Buddy Miles

Buddy Miles earned his primary recognition through drumming duties in Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys, yet he also sustained an extended solo path that blended rock, blues, soul, and funk across shifting proportions. George Miles entered the world in Omaha, Nebraska, on September 5, 1947; he took up drumming at age nine and entered his father's jazz ensemble the Bebops when he turned twelve. During his teenage years he performed with multiple jazz and R&B ensembles, most notably supplying support for vocal acts such as Ruby & the Romantics, the Ink Spots, and the Delfonics. In 1966 he enlisted in Wilson Pickett's touring revue, where blues-rock guitarist Mike Bloomfield first noticed him. Bloomfield had already exited the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 1967 and was assembling a new ensemble, the Electric Flag, conceived as a wide-ranging fusion of rock, soul, blues, psychedelia, and jazz. He recruited Miles for the project, and the group debuted at the Monterey Pop Festival, though the original lineup fractured by 1968. After founder Bloomfield departed, Miles assumed temporary leadership for the band's second studio album, which proved unable to recapture public attention.

Retaining the Electric Flag's horn section, Miles departed to launch his own outfit, the comparably wide-ranging Buddy Miles Express. Mercury signed the group, which released its first album, Expressway to Your Skull, in 1968 under the production of fellow Monterey Pop participant Jimi Hendrix. Miles in turn contributed to Hendrix's Electric Ladyland album and later joined an all-star session that yielded Muddy Waters' Fathers and Sons album. Hendrix likewise produced the Miles Express follow-up, Electric Church, issued in 1969; later that year he disbanded the Experience, after which he, Miles, and bassist Billy Cox created Band of Gypsys, among the earliest all-Black rock ensembles. More blues-oriented and funk-driven than Hendrix's prior output, Band of Gypsys dissolved quickly in its initial form; Miles left in 1970 and was succeeded by Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell, yet not before his commanding performance appeared on the band's sole release, the live recording Band of Gypsys.

Following his appearance on John McLaughlin's 1970 album Devotion, Miles resumed leadership duties and cut his most successful record, Them Changes, in 1971; the album remained on the charts for over a year, and its title track emerged as his signature song. Between December 1971 and April 1972 he toured with Carlos Santana, resulting in the CBS concert album Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live!, captured inside an inactive Hawaiian volcano; the release performed strongly and reached the Top Ten. Miles issued several additional CBS albums, took part in a brief Electric Flag reunion in 1974, then signed with Casablanca in 1975 for two LPs. Beyond a single 1981 Atlantic project, Sneak Attack, he maintained a lower profile through the ensuing decade while addressing personal challenges.

Miles resurfaced in 1986 as the principal vocalist for a television campaign featuring clay-animated raisins performing "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"; the spots gained such traction that a family-oriented musical series followed, positioning Miles as lead singer of the California Raisins on two albums of mostly R&B covers plus a Christmas special. He also reunited with longtime associate Carlos Santana as official lead vocalist for Santana during part of the late 1980s, making his studio bow on the 1987 album Freedom. In the early 1990s Miles collaborated with Bootsy Collins both individually and within Hardware; in 1994 he revived the Express and recorded Hell and Back for Rykodisc. Miles Away from Home appeared in 1997 on Hip-O. He maintained steady touring through the 1990s before forming the more direct blues outfit the Blues Berries alongside guitarist Rocky Athas, whose debut album, Blues Berries, surfaced on Ruf in 2002.