Norton Buffalo

Norton Buffalo, the longtime harmonica player for the Steve Miller Band and frequent collaborator with all manner of musicians, grew up a Bay Area kid. Born in Oakland in 1951 as Phillip Jackson, Norton spend his formative years just to the north in the city of Richmond. His father played the harmonica, and Buffalo became a crack harp player himself. 

Shortly after high school, Buffalo started making a name for himself in the San Francisco music scene of the 70s, playing with folks like Clover, Elvin Bishop, Commander Cody, and Steve Miller Band, which he continued to work and play with over the next thirty years. In the late 70s, he formed his own band, The Stampede, and recorded two albums: Lovin’ in the Valley of the Moon and Desert Horizon.

Throughout his career, Buffalo and his harmonica appeared on more than 180 albums, collaborating with folks from across the musical spectrum. But he is probably best known for his performance on Bonnie Raitt’s cover of Runaway, included on her Sweet Forgiveness album.

Unsurprisingly, given his Bay Area background and long career, Buffalo regularly interacted with members of the Grateful Dead over the years. Together with Merle Saunders and Mickey Hart, Norton formed the core trio of Hart’s Bay Area club band, High Noon, in the early 80s. Norton was also a frequent guest of JGB in the 90s, including on the Ain’t No Bread in the Breadbox release of the Oakland Coliseum Arena show from 31 October 1992.

While Norton played with anyone and everyone, he served as a member of the Steve Miller Band for 32 years, including during the 1992 Dead tour when the Steve Miller Band opened for them. During that tour, Steve Miller himself joined the Dead on stage several times. But it was only during the last of these, on July 1, 1992, that Buffalo also took the stage with the headliners. Norton and Miller end up staying out there for four songs pre-Drums.

After Saint Of Circumstance opens the second half, Miller and Norton join in on Midnight Hour. And while you can hear Buffalo throughout, Miller’s extra guitar and a little MIDI from Jerry seem to be the biggest contributions to the sound. But throughout the West LA Fadeaway that follows, there is no question about it, Norton is killing it, adding some sweet riffs that level up the tune alongside Miller’s leads. Truckin’ then comes out and proves to be a fun romp with everyone chiming in throughout, including a few utterly seismic Phil bombs. Shortly after the last of these, Truckin’ bleeds into a powerful Spoonful that Norton and everyone else is all over, making for the crux of the Buckeye Lake show.

On September 2, 2009, Norton Buffalo was diagnosed with stage four cancer. He passed away less then two months later, on October 30, 2009, at the age of 58.