Jimi Hendrix Biography
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James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (27 November
1942, Seattle, Washington 18 September 1970, London, England) was an
American musician, songwriter and guitarist, widely hailed by fans and
music critics. Hendrix is considered one of the most influential
electric guitarists of all time.
Mostly self-taught on the instrument, the
left-handed Hendrix used a right-handed guitar that was restrung and
played up-side down. As a guitarist, he built upon the innovations of
blues stylists such as B. B. King, Albert King, Buddy Guy, T-Bone
Walker, and Muddy Waters, as well as those of rhythm and blues and soul
music guitarists like Curtis Mayfield. Hendrix's music was also
influenced by jazz; he often cited Rahsaan Roland Kirk as his favorite
musician. In addition, Hendrix extended the tradition of rock guitar:
although previous guitarists, such as The Kinks' Dave Davies, and The
Who's Pete Townshend, had employed techniques such as feedback,
distortion and other effects as sonic tools, Hendrix was able to exploit
them to a previously undreamed-of extent, and to incorporate them as an
integral part of his compositions.
Jimi's father Al Hendrix is credited as the
one who gave Jimi his first real guitar. The two would have jam sessions
with Al on either bass or saxophone. As a record producer, Hendrix was
an innovator in using the recording studio as an extension of his
musical ideas. Hendrix was notably one of the first to experiment with
stereo effects during the recording process. Hendrix was also an
accomplished songwriter whose compositions have been performed by
countless artists. Finally, his image and influence as a rock star place
him in the company of Little Richard, Chuck Berry, The Who, the Beatles,
the Rolling Stones and Hendrix's first idol Elvis Presley.
The controversial nature of Hendrix's style
is epitomized in the sentiments expressed about his renditions of the
"Star Spangled Banner", a tune he played loudly and sharply accompanied
by simulated sounds of war (machine guns, bombs and screams) from his
guitar. His impressionistic renditions have been described by some as
anti-American mockery and by others as a generation's statement on the
unrest in U.S. society, oddly symbolic of the beauty, spontaneity, and
tragedy that was endemic to Hendrix's life. Hendrix however did not
intend this to be the case; he was a deeply patriotic man after his
service in the 101st Airborne and rather intended it as a different
interpretation of the anthem. When taken to task on the Dick Cavett Show
on the "unorthodox" nature of his performance, Hendrix replied, "I
thought it was beautiful." Rather, it was his latter-career live
favourite Machine Gun which he intended as a protest song against war.
****
Youth and pre-professional career
Hendrix was born Johnny Allen Hendrix in
Seattle, Washington, the son of Al Hendrix and Lucille Jeter. His mother
was an alcoholic and died young of cirrhosis when Jimi was aged 15,
providing Hendrix with a musical muse which he would later express in
his songs, for example, "Little Wing". His father, after returning from
World War II, legally renamed him James Marshall Hendrix. He grew up
shy, sensitive, and full of confusion. His hero was Robert Derouin. Like
his contemporaries John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Hendrix was deeply
affected by family events his parents' divorce in December 1951,
listening to Elvis Presley, whom he loved (a color drawing, showing a
young Elvis armed with a guitar, and made by the then impressionable 15
year old Hendrix himself, two months after attending Presley's concert
at Seattle's Sick's Stadium on 1 September 1957, can be seen at that
city's Rock museum), and the death of his mother, five months later in
King County Hospital. He was close to his paternal grandmother Nora Rose
Moore. Nora, the daughter of an Irish Cherokee father and a mulatto
mother, instilled in him a strong sense of pride about his Native
American ancestry. Both of Jimi's paternal grandparents were vaudeville
performers who settled in Vancouver, British Columbia, where his father,
Al Hendrix, was born. Al relocated to Seattle, where he met and married
Lucille Jeter. After Lucille's death, Al gave Jimi a ukulele, and later
bought him a US$5 acoustic guitar, setting him on the path to his future
vocation.
