I was saddened to learn of the death of drummer, singer and songwriter Buddy Miles at the age of only 60.<\/p>\n
Buddy Miles was a very, very good singer, and a songwriter who has contributed so true classics to the blues and funk standards, particularly \u201cThem Changes,\u201d which every blues rock band worth their salt knows. However, Buddy Miles earned his permanent place in music history not for his forty years as a versatile bandleader who\u2019s talents ranged from 60\u2019s psychedelia to singing lead for the California Raisins commercials.<\/p>\n
No, Miles’ place in history was secured by his efforts on one night- the last night of the 1960\u2019s when he stepped on to the stage of the Filmore in New York with bassist Billy Cox and Jimi Hendrix. The recording of that performance, later released as the album \u201cA Band of Gypsys\u201d will stand forever as the greatest live rock\u00a0album ever made.<\/p>\n
It was a great set all around, and Jimi generously gave Miles a chance to shine as a songwriter and singer. Hendrix had always wanted to play in a proper band rather than simply play the star turn, and the group was introduced simply as \u201cA Band of Gypsies,\u201d rather than \u201cJimi Hendrix and\u2026\u201d Hendrix was the most communicative and witty of rock singers, but he found singing hard work and loved having a singer with Buddy Miles\u2019 range and flexibility in the band.<\/p>\n
However, it is not even for the whole set that Miles is and always will be remembered, but for the band\u2019s performance of a single song- Jimi Hendrix\u2019s great anti-war epic \u201cMachine Gun.\u201d Never before or since has a popular musician captured so completely the spirit of the time, or the sheer terror and pointlessness of war. On top of this, Hendrix solo is quite simply the greatest instrumental performance in the history of amplified music. Virtuosic, evocative, terrifying, searing.<\/p>\n
Miles was a talented guy, but his legacy is worth pondering in an age when the word \u201cgreat\u201d is so painfully overused, and music critics try to tell us that Mahler 2 is no more profound than \u201cLove Me Do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fact is, true greatness is rare, and something far beyond professionalism, talent, even genius. It is so rare that we begin to forget that is is real and unmistakeable, and that the great truly is better than the good, painful as that may be for some to accept.\u00a0Buddy Miles will be remembered long after even better drummers and singers than he\u00a0are forgotten because he was a part of the greatest\u00a012 minutes in rock \u2018n\u2019 roll history, and though it was a genius who made that 12 minutes happen, Miles was good enough to make it possible for those twelve minutes to happen. He and Billy Cox were the ones who created the space in which Hendrix could take rock, funk, and blues music as far as it would be taken. For the millions of us lucky enough (as Simon Rattle often says) not be geniuses, there is a lesson in this.<\/p>\n
New York Times obit here<\/a>.<\/p>\n YouTube is not really up to the job of delivering Machine Gun as it should be seen and heard (and none of the clips I found were complete… stupid YouTube), but the curious can find\u00a0a clip of that show\u00a0here<\/a>. Actually, since pointless wars and meaningless killing are back in fashion big-time these days, go and listen to the damn song, then buy the album and listen loud.<\/p>\n