JIMI HENDRIX

“Excuse me

While I kiss the sky…”

 

 

 

 

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“B”

Main Decade: 60’s

Main Eras:

Psychedelia (1966-1969)

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Key Members:

Jimi Hendrix, Guitar

Mitch Mitchell, Drums

Noel Redding, Bass

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Key Songs:

Purple Haze, Fire, Foxy Lady, Hey Joe, All Along The Watchtower, The Wind Cries Mary, Little Wing, Red House, Vodoo Child, Third Stone From The Sun, Machine Gun, Love or Confusion, Spanish Castle Magic, Gypsy Eyes, 1983, Come On (Let The Goodtimes Roll), House Burning Down 

 

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Ahhh… that's one of my favorite lines! Hendrix was never a great lyricist, but that verse is worth at least half of everything else he wrote. Jimi, like the vast majority of guitar heroes, had about as much talent for writing intelligent lyrics as I have for quantum physics. But, without a doubt, Hendrix is ​​the ultimate guitarist in the entire history of rock. Neither Eric Clapton, nor Jimmy Page, nor Stevie Ray Vaughan, nor Petrucci, nor Brian May, nor Beck, nor Townshend achieve the mastery, fury, and versatility that Hendrix accomplishes with his demonic left hand. The difference between Hendrix and the rest is simply that "the rest" achieved such mastery because of the school Jimi founded, while Hendrix can be linked to the blues as his roots, like almost any great guitarist, but he was able to create such a personal style that he achieved the evolution from a simple solo to pure, animalistic, and incendiary hard rock.

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My theory is that he was born with an electric guitar in his hands. I don't even want to imagine his poor mother! But it's true, he was born and had his white Fender in his hands from the womb!!! Nope, not really, but he could do whatever he wanted with the guitar, with astonishing speed, overwhelming precision, and thunderous clarity… You know what I mean! The whole "born with a natural talent for the guitar" thing is something the great Starostin mentions in his review; before I'm accused of plagiarism, at least for this phrase, I want to clarify that I was already discussing this with some friends at least ten years before I came across George's reviews. That said, getting back to the point, having that kind of speed combined with precision, and at that level of quality, isn't something just anyone can do… Believe me. There might be faster people. Many metalheads from the late seventies and throughout the eighties can play at lightning speed. But remember, my eternal motto, "Quantity is not better than quality," applies in this case. Not even all those eighties solos combined can match the precision and spontaneity of Highway Chile at 1:45 or at 1:40 in "The Wind Cries Mary." Not just any guy can unleash such wild, precise, and instinctive notes like Jimi did…

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Hendrix is ​​one of those guys who plays and composes note by note in a natural way. He let his hands and his Fender Stratocaster speak for him without even thinking. I love Charlie Parker and Cortázar's tribute to him with "The Pursuer," but the more I read that story, the more I see Hendrix shining through the lines, the portrait of his life shattered by success and rebuilt every time he played his instrument without realizing what he was creating. The character Johnnie Carter is Charlie Parker, and in that bestial universality of the lyrics, Charlie Parker is none other than Jimi.

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Anyway, let's not mix the lyrics and the music too much… Jimi Hendrix didn't just revolutionize the 60s music scene, making the most acid-tinged and strobing rock that had been heard until "Are You Experienced?" in '67. Nope. Not only did he create one of the best albums of '67; he also changed the role of the lead guitar in rock bands forever, forcing it to take on a more prominent role… And I dare say that even Pete Townshend, the best guitarist until Hendrix, was impacted and forced to evolve after Experienced… To be clearer: while Pete and the rest of The Who were timidly trying to revolutionize things with “Tattoo” in November, or Eric Clapton with his Cream were shaking the world with “Sunshine” in September, Jimi was creating monsters like “The Third Stone From The Sun” since May.

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That's another point that absolutely must be emphasized: Jimi needed a bassist and a drummer, absolutely! Although Mitch Mitchell is a great drummer and Noel Redding is a bassist who knows how to fill gaps without throwing notes so wildly, neither of them could compare to Moon and Entwistle of The Who, or Baker and Bruce of Cream. In other words, Jimi had a decent rhythm section, but never a killer backing band, not even remotely on par with his stature. I remember one night at a rehearsal with the Blue Jeans when Juanjo and I were listening to a Clapton live special that blew us away, followed by a Hendrix song… We asked the experts for a good Clapton band and they immediately gave us the names of Baker and Bruce. I remember perfectly that when we asked about Hendrix's backing band, nobody, absolutely nobody, knew the answer.

