Pete Cosey, jazz guitarist, dies at 68

Pete Cosey, a jazz guitarist who was best known for his work in Miles Davis’ electric band in the 1970s has died aged 68.

His daughter said he died at a Chicago hospital of complications from surgery on 30 May.

During the 1960s Cosey was a member of the studio band for Chess Records, playing for the likes of Etta James, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters.

But it was his creative sound that attracted the attention of Davis.

He liberally applied the distortion pedal to his licks, punctuated by wah-wah effects, and appeared on some of Davis’ most experimental albums including Agharta, Pangaea, Get Up With It and Dark Magus.

“Pete’s sound was something quite amazing,” Wendy Oxenhorn, from the Jazz Foundation of America told the Chicago Tribune.

“He took blues, funk, rap and jazz and combined it into a new sound.”

In recent years, Cosey had suffered from health problems, but the musician had been playing music in children’s hospitals and schools.

He also featured in Martin Scorsese’s 2003 blues documentary, The Blues: A Musical Journey.