{"id":2621,"date":"2022-09-02T18:33:07","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T18:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2621"},"modified":"2022-09-02T18:35:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T18:35:17","slug":"ftv-the-jimi-invasions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2621","title":{"rendered":"FTV: The Jimi Invasions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A while back, we chronicled the life of Jimi Hendrix from his childhood in Seattle, Washington to the first meeting with his future manager and producer, Chas Chandler in New York City in 1966 (FTV:\u00a0 Johnny Allen Hendrix\u00a0 5-25-22 and Johnny Allen Hendrix – Part 2\u00a0 6-1-22).\u00a0 While musicians in the United States were just beginning to catch up to the so-called wave of British Invasion pop bands coming from across the pond, Jimmy James ended up swimming against the current instead by mounting his own counter-invasion..\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Chas Chandler, the Animals bassist, was brought to see the then named Jimmy James (and the Blue Flames) at the Cafe Wha? On July 5, 1966.\u00a0 Keith Richards\u2019 girlfriend, Linda Keith, had arranged the meeting after hearing Chandler mention his desire to move on from touring to managing and producing other artists.\u00a0 Jimmy knew he would be there so he pulled out his best cover versions of the songs in their repertoire.\u00a0 One of those tunes, <\/span>Hey Joe<\/span><\/i>, was written by Tim Rose, another singer\/songwriter who also performed at the Wha? from time to time.\u00a0 In his book <\/span>Wild Thing – The short, spellbinding life of Jimi Hendrix <\/span><\/i>(2020 Ballantine Books), author Philip Norman describes Jimmy\u2019s transformation of the tune:\u00a0 \u201c[Jimmy] replaced Rose\u2019s own jangly country picking with an almost somnambulistic rock beat, his voice – so unlike a traditional R&B singer\u2019s in its unruffled mellowness – switching back and forth between interrogation and confession in a conversational, almost offhand way that somehow heightened the brutality of the tale it told.\u00a0 Then, when the duologue seemed darkest, he raised Keith Richards\u2019 white Stratocaster <\/span>(note:\u00a0 the one Linda Keith had \u2018borrowed\u2019 from Keef when Jimmy need an ax<\/span><\/i>) horizontally to his face, to produce a lyric rippling solo with fingers he could not possible see and no plectrum but his teeth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Watching this unfold in front of him, Chandler leaned over and in his thick Tuneside accent inquired, \u201cThis is ree-dic-lous.\u00a0 Why hasna\u2019 anyone signed this guy up?\u201d\u00a0 Jimmy came off stage and was given the offer he had been waiting for.\u00a0 Chas, who at the time was the second best-known bass guitarist in the world after Paul McCartney, said he wanted Jimmy to be his first-ever management client.\u00a0 With no roots in the American music industry, Chandler said it would require him to relocate.\u00a0 Jimmy soon found himself in jolly old England where his meteoric rise to stardom would get its start.\u00a0 It is no surprise that <\/span>Hey Joe<\/span><\/i> would end up being the first single he would release, but that was still a bit down the road.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Interestingly, when my high school band, The Twig, first began jamming as sophomores in the summer of 1968, <\/span>Hey Joe<\/span><\/i> was one of the first songs we learned together.\u00a0 The version we copied came, not from Jimi Hendrix, but from a California band called The Leaves.\u00a0 Either way, my mother wasn\u2019t especially happy to hear us singing about \u2018<\/span>shooting my old lady down<\/span><\/i>\u2019 in the basement, but she didn\u2019t ban the song from her home like she did Steppenwolf\u2019s <\/span>The Pusher.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 It is too bad the American release of Hendrix\u2019s first album (<\/span>Are You Experienced<\/span><\/i> – May 12, 1967) did not include <\/span>Hey Joe <\/span><\/i>like its British counterpart.\u00a0 We would have realized we had more common ground with The Jimi Hendrix Experience beyond just learning <\/span>Fire<\/span><\/i> off the album, but let us not get too far ahead of the story.