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Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix perhaps no other rock-and-roll trailblazer was as
original or as influential in such a short span of time as Jimi Hendrix.
Widely acknowledged as one of the most daring and inventive virtuosos in
rock history, Hendrix pioneered the electric guitar (he played a right-
handed Fender Stratocaster-- his "Electric Lady"--upside-down and left-
handed) as an electronic sound source capable of feedback, distortion, and
a host of other effects that could be crafted into an articulate and fluid
emotional vocabulary. And though he was on the scene as a solo artist for
less than five years, Hendrix is credited for having a profound effect on
everyone from George Clinton and Miles Davis to guitarists Stevie Ray
Vaughan and Vernon Reid. Born Johnny Allen Hendrix on November 27, 1942,
Hendrix's father, James "Al" Hendrix, later changed his son's name to James
Marshall. Young Jimi taught himself to play the guitar during his schoolboy
days in Seattle, drawing influence from blues legends like B.B. King and
Robert Johnson. He slung his guitar over his back and left home to enlist
in the 101st Division of the Air Force (the "Screaming Eagles"), where he
served as a parachute jumper until an injury led to his discharge. Hendrix
then began working as a session guitarist under the name Jimmy James,
playing behind such marquee acts as Sam Cooke, Ike and Tina Turner, and the
Isley Brothers. After gigging extensively with Little Richard in 1964,
Hendrix became entangled in a contract dispute with the mercurial artist
and left to form his own band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. With the
exception of an obscure single, "My Diary," with Rosa Lee Parks, none of
the music Hendrix cut with other artists was made more remarkable by his
presence. After playing Greenwich Village coffeehouses for the better part
of a year (still under the moniker Jimmy James), Hendrix encountered Chas
Chandler, of Animals fame, at a New York City club. Impressed with his
playing, Chandler, who was then looking to switch gears to management, took
Hendrix to London in the fall of 1966 and masterminded the creation of the
Jimi Hendrix Experience. Backed by Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell
on drums, the Experience offered Hendrix the wide-open rock-and-roll format
he needed to exercise his dazzling skills as a guitarist, singer, and
songwriter. Chandler unleashed the band on the London pop scene, and in
short order, Hendrix et al. became the talk of the town. Hendrix's first
single, "Hey Joe," a cover of a song written by the L.A. band the Leaves,
hit the U.K. charts in early 1967, followed in quick succession by "Purple
Haze," "The Wind Cries Mary," and the trio's ferocious debut album, Are You
Experienced?, which featured those tracks and the Hendrix staples "Foxy
Lady" and "Manic Depression." Hendrix's popularity Stateside was a bit
slower in igniting, but Are You Experienced? finally broke through in a
major way after a defining moment at the famed Monterey Pop Festival when
the notoriously outlandish frontman created a sensation by coaxing flames
from his Strat during the band's performance. The next year, Hendrix's
eclectic psychedelia reached a zenith with two albums, Axis: Bold As Love
and Electric Ladyland--the latter ranks as one of the greatest works of the
rock era.
But the experience at the top didn't last long-- Hendrix and bassist
Redding grew apart, and muddled by overindulgence in drugs and groupies,
Hendrix came to believe--wrongly--that his management was cheating him. In
1969, the Experience disbanded. In the summer of 1969, Hendrix played
Woodstock with an informal ensemble called the Electric Sky Church, in a
performance highlighted by another career-defining moment: a startling,
renegade rendition of "The Star- Spangled Banner." Hendrix subsequently
formed the Band of Gypsys, with old Air Force friend Billy Cox on bass and
Buddy Miles (Electric Flag) on drums. The band's New Year's Eve concert at
the Fillmore East in New York City provided them with material for their
first album, Band of Gypsys (more material from the show was released on
Band of Gypsys 2 in 1986).
Hendrix brought Mitch Mitchell back into the fold in mid-1970 to
begin work on a new double album Jimi had tentatively titled First Rays of
the New Rising Sun. Several tracks were recorded for the project, but the
sessions were sandwiched between tour dates, and, sadly, the album was left
unfinished when Hendrix died September 18, 1970. The cause of death noted
on the coroner's report was inhalation of vomit after barbiturate
intoxication. In 1993, the investigation into Hendrix's death was reopened
by Scotland Yard, but when no new evidence was unearthed, the matter was
dropped. In 1971, several of the tracks intended for First Rays were
compiled and released as The Cry of Love, and the ensuing years have
witnessed a flood of releases of Hendrix tributes, books, videos, and
albums, including pre-fame barrel-scrapings of Hendrix takes from his
pickup guitarist days. Posthumous releases took on new life in the CD era.
In 1994, MCA released three Hendrix thematic compilations: one devoted to
blues songs recorded between 1966 and 1970 (Jimi Hendrix: Blues), one to
his live performance at Woodstock (Jimi Hendrix: Woodstock), and a third
(Voodoo Soup) that represented an attempt to recreate Hendrix's unfinished
fourth studio album. In April of 1997, yet another attempt was made to
recreate the album Hendrix was working on at the time of his death, but
this time the project was overseen by Hendrix co-producer Eddie Kramer and
historian John McDermott--and it had the Hendrix family stamp of approval.
The seventeen-track album, First Rays of the New Rising Sun, is arguably
the best assemblage of Hendrix leftovers so far. Despite these
transgressions against his nearly faultless musical legacy and attempts to
create what could have been, Hendrix's innovations and soul live on in the
playing of every rock-and-roll guitarist.
ADDITIONAL FEATURED ESSAYS
Jimi Hendrix
: Reflections of the Man Through the Development of His Albums James McGuire UWC 4, Hampton November 4, 1996 On Novembe
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The Emergence Of Heavy Metal
Jimi Hendrix was a guitar virtuoso that both frightened and motivated. After his coming out at the 1967 Monterey Pop fes
Lyrics
In our society today, some musicians and their music drain and plague the moral and spiritual well-being of the people;
Music And Censorship
In our society today, some musicians and their music drain and plague the moral and spiritual well-being of the people;
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