J ee ¢ Ca = AUDIO = ‘: 7 q bP FY lO pe ee BO HDS & RARE saa uyll AMM BY One third of the Band Of Gypsys and a star turn on People, Hell And Angels, Buddy Miles’ character was as big as his drumming. But the man who wanted to be “the baddest of the bad" left an indelible mark on Hendrix's music. Words: Mick Wall arrulous, generous with his time) claimed:“Itwas Hendrix’ finest perfectionist A lot of people might not and a talented musician and ‘moment, but you'd never knowitto | like my attitude, bu! get the job done.” singer who brought deep, dark | hearthe way people talk. Alot of people | Buddy was never just temporary ‘groove to his primary said imi didntlike the Band of Gypsys, | sideman, the, filling in until Mitch instrument, thedrums, Buddy | and that's absolute bullshit!” returned tothe fold? “Me and fimi were Miles was also, just as often, Mitch Mitchell, he continued, was | so tight, are you kidding me?" he cussed, awkward, and inshort | agreat drummer, but he never blustered. A big, heavyset man who supply of modesty. contributed anything to fini. listened | later served time a San Quentin, and Recalling his time inthe Band Of | to imiat Woodstock and itsoundedso | who intensely disliked taking no foran ‘Gypsy, the short-lived outfit led by fimi_| bad and distorted it just blew my mind. | answer, there wer ew who would argue Hendrixto which he was recruited by | Withthe Band OF Gypsys, we neverhad | with Miles'glowing assessment of his bassist Billy Cox, inlate 1969, Miles | that problem. was co-leader, and Ima | rolein Hendrix’ Band Of Gypsys——->po es Cee rete ccromeaiete: Esco rests € atleast not to his face, However, the truth, as always, was not nearly so black and white George Allen Miles Jr. was born in ‘Omaha, in September 1947. His father had his own jazz ensemble, which Miles joined as drummer when he was 12. His ‘mother had nicknamed him Buddy after another great azz drummer, Buddy Rich, Asa teenager he became: jobbing player for such carly 60s R&B staples as the lnk Spots, The Delfonics and Wilson Picket, 111967 he: hneadhunted by wildly talented guitarist Mike Bloomfield for a new outfit called Electric Flag. An adventurous mix of rock, soul and psychedelia, Electric Flag made theirlive debut at the Monterey Pop festival where Buddy, with his newly haxuriant Afro and ironic American-flag shir renewed an old acquaintanceship with the 24-year-old Jimi Hendrix, Although ‘twas another two years before they joined forces, Buddy was already ythologising their friendship, recalling an earlier meeting when Jimi wwasin the Isley Brothers band and Miles \was in Ruby And The Romantics. Even though he was shy could tell this guy was different, He looked strange, because everyone else was ‘wearing uniforms and he was eating his guitar, doing flip-flops and wearing chains. This was not how Jinsi remembered it, buthe was used to people embellishing their own stories Hadn't he done something similar ‘when he arived in London? The two aqickly bonded, though, and when, despite two aclatmed albums, the Fag simply refused o fy, Bloomfield walked cout and Mile formed the Buddy Miles Expres, with guitarist fim MeCary, later of hardboiled rockers Cacts. mi \wrotea short poem asa liner note to their first album Expressing To Your Stl and produced four teacks on its follow ‘op Hlcie Church the ile ofthe later lifted from ane in Jimi’ original poem, The same year Miles guested on two teacks on Eerie Laban lying down the cooking funk shythm to Rainy Day, Dream Away and sil Raining, sul Dreaming (actualy the same improvised jam sliced down the middle by the epic 1983... (A Mermus I Should Turn To Be When, in the autumn of 1969, with the Experience in disarray and jimi himself urgently searching for new musical directions, the idea forthe Band (Of Gypsys was conceived as both musical stopgap and get-outoF ail card for the restless guitarist Jie had seen his ist attempt ata serious post-Experience out, GypsySun And Rainbows, featuring Mitch Mitchell, bassist Billy Cox, rhythm. guitarist Larry Lee and conga players Juma Sultan and Jerry Velez —the line- up he had famously performed with at Woodstock that summer~ grind to an uunedifying halt after Cox walked out following alterations with Hendrix's ‘manager Mike Jeffery, followed by Mitchell, who simply needed a break from the madness now surrounding Jima’ ite Before the split, however, they had ‘come up with the frameworks for some stunning new material: Message To Love and Machine Gun, both of which would naw become cornerstones in the new Band OF Gypsys repertoire, hen Billy Cox sugested bringing i their mutual friend Buddy Miles on drums, ust to get the bal rolling gain jimis response tobooktwo end-of year shows at promoter Bill Graham’ fabled venue Fillmore East Until then, according to Miles “imi was not happy He elt powerless. He couldn't Alo what he wanted 10 do2"The Fillmore shows would take