November 3, 1973
Stadthalle, Vienna (Austria)
Miles Davis (tpt, org); Dave Liebman (ss, ts, fl); Pete Cosey (g, perc); Reggie Lucas (g); Michael Henderson (el-b); Al Foster (d); James Mtume Forman (cga, perc)
As if
today weren't sad enoughfor guitar fans, another brilliant guitarist has passed away. Though hardly as well-known as Doc Watson, Pete Cosey was unquestionably one of a kind. For proof, watch the video above, featuring Cosey playing with Miles Davis in 1973. Check out Cosey's solo, beginning around 5:40. That's some serious interstellar shit there.
From Peter Margasak at The Chicago Reader:
Cosey was a key session musician at Chess Records in the 60s, appearing on sides by Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, the Rotary Connection, and Etta James, and he worked with the great Phil Cohran in the latter's Artistic Heritage Ensemble. He's probably most famous, though (to the extent that he's famous at all), for his mind-melting work with Miles Davis in the early 70s: he played on the trumpeter's heaviest, most electric albums, including Agharta, Pangaea, and Get Up With It. After Davis broke up the band in 1975 and went into semi-retirement, Cosey was never able to build the solo career he so richly deserved. He used his guitar like an abstract expressionist painter, creating thick, richly textured solos with fierce rhythmic power, dazzling colors, and nonchalant violence. He continued to appear on records here and there, including Herbie Hancock's Future Shock and an album with Japanese saxophonist Akira Sakata, but he always seemed to be planning his own next project, which never quite materialized.