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That's another point that absolutely must be emphasized: Jimi needed a bassist and a drummer, absolutely! Although Mitch Mitchell is a great drummer and Noel Redding is a bassist who knows how to fill gaps without throwing notes so wildly, neither of them could compare to Moon and Entwistle of The Who, or Baker and Bruce of Cream. In other words, Jimi had a decent rhythm section, but never a killer backing band, not even remotely on par with his stature. I remember one night at a rehearsal with the Blue Jeans when Juanjo and I were listening to a Clapton live special that blew us away, followed by a Hendrix song… We asked the experts for a good Clapton band and they immediately gave us the names of Baker and Bruce. I remember perfectly that when we asked about Hendrix's backing band, nobody, absolutely nobody, knew the answer. And they were good, but perhaps not good enough to be remembered. Jimi was born in 1942 in Seattle, the future capital of grunge. He got his first guitar at three, although it only had one string (perhaps that's why he became so cool, getting sounds out of one string when most of us complain if one of the six breaks…), and by eleven he had completely mastered it. At 15, being a fan of Little Richard, he got his first electric guitar and started forming bands whenever he had the chance. In the early 60s, he served a couple of sentences for driving stolen cars while doing his military service in Kentucky. After being discharged, he continued forming bands without much success in the southern United States. Later, he traveled to New York and became a session musician for such diverse artists as Slim Harpo, Jackie Wilson, Tommy Tucker, his idol Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner, and the Isley Brothers, among others. Around that time, Les Paul himself heard him and tried to contact him to produce him, but unfortunately, he lost track of him. Jimi lived in abject poverty, and during that period, he went from excessive drinking to experimenting with drugs, from marijuana to cocaine, which dramatically evolved his sound. In 1966, Chas Chandler, bassist for The Animals, heard Jimi in a New York bar. At the time, Chas was fed up with Eric Burdon's behavior and was looking for someone to produce so he could leave his band. He didn't let the opportunity pass him by, unlike Les Paul, and immediately contacted Jimi. He quickly brought him to London and began searching for top-notch musicians to accompany him. During that time, he was introduced to and impressed figures such as Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Brian Epstein, Eric Burdon, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce, Pete Townshend, Jim Morrison… He impressed them all with his revolutionary sound, and most formed friendships that lasted until his untimely death. But none of them agreed to collaborate with or include Jimi in their bands. It was still a very risky sound for the time. So Chandler had to settle for getting him two of the most ferocious and outstanding studio musicians available in the UK: Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, with whom he formed “The Experience.” With them, Hendrix achieved several number one singles in the UK, first making a name for himself in bars, then opening for established groups like “The Who,” and finally being invited to jam during concerts by “Cream.”

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In May 1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience's first album, "Are You Experienced?", was released, and the only thing that prevented it from reaching number one on the charts in England was The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Thus began the "Summer of Love" on June 4, 1967, before their triumphant return home. Hendrix and his Experience gave a performance at the legendary Saville Theatre. Frankly, I don't know if he knew Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison would be there, but he wisely opened the concert with a version of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" from the album of the same name, which had been released just three days earlier.

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Paul was so impressed with the performance that, when pressured by the organizers of the Monterey Pop Festival, he could only respond to the Beatles' refusal to perform by recommending Jimi as the headliner. Hendrix and his band were indeed the headline act, and Jimi made history by burning his white Fender Stratocaster at the end of the set. He repeated this feat at the headlining Woodstock '69.

 

The rest, as they say, is history: Jimi became a game-changer, forever changing the landscape of guitar playing. After his next two studio albums, "Axis As Bold" and "Electric Ladyland," he continued to evolve with his guitar effects, using distortion pedals, wah-wah pedals, and studio effects. But the Experience Records grew weary of his perfectionism when Jimi recorded 43 takes of the same song. Redding, who was already establishing himself as a drummer, decided to leave the band during the "Electric Ladyland" sessions, taking the bassist with him. That album ended up being recorded with Jimi's friends, such as Dave Mason, Chris Wood, and Stevie Winwood, among others, with Hendrix himself playing outrageous bass parts during the recording sessions, resulting in a different sound, but not necessarily a better one…

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In 1969, Jimi got into legal trouble with several former managers and tasted the bittersweet effects of heroin for the first time. To pay off his debts, he put together a new band (this time, in a foolish act of revenge, discarding people like Moon, Harrison, Clapton, Enwinstle, and other luminaries). Instead of seizing the opportunity to create the greatest rock album of all time, he hired some friends from his military service and recorded the half-album, “Band of Gypsies.”

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Jimi Hendrix died of a heroin overdose on September 18, 1970, while recording this album. He is survived by three and a half studio albums, a landmark of his career, a revolution in guitar playing that influenced the later sounds of Clapton, Page, Townshend, and others, and the subsequent evolution into hard rock, with studio techniques that even George Martin could not have imagined and live performances so explosive that not even the most hardened 80s metalheads could have dreamed of. And just as the dreams of his most fervent fans were beginning (both before and after) to come true with his imminent joining ELP. Sadly, Jimi Hendrix died at the young age of 27, leaving behind an impressive and revolutionary legacy, with only three and a half studio albums and over 100 live performances that continue to surface.

 

Thus, Jimi inaugurated the involuntary 27 Club, which continues to bring curses to this day… But he left an unparalleled legacy, full of blues, rock, and Jimi's unmistakable style…

 

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By Corvan 

Nov/3/2007

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