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jimmy had been following the reports about the scene in \u2018Swinging London\u2019 but he was a little reluctant to move there as Chandler\u2019s proposal did not include The Blue Flames.\u00a0 The thought of, \u2018What happens if this doesn\u2019t work out?\u2019 gave him pause – he might find himself a stranger in a strange land – a land of \u2018eccentrically accented strangers\u2019.\u00a0 His doubts were out-balanced by the thought that he might be able to get closer to the guitarists he had long admired from hearing them on British R&B records.\u00a0 Jimmy especially wanted to meet Eric Clapton.\u00a0 James and Chandler sealed the deal with a handshake and just in time as Jimmy\u2019s reputation was beginning to explode.\u00a0 While Chandler was off finishing his latest Animals tour, New York\u2019s best guitarist, Mike Bloomfield, came to see The Blue Flames at the Cafe Wha?\u00a0 Bloomfield reported, \u201c[He] knew who I was and on that day, in front of my eyes, he burned me to death.\u00a0 H-bombs were going off, guided missiles were flying . . . I can\u2019t tell you the sounds he was getting.\u201d\u00a0 The experience unnerved Bloomfield so much, he had Richie Havens fill in for him at his next gig,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jimmy was so busy getting his passport and travel plans together, he neglected to tell his father and brother he was leaving the country.\u00a0 On September 24, 1966, Jimmy landed at London-Heathrow airport with Chandler, the Animals\u2019 road manager Terry McVay, a small overnight bag, and $40 he had borrowed from Charles Otis, a drummer friend from the Village.\u00a0 Having agreed to co-manage Jimmy with the Animals\u2019 manager, Mike Jeffrey (Chandler would handle the recording side, Jeffrey the business end), they were met by the Animal\u2019s publicist, Tony Garland.\u00a0 Jimmy had no work permit so Garland was there to do the smooth-talking PR man\u2019s job to get him past Immigration and Customs.\u00a0 Garland told the authorities Jimmy was an established American star visiting England to collect royalties from a British promoter.\u00a0 It worked. They stamped his seven-day visitor\u2019s visa which, technically, barred him from doing anything resembling employment during his stay.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So how does one introduce a new musical artist to England when an introductory concert was out of the question?\u00a0 Chandler and Jeffery decided to circulate Jimmy through the clubs known to be frequented by the country\u2019s leading pop stars and taste-makers.\u00a0 Sitting in with the house band or playing the occasional solo for free could be written off with Immigration authorities as Jmmy \u2018jamming for leisure, not work\u2019.\u00a0 Legend has it that Hendrix took London town by storm the first night he was there, but in reality, Chandler\u2019s plan didn\u2019t kick into action for another three days, very near the expiration of his visitor\u2019s visa.\u00a0 With the Strat borrowed from Keith Richards now gone missing, the tapped out Chandler (he had spent his savings getting Jimi to England to begin with) set out to borrow one from George \u2018Zoot\u2019 Money.\u00a0 While visiting the Money house, Jimi would meet Zoot\u2019s Big Roll Band guitarist, Andy Summers (who later gained larger fame as a member of The Police).\u00a0 Also in residence at the Money house was Kathy Etchingham, and erstwhile discotheque DJ who did not meet Hendrix that night, but would enter the picture a short time later when they met at his \u2018debut\u2019 outing at the Scotch of St. James.\u00a0 Jimmy\u2019s track record for collecting new girlfriends in every port remained unblemished even upon his arrival in England.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Now that Chandler had Jimmy in England, he had to figure out what to do with him.\u00a0 He got him hooked up in a jam with the British Isles premier bluesman, Alexis Korner, after the introductory gig at the Scotch.\u00a0 Jimmy held his own but he was out of place – he was too young and hip even though he could play with the best of the grizzled old blues masters.\u00a0 One of Chas\u2019s musical confidants, Keith Altham of the <\/span>New Musical Express<\/span><\/i> caught Jimmy at the Scotch and said, \u201cQuite honestly, Chas, I can see this stuff going straight over the heads of most rock fans because he\u2019s almost <\/span>too<\/span><\/i> good.