After playing with several local Seattle
bands and getting into trouble with the law via a stolen car, Hendrix
was sentenced to 2 years in jail. However, his lawyer made a compromise
offer, and Hendrix was sentenced to 2 years of service in the Army,
joining the 101st Airborne Division (stationed at Fort Campbell,
Kentucky) as a trainee paratrooper. Hendrix was a poor soldier who was
repeatedly caught sleeping while on duty and missing at midnight
bed-check. Superiors noted that he needed constant supervision even for
basic tasks, and lacked motivation. He was described by one supervisor
as having "no known good characteristics", and by another that "his mind
apparently cannot function while performing duties and thinking about
his guitar"[1]. After less than a year, he received a medical discharge
after breaking his ankle on his 26th parachute jump. (He said later that
the sound of air whistling through the parachute shrouds was one of the
sources of his "spacy" guitar sound.) Hendrix was discharged from the US
Army three years before the Vietnam War saw large numbers of US soldiers
arrive. But his recordings would become favorites of soldiers fighting
there. (A biography published in summer 2005, Room Full Of Mirrors, by
Charles Cross, claims that Hendrix faked being gay--claiming to have
fallen in love with another soldier--and was therefore discharged.
According to Cross, Hendrix was an avid anti-communist and did not leave
the US Army as a protest to the Vietnam War, but simply wanted out so he
could focus on playing guitar.)
After leaving Ft. Campbell, Hendrix and his
friend and bandmate Billy Cox moved to nearby Nashville. There they
played, and sometimes lived, in the clubs along Jefferson Street, the
traditional heart of Nashville's black community, and home to a lively
rhythm and blues scene.
During the early 1960s, Hendrix made a
precarious living performing in backing bands for touring soul and blues
musicians, including Curtis Knight, B. B. King, and Little Richard. His
first notice came from appearances with The Isley Brothers, notably on
the two-parter Testify in 1964.
1965-1966
On 15 October 1965, Hendrix signed a 3-year
recording contract with entrepreneur Ed Chalpin, receiving $1 and 1%
royalty on records with Curtis Knight. The contract later caused
litigation with Hendrix and other record labels.
By 1966 he had his own band, Jimmy James
and The Blue Flames, and a residency at the Cafe Wha? in New York City.
During this period Hendrix met and worked with singer-guitarist Ellen
McIlwaine and guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter. Hendrix also became close
friends with a young guitarist named Randy California, who would later
co-found the band Spirit. Hendrix also met iconoclast Frank Zappa during
this time. Zappa introduced Hendrix to the newly-invented wah-wah pedal,
a tool which Hendrix soon mastered and made an integral part of his
sound.
While performing with The Blue Flames at
the Cafe Wha?, Linda Keith, then-girlfriend of The Rolling Stones
guitarist Keith Richards, saw Hendrix, and couldn't believe he hadn't
been "discovered". Knowing Chas Chandler was leaving The Animals, and
looking for someone to manage, she introduced him to Hendrix. Chandler
took Hendrix to England, signed him to a management and production
contract as his record producer, and helped him form a new band, The
Jimi Hendrix Experience, with guitarist-turned-bassist Noel Redding and
drummer Mitch Mitchell.
With his first few show-stopping London
club appearances, word of the new star spread through the British music
industry. His showmanship and dazzling virtuosity made instant fans of
reigning guitar heroes Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, as well as members of
The Beatles and The Who, whose managers signed Hendrix to The Who's
record label, Track Records. Jimi's first single was a cover of "Hey
Joe", a stylised blues song written by Billy Roberts that was virtually
a standard for rock bands at the time. Hendrix and Chandler had seen
folk-singer Tim Rose performing his slow arrangement of Hey Joe at the
Cafe Wha?, and adapted it to Hendrix' emerging psychedelic style.
Further Hendrix success came with the
incendiary and original "Purple Haze", with a heavily distorted guitar
sound which still influences people now; the soulful ballad "The Wind
Cries Mary", and "Hey Joe". The three songs were Top 10 hits.
Established as a star in the U.K., Hendrix
and his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham moved into a flat at 23 Brook Street
in central London. The nearby 25 Brook Street was once the home of
baroque composer George Frideric Handel. Hendrix, aware of this musical
coincidence, bought Handel recordings including Messiah and the Water
Music. The two houses currently comprise the Handel House Museum, where
both musicians are celebrated.
1967
The 1967 release of the group's first
album, Are You Experienced, is a mix of melodic ballads ("The Wind Cries
Mary"), pop-rock ("Fire"), psychedelia ("Third Stone from the Sun"), and
blues ("Red House"), and is a template for much of their later work.
Hendrix went to a hospital with burns to
his hands after setting his guitar on fire for the first time at the
Astoria theatre in London on 31 March 1967. Later, after causing damage
to amplifiers and other stage equipment at his shows, Rank Theatre
management warned him to "tone down" his stage act.
The Monterey Pop Festival booked The Jimi
Hendrix Experience at the urging of festival board member Paul
McCartney. At the concert, filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker immortalized
Hendrix's iconic burning and smashing of his guitar in the film Monterey
Pop.
A short gig, opening for the pop group The
Monkees on their first American tour, followed the festival. The Monkees
asked for Hendrix because they were fans, but their mostly teenage
audience did not warm to his outlandish stage act and he abruptly quit
the tour after a few dates, just as "Purple Haze" gained popularity in
America. Chas Chandler later admitted that being "thrown off" The
Monkees tour was engineered to gain maximum media impact and outrage for
Hendrix. At the time a story circulated claiming that Hendrix was
removed from the tour because of complaints made by the Daughters of the
American Revolution that his stage conduct was "lewd and indecent".
Australian journalist Lillian Roxon, accompanying the tour with singer
Lynne Randell (the other support act), concocted the story. The claim
was repeated in Roxon's 1969 Rock Encyclopedia but she later admitted it
was fabricated.
Meanwhile in England, Hendrix's wild-man
image and musical gimmickry (such as playing the guitar with his teeth
and behind his back) continued to bring publicity, but Hendrix was
already advancing musically and becoming frustrated by media and
audience concentration on his stage act and his hit singles.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience's second 1967
album, Axis: Bold as Love continued the style established by Are You
Experienced with tracks such as "Little Wing" and "If 6 Was 9", showing
his continuing mastery of the electric guitar. A mishap almost prevented
the album's release; Hendrix lost the master tape of side 1 of the LP
after he left it in a taxi. With the release deadline looming, Hendrix,
Chandler and engineer Eddie Kramer in an all-night session made a remix
from the multitracks. Kramer and Hendrix later said that they were never
entirely happy with the results.
1968
Increasing personality differences with
Noel Redding, combined with the influence of drugs, alcohol and fatigue,
led to a trouble-plagued tour of Scandinavia. On 4 January 1968, Hendrix
was jailed by Stockholm police, after trashing a hotel room in a drunken
rage.
The band's third recording, a double album,
Electric Ladyland (1968), is more eclectic and experimental than
previous recordings. It features a lengthy blues jam ("Voodoo Chile"),
the jazz-inflected "Rainy Day, Dream Away/Still Raining, Still
Dreaming", and what is probably the definitive version of Bob Dylan's
"All Along the Watchtower". Dylan enjoyed this version of the song so
much that he went on record as saying that he preferred Jimi's version
to his own. (Hendrix credited British band The Alan Bown Set for
inspiration on the arrangement.)
Hendrix decided to return to the US, and
frustrated by the limitations of commercial recording he decided to
establish his own state-of-the-art multitrack studio in New York City to
which he could have unlimited access to realise his expanding musical
visions. Construction of the studio, called Electric Lady, was not
completed until mid-1970.
Hendrix's formerly disciplined work habits
became erratic, and the combination of interminable sessions and studios
filled with hangers-on finally led Chas Chandler to quit in May 1968.
Chandler later complained that Hendrix's insistence on doing multiple
takes on every song (Gypsy Eyes apparently took 43 takes and he still
was not satisfied), combined with what he saw as incoherence caused by
drugs, led to him to sell his share of the management company to his
partner Mike Jeffrey.
Hendrix's studio perfectionism is legendary
he reportedly made accomplished Traffic guitarist Dave Mason do more
than 20 takes of the acoustic guitar backing on All Along The
Watchtower. Deeply insecure about his voice, Hendrix often recorded his
vocals behind studio screens.
Many critics now believe that the
ascendancy of Mike Jeffrey was a negative influence on Hendrix's life
and career. Jeffrey (who had previously managed The Animals and was
later reviled by them) allegedly embezzled much of the money Hendrix
earned during his lifetime and secreted it in offshore bank accounts.
Jeffrey allegedly had links to both the MI5 and CIA intelligence
organisations (he claimed publicly to be a secret agent) and to the
Mafia. He also regularly carried a hand gun, and could speak Russian.
Despite the difficulties of recording
Electric Ladyland, many of the tracks show Hendrix's vision expanding
far beyond the scope of the original trio (it is said that the sound of
the record inspired Miles Davis' sound on Bitches Brew), and saw him
collaborating with a range of musicians including Dave Mason, Chris Wood
and Steve Winwood from Traffic, drummer Buddy Miles and the former Dylan
organist Al Kooper.
1969
His expanding musical horizons were
accompanied by a deterioration in his relationship with bandmates
(particularly Redding), and the Experience broke up in 1969.
On 4 January 1969 he was accused by
television producers of arrogance after playing an impromptu version of
"Sunshine of Your Love" past his allotted time slot on the BBC1 show
Happening for Lulu, apparently as a tribute to Cream after learning the
band broke-up. This track with Hendrix saying "they are taking us off
the air" is preceded by a very heavy version of Hey Joe and is featured
on BBC Sessions , massive amounts of sustain feedback and note bending
sent Jimi's guitar well out of tune.
On February 18 and February 24, 1969 the
Experience performed at London's Albert Hall, to sold out concerts each
attended by 5000 people. A film that was marketed as the Experience's
last performance initially was released as a four track LP soundtrack
featuring the songs "Sunshine of your Love" (Cream), "Room Full of
Mirrors", "C Sharp Blues" and "Smashing of Amps". Many varied audio
track compilations have much later surfaced including "Voodoo Chile" and
"Little Wing" on "In the West", as well as "Stone Free" from "Concerts"
all taken from these Albert Hall performances.
The 16mm film "Experience" was recorded as
a Gold and Goldstein production also at this Albert Hall performance on
February 24, 1969 and sadly remains unreleased despite containing
excellent audio and colour film footage. A bootleg film of this concert
exists, with both poor audio and film quality as well as unrelated
footage. Noel Redding's band "Fat Mattress" played at the same concert,
Hendrix casually referring to them as "Thin Pillow ".
On 3 May Hendrix was arrested at Toronto's
Pearson International Airport after heroin was found in his luggage. He
was later bailed on a $10,000 surety. Hendrix was acquitted after
asserting that the drugs were slipped into his bag by a fan without his
knowledge.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience played its
last-ever concert on June 29, 1969 at Barry Fey's Denver Pop Festival, a
three-day event held at Denver's Mile High Stadium that was marked by
rioting and tear gas. The Denver concert commenced with a version of the
Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Tax Free" a song composed by the
Swedish duo of Bo Hansson and drummer Rune Carlsson. Following the
Denver concert on 29 June, Noel Redding announced that he had quit the
Experience, although he had effectively ceased working with Hendrix
during most of the recording of Electric Ladyland.
By August of 1969, Hendrix formed a new
band called Gypsy Sun and Rainbows to play the Woodstock festival. The
group featured Hendrix on guitar, Billy Cox on bass, Mitch Mitchell on
drums, Larry Lee on rhythm guitar and Jerry Velez and Juma Sultan on
drums and percussion. This performance is best known for an intense
instrumental version of The Star-Spangled Banner that segued into Purple
Haze, into a lengthy solo into "Villanova Junction", a song that would
show his future direction for the rest of his carrer. After he left the
stage, he responded to the calls for encore and played his hit, "Hey
Joe" to close Woodstock. This is considered by many his best
performance.It is worth noting that the following day Miles Davis began
recording Bitches Brew, one of his first Jazz-Rock recordings.
1970
The Gypsy Sun and Rainbows band was
short-lived, and Hendrix formed a new trio, the Band of Gypsys.
Practising in upstate New York and at Juggy's sound studio, Band of
Gypsys comprised Billy Cox, an old paratrooper buddy, on bass and Buddy
Miles on drums. A press conference 15 December 1969 and concert in
Harlem in front of mainly a black audience paid tribute to civil rights
and had a focus on Dr Martin Luther King. Four memorable concerts on New
Year's Eve 1969-70 at Bill Graham's New York Fillmore East auditorium
captured several outstanding pieces, including what some feel is one of
Hendrix's greatest live performances, an explosive 12-minute rendition
of his anti-war epic Machine Gun. The release of Band of Gypsys - the
only official live recording sanctioned by Jimi - brought to an end the
contract and legal battles happening behind the scenes involving Ed
Chalpin.
His association with Miles ended abruptly
during a concert at Madison Square Garden on 28 January 1970, when
Hendrix walked out after playing just three songs, telling the audience:
"I'm sorry we just can't get it together." Miles later said in a
television interview that Hendrix felt he was losing the spotlight to
other musicians. In a Guitar World article, engineer Eddie Kramer
claimed that Hendrix was very displeased with Miles' practice of scat
singing through the band's performances (Hendrix reportedly edited out
many of Miles' vocal solos on the Band of Gypsys live album, although
the opening track Who Knows features an extended Miles scat).
The rest of 1970 was spent mainly recording
during the week, and playing live on the weekends. The "Cry of Love"
tour, begun in April, was structured with this pattern in mind.
Performances on this tour were uneven in quality, however many
recordings exist that are also outstanding particularly those recorded
by engineer Eddie Kramer and those recorded by John Jansen of Wally
Heider studios ; many are available as bootleg recordings. A show in May
in Norman, Oklahoma was dedicated to the students killed in the Kent
State shootings.
Following Buddy Miles departure as drummer,
Mitch Mitchell rejoined Hendrix with Billy Cox on bass. The album
released after Hendrix's death (1972) called "In the West" featured an
outstanding rendition of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B'Good" recorded live at
Berkeley Community Center on May 16 1970. A 12 minute version of "Red
House" taken from a concert at San Diego Sports Arena also on this album
shows Hendrix's command of blues at full swing. Voodoo Chile along with
Little Wing are wrongly labelled on the album notes for "In the West" as
recordings at San Diego Sports Arena - they were actually part of the
February 24, 1969 recordings at the Albert Hall in London. The sound
quality is noticeably better on these "In the West" versions, than on
other releases of "Soundtrack to the motion picture Experience"
A soundtrack to a film called Rainbow
Bridge became available on LP in 1971 featuring a power-house version of
"Hear My Train a Comin" (this track was released on the more recent
album "Blues") and was also recorded at Berkeley Community Center - May
16, 1970. "Hear My Train a Comin" from this concert provides, like "Red
House" San Diego and Fillmore East "Stone Free" and "Machine Gun",
Hendrix playing at his best. However the entire album on this occasion
was incorrectly labelled, the recordings for the film Rainbow Bridge
were taken from performances on Hawaii's Maui island July 1970. Rainbow
Bridge the LP featured many tracks later to appear on "First Rays of the
Rising Sun" including "Hey Baby" with Hendrix announcing "Is the
Microphone On?", "Dolly Dagger", "Earth Blues","Room Full of Mirrors"
"Look over Yonder" and a stellar version of "Star Spangled Banner" mixed
at the Record Plant which resurfaced on the Purple velvet 3 Disc
collectors set Experience in 2002.
With the opening of Electric Lady studios,
Hendrix spent more time in the studio and started laying down several
new tracks. Some of these would surface much later on the strangely
named album "War Heroes", "Loose Ends" and Cry of Love - see "First Rays
of the New Rising Sun" At a June concert, Hendrix announced that his
next LP would come out in "July or August, in either one or two parts."
Subsequently some tracks being released as a LP (and CD) "Cry of Love"
However, recording sessions for the album, tentatively titled "The First
Rays Of The New Rising Sun" continued until he was scheduled to depart
for his upcoming European tour. An opening party for Electric Lady was
held on 26 August, and following this, Hendrix boarded a Air India
flight for England.
On 30 August, he gave his last performance
in the United Kingdom, at the Isle of Wight Festival with Mitchell and
Cox. Hendrix expressed disappointment on-stage at his fans' clamour to
hear his old hits rather than his new ideas. However, his two hour set
proved to be a strong one, and a filmed record of his set entitled "Wild
Blue Angel" was eventually released. Hendrix was critically aware of
illegal recordings being made of this concert and can be seen speaking
with concert officials in the movie footage. He further deliberately
combines pieces together so recordings cannot be extracted. Amazing
footage of the song "Foxey Lady" finds Hendrix behind the Marshall
stacks further speaking with concert organizers whilst controlling a
wall of howling feedback in pitch black darkness with absolute control
and having no view of the other band members!!
On 6 September 1970, his final stage
performance, Hendrix was greeted by booing and jeering by fans at the
Isle of Fehmarn Festival in Germany in a riot-like atmosphere; shortly
after he left the stage, it went up in flames during the first stage
appearance of Ton Steine Scherben. Billy Cox quit the tour and headed
back to the United States after reportedly being dosed with PCP.
Hendrix remained in England, and on the
morning of 18 September 1970, was found dead in the basement apartment
of the Samarkand Hotel, 22 Lansdowne Crescent, London. He had spent the
night with a German girlfriend, Monika Dannemann, and died in bed after
taking a reported nineteen Vesperax sleeping pills and choking on his
own vomit. For years afterwards Danneman publicly claimed Hendrix was
alive when placed in the back of the ambulance (however her comments
about that morning were often contradictory and confused, varying from
interview to interview). Police and ambulance reports from the time
reveal that not only was Jimi Hendrix dead when they arrived on the
scene, but he had been for some time, the apartment's front door was
wide open, and the apartment itself empty. Reports that Jimi's tape
"Black Gold" had been stolen from the flat are in fact wrong they ended
up in Mitch Mitchell's possession being handed to Mitch by Jimi on 6
cassettes at the Maui concert in July 1970. His body was returned home
and he was interred in the Greenwood Memorial Park, Renton, Washington,
USA, although Jimi requested to be buried in England. Following a libel
case brought in 1996 by Hendrix's long-term English girlfriend Kathy
Etchingham, Monika Danneman took her own life.
Legacy
Hendrix's style was unique. Although he
synthesized many styles in creating his musical voice, being a
visionary, there was something in his playing truly his own. He owned
and used a variety of guitars during his career, including a Gibson
Flying V that he decorated with psychedelic designs (notably used on
"House Burning Down"). His guitar of choice, and the instrument that
became most associated with him, is the Fender Stratocaster, or "Strat".
He bought his first Strat about 1965 and used them almost exclusively
thereafter.
Hendrix's emergence coincided with the
lifting of postwar import restrictions (imposed in many British
Commonwealth countries), which made the instrument much more available,
and after its initial popularisers Buddy Holly and Hank B. Marvin
Hendrix arguably did more than any other player to make the Stratocaster
the biggest-selling electric guitar in history. Before his arrival in
the U.K. most top players used Gibsons and Rickenbackers, but after
Hendrix, almost all of the leading guitarists, including Beck and
Clapton, switched to the Stratocaster. Hendrix bought dozens of Strats
and gave many away (including one given to ZZ Top guitarist Billy
Gibbons). Many others were stolen and he destroyed several in his famous
guitar-burning finales.
The Strat's easy action and relatively
narrow neck were also ideally suited to Hendrix's evolving style and
enhanced his tremendous dexterity Hendrix's hands were large enough to
fret across all six strings with the top joint of his thumb alone, and
he could reputedly play lead and rhythm parts simultaneously. A more
amazing fact about Hendrix is that he was left-handed, yet used a
right-handed Stratocaster, meaning he played the guitar upside down.
While Hendrix was capable of playing with the strings upside down per
se, he restrung his guitars so that the heavier strings were in their
standard position at the top of the neck. He preferred this layout
because the tremolo arm and volume/tone controls were more easily
accessible above the strings.
The burnt and broken parts of the
Stratocaster he destroyed at the 1968 Miami Pop Festival were given to
Frank Zappa, who later rebuilt it and played it extensively during the
1970s and 1980s. In May 2002, Zappa's son Dweezil put the guitar up for
auction in the US, hoping it would fetch $1 million, but it failed to
sell. The legendary white 1968 Strat that Hendrix played at Woodstock
sold at Sotheby's auction house in London in 1990 for £174,000 (295,800
Euros) and resold in 1993 for £750,000 (1,275,000). Both it and a shard
of the burnt and broken guitar now reside in a permanent exhibit at the
Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington.
Hendrix was also a catalyst in the
development of modern guitar amplification and guitar effects. His
high-energy stage act and the blistering volume at which he played
required robust and powerful amplifiers. For the first few months of his
touring career he used Vox and Fender amplifiers, but he soon found that
they could not stand up to the rigours of an Experience show. But he
soon discovered a new range of high-powered guitar amps being made by
London audio engineer Jim Marshall and they proved perfect for his
needs. Along with the Strat, the Marshall stack and Marshall amplifiers
were crucial in shaping his heavily overdriven sound, enabling him to
master the creative use of feedback as a musical effect, and his
exclusive use of this brand soon made it the most popular amplifier in
rock.
It is believed that the Marshall Super 100
amp, purchased by Hendrix on 8 October 1966, was the first he ever
bought. Rich Dickinson of Thrupp, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, bought
the second-hand Marshall amp in 1971 for just £65. In May, 2005, experts
at Marshall Amplifiers in Milton Keynes unearthed photos of the rock
star with the amp that proved beyond doubt that it was the genuine
article. In a local news story[2], Dickinson said that he had to part
with the beloved amp because insuring it would cost thousands.
"I'm not in any rush to sell it and will
wait for the best price, not just jump at whoever offers the first silly
money," he said.
The amp, of which only four were made, had
been fully serviced by Marshall and was to be sold in a private sale. It
was believed that it would fetch more than £1 million.
Hendrix also constantly looked for new
guitar effects. He was one of the first guitarists to move past simple
gimmickry and to exploit the full expressive possibilities of electronic
effects such as the wah-wah pedal. He had a fruitful association with
engineer Roger Mayer and made extensive use of several Mayer devices
including the Axis fuzz unit, the Octavia octave doubler and especially
the UniVibe, a vibrato unit designed to electronically simulate the
modulation effects of the Leslie speaker.
Hendrix's sound is a unique blend of high
volume and high power, precise control of feedback and a range of
cutting-edge guitar effects, especially the UniVibe-Octavia combination,
which can be heard to full effect on the Band of Gypsys' live version of
Machine Gun. He was also known for his trick playing, which included
using his teeth or playing behind his back, although he soon tired of
audience demands to perform these tricks.
Despite his hectic touring schedule and his
notorious perfectionism, he was a prolific recording artist and left
behind more than 300 unreleased recordings besides his five official LPs
and various singles.
He became legendary as one of the great
1960s rock'n'roll musicians who, like Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and
Brian Jones, rose to stardom, flourished for just a few years and died
at age 27.
Rolling Stone magazine named Hendrix the
number 1 guitarist of all time. His influence almost cannot be
overstated.
Posthumous releases
After Hendrix's death, hundreds of
unreleased recordings emerged. Controversy arose when producer Alan
Douglas supervised the mixing, overdubbing, and release of two albums'
worth of material that Hendrix left in various states of completion.
These include the LPs Crash Landing and Midnight Lightning and although
they contain several important tracks, the albums are generally
considered to be of substandard quality.
In 1972 British producer Joe Boyd put
together a film documentary on Hendrix's life, titled simply Jimi
Hendrix, which played in art-house cinemas around the world for many
years. The double-album soundtrack to the film, including live
performances from Monterey, Berkeley and the Isle of Wight, is
considered the best of the posthumous release.
Another LP to emerge in the 1970s was the
live compilation Hendrix In The West, consisting of top-shelf American
live recordings from the last two years of his life, including an
outstanding rendition of the concert favourite "Red House."
Although the film Rainbow Bridge is
generally regarded as being of minor interest, what was billed as a
soundtrack to the film (it is not the soundtrack) includes several
superb tracks intended for Hendrix's fourth studio album, First Rays Of
The New Rising Sun, the never-completed follow-up to Electric Ladyland.
The studio tracks, "Dolly Dagger", "Earth Blues", "Room Full of Mirrors"
and the melancholy improvised instrumental "Pali Gap", showed Hendrix
advancing his studio technique to new levels, as well as, absorbing
influences from contemporary black soul and funk acts such as James
Brown and Sly & The Family Stone.
The Rainbow Bridge album is highlighted by
the full-length live version of another of Hendrix's concert
performances, a tour-de-force 10-minute electric version of the blues
standard "Hear My Train A-Comin." He originally recorded the song in
1967 for promotional film, performing it impromptu as a short but
engaging Delta-style acoustic blues played on a borrowed 12-string
guitar. The 1970 electric version saw the song transformed almost beyond
recognition; like Machine Gun it showcased the classic elements of the
Hendrix electric sound and featured some of his most inspired
improvisation. The track was taped live at a concert at the Berkeley
Community Theater in California. An edited filmed segment of this
performance was also included in the concert film Jimi Plays Berkeley.
Interest in Hendrix waned during the 1980s,
but with the advent of the compact disc, Polygram and Warner-Reprise
reissued many Hendrix recordings on CD in the late 1980s and early
1990s. The earliest Polygram reissues are of a poor standard and
Electric Ladyland suffered particularly, being evidently a direct
transfer from the existing LP masters, with tracks placed out of their
correct order. This reflected the original LP running order, an artifact
of the days when double-LPs were pressed with sides 1 and 4 on one LP
and sides 2 and 3 on the other, so that the records could be placed on
an automatic changer and played in sequence by turning them over only
once.
Polygram subsequently released a
superior-quality double boxed set of eight CDs with studio tracks in one
four-CD box and the live tracks in the other. This was followed by an
excellent four-CD set of live concerts on Reprise. An audio documentary,
originally made for radio and later released on four CDs, also appeared
around this time, and included previously unreleased material.
In the late 1990s, after Hendrix's father
Al regained control of his son's estate, he and daughter Janie
established the Experience Hendrix company to curate and promote Jimi's
extensive recorded legacy. Working in collaboration with Jimi's original
engineer, Eddie Kramer, the company embarked on an extensive reissue
program, including fully remastered editions of the studio albums and
compilation CDs of remixed and remastered tracks intended for the First
Rays of the New Rising Sun album. To date, the Experience Hendrix
company has made more than $44 million from the recordings and
associated merchandising. Since his death, over 2 million records of his
music are sold yearly
Citations
"When I die, just keep playing the
records."
"When the power of love overcomes the love
of power... the world will know peace"
"I'm the one that has to die when it's time
for me to die, so let me live my life, the way I want to"
"Music is my religion."
"It's funny how most people love the dead,
once you're dead you're made for life."
"Music is a safe type of high. It's more
the way it was supposed to be. That's where highness came, I guess, from
anyway. It's nothing but rhythm and motion."
"The time I burned my guitar it was like a
sacrifice. You sacrifice the things you love. I love my guitar."
Musical equipment
Guitars
Fender
Stratocaster; his main guitar
Jaguar
Fender Duo-Sonic and Musicmaster (1961)
Fender Telecaster
Fender Jazzmaster
Gibson
Gibson Les Paul
Gibson SG
Gibson Flying V (1967 and 1968 makes)
Gibson 330
Gibson Firebird
Others
Danelectro Shorthorn (1959)
Supro Ozark 1560S Electric
Three Rickenbackers - a bass, a 6-, and a
12-string guitar
Martin D-45, new when bought
Hofner electric
Guild 12-string acoustic
Gibson stereo
Black Widow acoustic (Mr. Hendrix salvaged
it)
two Hagstrom 8-string basses (Jimi played
them on "Spanish Castle Magic" on Axis:Bold As Love)
Eric Barrett adds that Jimi generally had
more than one of everything, except the Rickenbackers.
Amplifier|Amplifiers
Marshall Amplifiers
Fender Amplifiers
Vox Amplifiers
SUNN Amplifiers.
Effect Pedals
Dallas Arbiter Group Fuzz Face, a Fuzzbox
Uni-Vox Univibe
Dunlop Cry Baby, In studio Recordings
Vox Clyde McCoy [Wah-wah]
Jimi may have, at times, used a Thomas
Organ Crybaby Wah Wah
Roger Mayer Octavia
EchoPlex (Either the models EP-1, EP-2 or
EP-3) it is rumored he had a custom one with a variable speed control on
it
Discography
Studio albums
Are You Experienced (May 1967 UK; August
1967 US) UK #2; US #5
Axis: Bold as Love (December 1967) UK #5;
US #3
Electric Ladyland (September 1968) UK #5;
US #1
First Rays of the New Rising Sun (recorded
1969-1970, released April 1997) UK #37; US #49 - This album is actually
a 'best guess' as to how Hendrix planned to sequence it, and one should
not presume that it is the exact final work that Hendrix intended.
However, there is adequate documentation of Hendrix's plans to consider
this a reasonable representation of what would have been his next studio
release, had he not passed away.
Live albums
Band of Gypsys (April 1970) UK #5; US #5
Selected Live albums released after
Hendrix's death
In The West (1972)
Jimi Plays Monterey (1986)
Live at Woodstock (July 1999)
Live at Berkeley (1st and 2nd show)
(September 2003)
Band of Gypsys Live at the Fillmore East
(1999)
Selected Compilations
Smash Hits (April 1968 UK; July 1969
US) UK #5; US #6
Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi
Hendrix (September 1997 UK; November 1998 US)
Blues (April 1994)
BBC Sessions (June 1998)
The Ultimate Experience (April 1993)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Box Set)
(September 2000)
Voodoo Child - The Jimi Hendrix Collection
(2002)
****
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