place on New Yeats Eve, 1969; the second on Now Year's Day; 1970. Asymbolc rebirth, Jimi hoped ‘When his manager “Even though he was shy I could tell this guy was different. He legitimately release under the Hendrix, imprimatur. As faras Jeffery was concerned, the Band Of Gypsys was litle more than a bargaining tool to get Jimi out ofa contractual jam. before going back on the oad with the Experience, While Mitch Mitchell was currently out ofthe picture, he never considered himself ‘out ofthe band. ‘With jimi now living in New York, the Band Of Gypsys —the first all-black Hendrix band Mikefeferysuggened | looked rather | ~ rears atBaggy's upigtiestonstor | strange, and be | mheanlsuton album, itticked was eating his | weeks priortothe another box matked tar” shows. The music that ‘urgent long running guar now emerged began to legal dispute with New Buddy Miles take on a feel a colour York producer Ed on Hendrix acharacterallits own, CChalpin. Chalpin hada ‘contract, which Jimi had signed before he'd moved to England in 1966, Not only did Chalpin feel Hendrix owed him a substantial pay-off, the contract held a clause which entitled him to one per cent of all Jim's future royalties, Jeffery'saim was to get Band OF Gypsys through the Fillmore East shows and ensure that an album was made, This official ive album would then be given to Chalpin, meaning he could Buddy wasn'ta crazy, flailing drummer ike Mitch, He was solid, funky, soul and surprisingly light of touch when the music demanded it. And he could sing. He could relate A crop of great new songs began to emerge such as the groovy Ezy Rider, and the moving, gospel-inspired Earth Blues, aversion of which appears on People Hal ‘And Angels Then there was the finished Machine Gun, soon to be recognised as ‘one ofthe greatest showeases for Jr's yee Perey talents ever recorded. Now over 12 ‘minutes long, Jimi made the guitar jump between dimensions as Buddy sang along. There was also Who Knows, with Buddy trading parrot-fashion vocals with Jimi, funky and low key, but with palpable edge; the steaming We Gota Live Together, the anthemic Thom Changs the lightning in-a-bottle that is Power Of Soul (aka Crash Landing), and Stop, which Jinsi emblazoned with his own otherworldly guitar work. But the highlight of thir time together was those two Fillmore East shows (See tefl Band Of Gypsys stony starting page 98) where the audience got tosee the two sides of Jimi Hendrix; the flamboyant, wild showman and the intense virtuoso musician at work, The resulting album was alive masterclass. From the first New Year's Day performance came Machine Gun and Who Knows. From the second, came Power Of Soul, Them Changes, again with Buddy both holding down the fort on drums while making the sky tremble ‘on vocals, and We Getta Live Together, which also found Miles sharing vocals with Hendrix. Released the following June, Band Of Gpysmade the Top Five in Britain and America im had said that he intended totourthe Band Of Gypsy, that he saw it asa floating circus. Buddy later recalled that Jimi wanted ex-Traffic frontman Stevie Winwood to join Mike Jeffery, however, had other >The Soft Machine's Robert Wyatt recalls touring America with “the famous gunslinger” in 1968. But he still regrets turning down that offer of a guitar lesson. he Soft Machine were signed tothe same management company 3s -Hendeix and the frst time we met Jimi was ata rehearsal room, Going into rehearsal room with the jimi Hendrix Experience was like going into some strange wind machine, and being blown around the room. It was quite extraordinary just the physical impact of what he was doing, It seemedto ‘be mowing around the room and he di play lou. I did know Noel Redding from before, because he'd been abit ofa guitar hero in Folkestone, in na diferent Mend plane with East Kent, which is where come from, And] knew Gerry Stickles, Hendrix's road manager, ‘who Noel got the job through. But the key for me — the jazz link —was actually Mitch Mitchell \What | admired about the Experience was that Hendrix used Mitch at all. Because there were a few drummers who could lay down a very funky rock beat at that time. Mitch took risks afoundthe it, But because he was so quickewitted he could find the place Hendrix was going. ‘There were definitly wo lead instrumentalists in that line-up. That was my jazz connection, because John Coltrane had only died in 1967 and all those jazz fans were reling from the shock of that. Then somehow we were seeing itin Hendrix through a rock music equivales ‘we'd never expected. When he started out, he hardly had any tunes. know he did Hey Joe, but they had to doa lot of improvising ‘because they hadn't had time to build up rch of a repertoire before they became stars. Mitch had jst played with Georgie Fame, in a very tight R&B band —jazz musicians in an R&B, soul tradition, “They say jaz isn'ta style; it’s an attitude, Hendrix