Pete Cosey

Chicago guitarist backed famous blues and jazz musicians (in an era when the two groups notoriously failed to get along) including a long membership during the avant-garde days of the Miles Davis group, Chuck Berry, Billy Stewart, Fontella Bass, Etta James, the Soul Stirrers, Jerry Butler, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Herbie Hancock. An early member of the AACM, he helped found the Pharoahs, and Earth, Wind, and Fire, played in a trio with drummer Ajaramu and organist Amina Claudine Myers, in a quartet with saxophonist Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, drummer Don Moye and Malachi Favors (both of Art Ensemble of Chicago), with Muhal Richard Abrams' Experimental Big Band, and was a member of the Chess Records' house band.