Jimi Hendrix

Long overdue!  But only now have I rounded up what could reasonably be considered a definitive JH collection:  his three studio albums, Band of Gypsies, his posthumous release, and two live albums.

Most of us mere mortal guitarists have to study chords, scales, and tablature and practice constantly to achieve any meaningful competence on the instrument.  Straying from that path will lead to noisy cacophony.  A few lucky souls are/were blessed with abundant natural ability, an intuitive understanding of how to make the instrument sing.  Jimi Hendrix was one of those.

Remarkably, he was active for only a brief, narrow window of time in the late 1960s and only released three studio albums in his lifetime:  Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, and Electric Ladyland, plus an official live album from his post-Experience band, Band of Gypsies.   Shortly after his death, his unreleased studio material was released as Cry of Love, then in 1997 combined with the remaining material gathered up as First Rays of the New Rising Sun.  Arguably his most important live work was the Monterey pop show in 1967, and of course Woodstock in August 1969.  He could count on Mitch Mitchell on drums – both Experience and BoG – but replaced Noel Redding on bass with his Army buddy Billy Cox in BoG.

He had a troubled childhood in Seattle – his parents divorced, and his mother died when he was very young.  Hendrix joined the Army in 1961 as an alternative to prison (he “took the black”, as it were) but was never enthusiastic about being a soldier, preferring to play guitar.  Hardly surprisingly, he was discharged in 1962 – leaving him free to develop his musical talents and career.  His most notable job was playing for Curtis Knight, which resulted in a recording contract which later caused him considerable legal problems.

Chas Chandler, the ex-bassist for the Animals, saw Hendrix play in New York City, and brought him to London in 1966 to form The Experience with Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding.  Once he reached London, and thanks to Chandler’s contacts among the A-listers of the contemporary music scene (Clapton, Townsend, etc.) who could quickly recognize his talent and vision, Hendrix’ career took off.  Are You Experienced was released in the UK in May 1967, in the US in August.  His appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival in California in June 1967 was essentially his big break.

Axis: Bold as Love followed in December 1967, and then the double studio album Electric Ladyland in October 1968.  As with the Scorpions' sometimes provocative album covers, I made sure to get the European version of the CD with its bevy of nude women on the cover.  His live career was capped by the legendary performance at Woodstock, for which he was the headlining performer paid the most, going onstage at 9 a.m. on the final day of the festival for a meager leftover crowd of 25,000. “The Star Spangled Banner” was neither the encore, nor premiered at the festival, but most closely identified with that concert appearance.  To satisfy his Curtis Knight duties, he released Band of Gypsies in 1970 (March in the US, June in the UK).  Finally, in September 1970, he died in London of an overdose of sleeping pills – “death by misadventure”. 

Hits.  Practically all of the first album, “Little Wing” from Axis, and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” and  “All Along the Watchtower” (Dylan cover) from Electric Ladyland,  “Red House” is remarkable – it’s a standard blues song which sounds like it was written by Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, or Willie Dixon, but is Hendrix’s own original.  Hendrix was a better guitarist than songwriter:  his best and most famous songs are certainly good enough in their own right, but don’t match the quality of those by the Beatles – around whom Hendrix ran circles as a guitarist.  It’s too bad Hendrix and Lennon-McCartney never wrote a song together.  If you thought “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (Beatles + Clapton) was good, imagine what such a match would have produced. 

But this also ignores the fact that more so than most other musicians – almost all of whom, with the 800 pound gorilla exception of the Beatles – consider themselves to be “live artists”, Jimi Hendrix truly was a live artist.  Playing the guitar with his teeth, setting it on fire, etc. all the theatrics rolled into one man, yet this was in addition to his own immense natural talent, not a stage crutch to hide mediocre or nonexistent talent.  With Hendrix you got it all.

Guitars.  Although Hendrix has played left-handed guitars, e.g. a Gibson Flying V, he’s best known for flipping regular right-handed Fender Stratocasters over and stringing them left-handed.

Heirs.  A few notable guitarists have essentially become the musical heirs to Hendrix’ legacy:  Frank Marino, Robin Trower, and Uli Roth.  Of these, Marino seems to deviate the least from Hendrix or add anything of his own.  Despite being Hendrix clones, however, their original material is as interesting and fun to listen to as Hendrix’ own material.