be a train engineer.)
Anyway, heard on NPR on the drive home that Buddy Miles died. He used to play at the Scarlet Tree, in Seattle, which is about half a mile from my house, and which burned to the ground not so long ago. Buddy Miles was Jimi Hendrix' (local fellow buried in Kent WA) 2nd drummer and also played around the area now and then.
Buddy was born in Omaha in 1947. He was a child prodigy and played drums in his father's band - his father played with Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon. Buddy played in Ruby and the Romantics, the Ink Spots and the Delfonics as a teen and with Hendrix' "Band of Gypsies" and the "Electric Flag" as an adult. Miles played on the songs "Rainy Day, Dream Away" and "Still Raining, Still Dreaming" with the original Hendrix band (drummer was normally Mitch Mitchell).
Miles collaborated with Aerosmith, with Carlos Santana and did some work with Casablanca Records, best known for KISS. In the '80s, Miles did vocals for the California Raisins claymation campaign ("I Heard It Through the Grapevine", after having been incarcerated for drug charges. He was also involved in a reunited Band of Gypsys in 2004, which re-recorded songs from the original album. He also did some session work with George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic. He had a stroke not so long ago but had been able to continue to play some.
(some from memory, some from Wikipedia)
Holy fuck! I didn't know this until I came here. Man, that sucks. I loved him when he hit the skins for Jimi's Band of Gypsies.
Posted by: jurassicpork | February 28, 2008 at 09:00 PM