music clip of the day

passings

Pete Cosey, guitar player, October 9, 1943-May 30, 2012

Miles Davis, “Ife,” live, Austria (Vienna), 1973
With Pete Cosey, guitar (solo begins at 5:30) and percussion; Dave Liebman, flute, soprano and tenor saxophones; Reggie Lucas, guitar; Michael Henderson, bass; Al Foster, drums; James Mtume Forman, conga and percussion

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Here’s an earlier post (12/31/09):

In the public imagination, the guitar’s associated with freedom and individuality. The musical reality’s different. Guitarists travel in herds; few stray from the pack. One who has gone his own way is this man, who’s played with everyone from Muddy Waters (as a session musician for Chicago-based Chess Records) to Miles Davis (as a member of his group [1973-1975]). He employs a variety of unusual tunings and effects. He sounds like no one else.

Pete Cosey, guitar

“Calypso Frelimo” (excerpt), Pete Cosey’s Children of Agharta (JT Lewis, drums; Gary Bartz and John Stubblefield, saxophones & flute; Matt Rubano, bass; Johnny Juice, turntables; Baba Israel, words and beats; Kyle Jason, voice; Bern Pizzitola, guitar; Wendy Oxenhorn, harmonica), live, 2002, New York

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Live (with Melvin Gibbs, bass; JT Lewis, drums; Johnny Juice, congas and turntables)

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lagniappe

. . . the guy who, after Hendrix, showed you how ‘out’ you could go with guitar playing, particularly in the improvised context.

—Greg Tate