His explorations of sound drew the attention of one of jazz’s legendary minds, Miles Davis. He started to develop his unique sound as a teenager in Arizona, where he would play in the mountains near Phoenix, according to a Chicago Tribune article. He took a creative approach to stringing and tuning his guitars, and liberally applied the distortion pedal to his licks.
“I think he tried to spend his time trying to communicate with my granddaddy.” In the 1960s, Cosey was a member of the studio band at Chess Records in Chicago, where he played on Waters’ “Electric Mud” and Howlin’ Wolf’s “Howlin’ Wolf Album.” Cosey also worked with Etta James and Chuck Berry. “That’s how he dealt with his father’s passing … and if I had to pick one instance in his life that just really rocked his world, that was it,” she said. Pete Cosey’s musical journey began early, his daughter said, noting that Cosey’s father died when he was 9 years old. Cosey died May 30 of complications from surgery at Vanguard Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said his daughter Mariama Cosey. CHICAGO - Pete Cosey, an innovative guitarist who brought his distinctive distorted sound to recordings with Miles Davis, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters, has died, his daughter said.