had that risk-taking thi ‘Whereas with classical or pop music, ‘everyone knows where you're gonna go. Irs justa case of doing i right. ‘We toured the US with Hendrix for most of 68. It was fantastic. Part oft was hecause we didn't have a wannabe guitar hero in our band. What hhappened when Hendrix was about was ike those old Wester films where the local {gunslinger would come out and challenge the famous gunslinger fhe ‘was coming to town, =try and outshoot him. He was very polit, Hendrix, but he got tired of these guitarists raving away infront of him, saying, “Look what lean do!" We didn’t have one in our band, soit was like @ diferent species. So although he got some flak forhaving us on the ill he said he iked the fact that we were trying something different. That sid, we gota lot louder during that tour! Used a lotmore fuzz boxes and stuff, and were inspired by the theatrical physicality of what he id, Hendrix wasa showman, but he was mature about this, and kind to audiences. Ihe was playing to an aircraft hanger of 15-year-old ‘Texans, he would play the nearest he could play to ecognisable rock ifs around the tunes that he was doing, and really smack’em out so the kids atthe back of the hall would hear that clearly. If he was playing nearer New York or the coast where there's more avantgarde activity it got psychedelic. t depended entirely on the audience. In that sense, he was conscientious, ‘old-fashioned entertainer. ‘ffstage, though, he was reticent, But probably, when [was with him, it would be with ‘other blokes around, and there'd be two Swedish girls with legs as long as the Fiffel Tower waiting atthe door, who were maybe more interesting 0 {alk to than a bunch of blokes! Tend to think that very often people who've dled very young, get more in than most of us get inalifetime and those records he made when he was alive are quite wonderful. There's a lightness ‘of touch, there’sa fluidity There's ight and sade. I's not driving like a tank through your room. Iwas very delicate what Hendrix did, in a sway. twas very loud, but he used the volume as tool to become part ofthe colours. Itwas like some great swisling abstract painting with very bright colours init ‘tthe end of the American tour, we were in Los Angeles sitting by the pool together. had a guitarand was actually trying to write a tune, ‘hich ended up Moon nt ne [om the later Soft ‘Machine alburn, Thin. Lwas teying different chords. Hendrix is watching. Then he whispered, “You can get that alot easier ifyou go from here to there," pointing at the fet boar, “less you really want to doit that way." I said, “Yes, Ieally ‘want todo it my way." thought, Ijustturned a guitar lesson from fucking Jimi Hendrix down! | now have that memory etched in my mind. can never sing Edith Pat's No Regrets again,\ Talos aha showstopping Pea e neces La MMO Ciro aieerelee at ecole iT vaScla ta) (lalate outdoor rock Plea Coheelaa(ow eet g Peer Ee aie | eee eae Pop Festival on Sunday, Jane 18, 1967 he pointed his finger straight at photographer jim Marshall who was waiting Sr eee a coe emt inthat?*he asked him. Marshall nodded in reply. “Thats Pos etree ees Ree eRe caer ee eee eee ee ee ee een er er eee a Dee eset month before, and covers of Howlin’ Wolf, Bob Dylan and Pee ees Ce a eee ee the song he lasciviously knelt oer his guitar, poured Freer cea eect eee ee ea itimo the crowd, Flendrix knew he had tobe good. After all, he was following The Who, who likewise knowing Hendrix was onthe bl, ad upped their game. The Who's Pete Townshend destroyed his gitar: Keith Moon set off smoke bombs and kicked over his drum kit. There had been issues beforehand over the running order, neither ‘wanting to go on aftr the other in the fear of being Pee ae eo Pret eet ‘The three-day concert spanning june 16 to 18and held atthe Monterey County Fairgrounds, which also hosted Seg ee sea ey Ser eee ean at eee ere eter eer end erty De ee Monterey boasted a phenomenal line-up. Joining ee ao Pee ee ener ed Fish, The Byrds, Simon And Garfunkel, eferson Aieplane, and Otis Redding, who crossed soul over toa white Sots Reg a ee ad pee ee ee enna cpitomised the counter culture with ts love, peace and Reece een ee ce 1967 Summer of Love. Photographer Jim Marshall, who Pees e et eect nny performance, framing Jimiand his band both on and off stage. The resulting images have come to define both the concert and the guitarist\ “SuissaFle ne sil was esi) cere eee Marshal peer hoagie net pete atta ‘what do you mean? ery en eer) canny panel 1599 "Yah know eels era Pei eee ivennamewas peer re poorLIMITED-EDITION COLLECTOR'S FANPACK oo ena 12-TRAGK ENG Sate Nt VENA aan De ART CARDS People, Hell And Angels presents some of the finest Jimi Hendrix guitar playing ever issued, Ee ee Reuter Moc gee Rca ie Wein ted The full 12-track album, and a 116-page magazine featuring new ME Reece aes toe ete acl eke Pre-order your copy today at: