Jimi Hendrix

[Mudbug]

On 18th Sept 1970, Jimi Hendrix was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Mary Abbot's Hospital in London at the age of 27 after choking on his own vomit. Hendrix left the message 'I need help bad man', on his managers answer phone earlier that night. Rumors and conspiracy theories grew up around Hendrix’s death. Eric Burdon claimed Jimi had committed suicide, but that’s contradicted by reports that he was in a good frame of mind.

Read more at http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/pages/jimi_hendrix

 

[The Passenger]

he's not quite my favourite musician (though right up there, top ten), but i think if i could go back in time and see one gig, it would be hendrix....

 

[Smackrobiotic]

My favourite live performance of his. Just everything about his performance here is amazing.



I'd be scared to see what the guitar would sound like today if Hendrix never touched one.

 

[Ron The Bear]

Hendrix left the message 'I need help bad man', on his managers answer phone earlier that night.

Myth. Hendrix was pretty ****ed up at the time of his final shows, but Chas Chandler never owned an answer phone. A lot of bullshit has accumulated over 42 years. The Hendrix story is endlessly fascinating, without embellishment.

 

[mark73]

Great innovator, reasonable guitarist.

 

[Ron The Bear]

Great innovator, reasonable guitarist.

Some players are better technically, in the way that a drum machine is technically better than Keith Moon. Hendrix was gifted in the manner of a select few.

 

[mark73]

Some players are better technically, in the way that a drum machine is technically better than Keith Moon. Hendrix was gifted in the manner of a select few.

I don't look at it that way, Ron. Some players know what to do when they get a sheet of music put in front of them immediately and make it sound cool. We could say the same thing about Charlie Parker, or James Burton. My opinion wouldn't change about Hendrix being a great innovator

 

[Ron The Bear]

I don't look at it that way, Ron. Some players know what to do when they get a sheet of music put in front of them immediately and make it sound cool. We could say the same thing about Charlie Parker, or James Burton. My opinion wouldn't change about Hendrix being a great innovator

Hendrix couldn't read music, and I don't think he ever set out to "innovate" as such. His genius lay in his ability to fuse and express his influences, ideas and impulses in musical form. Everything he did was imbued with a melodic quality, down to incorporating feedback and the hum of the amps. He was a music machine, a total package, a sense of which is captured by this review:

The whole man vibrates with feeling like a perfectly tuned string. Many people who have seen live performances of Jimi Hendrix have been amazed by this unity of musical content and visual appearance and at the feeling of mastery and freedom that was conveyed just by watching him play. What we were seeing was a direct manifestation of pure creative energy. This made him free and his listeners feel free in themselves. Such artistic achievements are rare and precious gifts.

Pete Townshend:

It was supported by a visual magic that obviously you won't get if you just listen to the music. He did this thing where he would play a chord, and then he would sweep his left hand through the air in a curve, and it would almost take you away from the idea that there was a guitar player here and that the music was actually coming out of the end of his fingers. And then people say, "Well, you were obviously on drugs." But I wasn't, and I wasn't drunk, either. I can just remember being taken over by this...

Jack Bruce:

The first time I saw Eric [Clapton], I thought well he's a master guitar player, but Eric was a guitar player. Jimi was some sort of force of nature.

The flow of ideas slowed and became intermittent later on, and his later compositions don't appeal as much to me. I'm skeptical about claims that he was about to enter a period of artistic rebirth when he died.

 

[mark73]

Hendrix couldn't read music, and I don't think he ever set out to "innovate" as such. His genius lay in his ability to fuse and express his influences, ideas and impulses in musical form. Everything he did was imbued with a melodic quality, down to incorporating feedback and the hum of the amps. He was a music machine, a total package, a sense of which is captured by this review:


Pete Townshend:


Jack Bruce:


The flow of ideas slowed and became intermittent later on, and his later compositions don't appeal as much to me. I'm skeptical about claims that he was about to enter a period of artistic rebirth when he died.

I know, neither could McCartney. Each to their own I just thought Hendrix was a better innovator than he was a natural guitar player.

 

[Ron The Bear]

I know, neither could McCartney. Each to their own I just thought Hendrix was a better innovator than he was a natural guitar player.

