Pete Cosey, guitarist known for distortion

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. He was 68.

Cosey died May 30 of complications from surgery at Vanguard Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said his daughter Mariama Cosey.

Pete Cosey's musical journey began early, his daughter said, noting that Cosey's father died when he was 9 years old.

"That's how he dealt with his father's passing . . . I think he tried to spend his time trying to communicate with my granddaddy," she said.

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.

He took a creative approach to stringing and tuning his guitars, and liberally applied the distortion pedal. He started to develop his unique sound as a teen in Arizona. Eventually his explorations of sound also drew the attention of jazz legend Miles Davis, with whom Casey also worked.-- AP