1. Phillip Jackson, best known as Norton Buffalo, was an American singer-songwriter, country and blues harmonica player, record producer, bandleader and recording artist who was a versatile proponent of the harmonica, including chromatic and diatonic.
Norton Buffalo played harmonica on the band's hit follow-up album Book of Dreams, released in May 1977.
Norton Buffalo was a member of the Mickey Hart band High Noon in the late 70s and early 80s with Merl Saunders, Mike Hinton, Jim McPhearson, Vicki Randle, and Bobby Vega, and played with Saunders on the Rainforest Band album It's in the Air in 1993.
Norton Buffalo was legendary among harpists for his solo on Bonnie Raitt's treatment of Del Shannon's "Runaway", in which he switches quickly between four different harps to play across the chord changes in the song.
Norton Buffalo did a cameo appearance in the rock movie, The Rose starring Bette Midler, where he was a member of the band and spoke a line or two.
Norton Buffalo had another cameo in Michael Cimino's 1979 film Heaven's Gate starring Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, Sam Waterston and Jeff Bridges.
Norton Buffalo co-wrote the music for the films Stacy's Knights, and Eddie Macon's Run with guitarist Mike Hinton.
Norton Buffalo performed and recorded as a member of The Steve Miller Band for over 32 years.
Norton Buffalo often performed and recorded music as a session musician, and appeared on 180 albums.
Norton Buffalo continued to tour with The Steve Miller Band through early 2009, including a show on Maui, with recognizable harmonies and harmonica.
On September 2,2009, Norton Buffalo was diagnosed with stage four adenocarcinoma of the lower right lobe of the lung.
Norton Buffalo retired to his home in Paradise, California, where he sought treatment at Feather River Hospital and died there on October 30,2009.
Norton Buffalo played harmonica on two tracks on The Doobie Brothers' Grammy-award-winning 1978 album Minute by Minute.