Depends what you mean by natural. How natural a player do you have to be to borrow someone's right-handed guitar, flip it upside down and play it left-handed - re-strung or not - without missing a beat? There are several accounts of Hendrix doing this.

He wasn't the most polished player and might throw in the odd bum note because he was usually reaching...no two Hendrix shows sound the same. Every biography ever written - even the bad ones - is at pains to point out the affinity he had for the instrument.

Casual improvisation reeled off to put a heckler in his place...

 

[mark73]

Depends what you mean by natural. How natural a player do you have to be to borrow someone's right-handed guitar, flip it upside down and play it left-handed - re-strung or not - without missing a beat? There are several accounts of Hendrix doing this.

He wasn't the most polished player and might throw in the odd bum note because he was usually reaching...no two Hendrix shows sound the same. Every biography ever written - even the bad ones - is at pains to point out the affinity he had for the instrument.

Casual improvisation reeled off to put a heckler in his place...

That's what I mean. You're talking about being innovative.

 

[Ron The Bear]

That's what I mean. You're talking about being innovative.

You say innovative, I say creative. It was his unique personal muse which informed him, rather than any conscious challenge to convention - "I hear music in my head all the time. Sometimes it makes my brain throb and the room starts to turn. I feel I'm going mad. With this music, we will paint pictures of earth and space so that the listener can be taken somewhere. It's going to be something that will open up a new sense in people's minds." In a sense, he was a slave to his own insatiable compulsion to record and jam.

So yeah, he was innovative, but without it being contrived.

 

[strung_out7]

in an interview hendrix was asked how does it feel to be the greatest guitarist in the world. he replied with "ask Rory Gallagher".

Hendrix was the biggest inovator in his time. the use of pedals etc, especially the wah, and his constant steping out of the box to make new sounds is what makes him so great in my opinion

 

[Ron The Bear]

in an interview hendrix was asked how does it feel to be the greatest guitarist in the world. he replied with "ask Rory Gallagher".

Another myth, with a hundred variations. It was Rory Gallagher/Eric Clapton/Billy Gibbons/Phil Keaggy, on Johnny Carson/in Rolling Stone/at Woodstock/at the Isle of Wight. Nobody has been able to cite a source, and Hendrix isn't around to debunk it.

http://guitarinternational.com/2011...interview-releasing-notes-from-san-francisco/ (see last question)

 

[TooFar]

I was always a minor Hendrix fan, appreciated his talent but never got over excited. However when I was living in London in the 90's I came across an album called If 60's were 90's by Beautiful People. It is basically a reworking or mash up of Hendrix guitar, vocal and live concert interactions, mixed with chilled grooves and beats.

From what I can gather the band Beautiful People were given access to Hendrix original recordings by his father, but after the album was released Hendrix record company stepped in and outlawed the album and pulled it from shelves. It is no longer legally available.

To put it bluntly, this album is a masterpiece. If you like Hendrix or chilled grooves with great guitar licks then you should have a listen.

Here are a couple of tracks.







Fan reviews

http://www.amazon.com/60s-Were-90s-...iewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

 

[Hard_to_Beat]

Great innovator, reasonable guitarist.

Hmmmm.

SRV or Jimi?

 

[mark73]

Hmmmm.

SRV or Jimi?

SRV was a fantastic blues player. I'm a huge Hendrix fan, I just don't think he was a great guitarist. Is that so bad?

 

[Hard_to_Beat]

SRV was a fantastic blues player. I'm a huge Hendrix fan, I just don't think he was a great guitarist. Is that so bad?

No. Not at all. You're one of those jazz style trained guys that has a great appreciation for the technical aspects of musicianship.

I prefer SRV also. I prefer blues style players period. This takes nothing away from Jimi. Who knows what he might have done if he could put the mescaline bottle down?

 

[mark73]

No. Not at all. You're one of those jazz style trained guys that has a great appreciation for the technical aspects of musicianship.

I prefer SRV also. I prefer blues style players period. This takes nothing away from Jimi. Who knows what he might have done if he could put the mescaline bottle down?

You should have a listen to guys like Freddie King "Texas Cannonball" or even better BB King Midnight Believer from about '79.

 

[mark73]

Actually download or simply look up BB King "I just cant leave that love alone". Fantastic song