\u201d\u00a0 In the Village, they called Jimmy \u2018the black Dylan\u2019 but London had a different tag for him:\u00a0 \u2018the black Elvis\u2019.\u00a0 If Elvis was white and could sing like a black man, it seems Jimmy was going to reverse that role.\u00a0 Altham and Chandler also had the idea that perhaps he could fit in a more jazzy mold with someone like the Brian Auger Trinity, but Auger had no desire to displace his guitarist or his new female vocalist, Julie Driscoll.\u00a0 Jimmy did sit in with the band and he was welcomed in the friendliest manner by Vic Briggs, the guitarist he would have replaced.\u00a0 It was Briggs who introduced Jimmy to the thunderous 100 watt guitar amp and speakers that were just being introduced.\u00a0 The brand name will be familiar to most guitar heads even though they were invented by a former drum-shop owner named Jim Marshall.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With James Marshall Hendrix plugged into Brigg\u2019s Marshal amp, he spelled out the chord changes for <\/span>Hey Joe<\/span><\/i> and cranked the volume to ten – five being considered too loud by the loudest players.\u00a0 Auger said the chord sequence seemed rather elementary, however, he said, \u201cBut as soon as he started playing, it was like \u2018Oh, my God!\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Perhaps they expected Jimmy to sound like B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert Collins, or Howlin\u2019 Wolf, but they soon realized they had never heard anyone play like Jimmy.\u00a0 On October 1, Jimmy hit another milestone when he finally met Eric Clapton.\u00a0 For Clapton, the meeting would not be his most pleasant memory.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Having recently left John Mayall\u2019s Bluesbreakers (whom he played with when the CLAPTON IS GOD graffiti was appearing on subway walls), his personality was far from that lofty status.\u00a0 While he was basking in the wealth and adulation of being a superstar, he wished to be nothing more than someone\u2019s sideman who would just take the occasional solo, albeit, reluctantly.\u00a0 Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker (the latter two having played together in the Grand Bond Organization), had recently come together as the newest supergroup, a power trio called Cream.\u00a0 Chas showed up at one of their earliest gigs with Jimmy in tow.\u00a0 Asked by Chandler if James could sit in with them, Clapton and Bruce overruled Baker\u2019s objection and he joined them for a run at Howlin\u2019 Wolf\u2019s <\/span>Killing Floor<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 Eric had, after much difficulty, had only recently mastered the song only to watch Jimmy plow through it at breakneck speed.\u00a0 He hoisted his guitar behind his head, picked the strings with his teeth, and never missed a lick.\u00a0 Chandler later recalled, \u201cHalfway through the song, Eric stopped playing.\u00a0 Both his hands dropped down to his sides, then he walked offstage.\u00a0 I ran back to the dressing room and he was standing there, trying to light a cigarette with his hand shaking.\u00a0 He said, \u201cYou never told me he was <\/span>that<\/span><\/i> (expletive deleted) good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Word quickly spread about the dethroning of \u2018God\u2019 and the next featured spot at the tiny Bag O\u2019Nails club was populated by a lot of rock VIPS.\u00a0 The parade of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Paul McCartney, and Jeff Beck, to name a few, led Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers vocalist Terry Reid to ask, \u201cWhat is this?\u00a0 A bloody convention?\u201d\u00a0 Reid continues, \u201cHere comes Jimmy, hair all over the place, pulls out this left-handed Statocaster, beaten to death, looks like he\u2019s been chopping wood with it.\u00a0 And he gets up, all soft-spoken, and all of a sudden, WHOORRAAWWR!\u00a0 He breaks into <\/span>Wild Thing<\/span><\/i> and it was all over.\u00a0 There were guitar players weeping.\u00a0 They had to mop the floor up,\u00a0 He keeps piling it on, solo after solo.\u00a0 I could see everyone\u2019s fillings falling out.\u00a0 When he finished, it was silence.\u00a0 Nobody knew what to do.\u00a0 Everyone was dumbstruck, completely in shock.\u201d\u00a0 A bit over the top, but in that we were not there but Reid was, we will have to take his word on it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Chandler finally got Jimmy a three-month UK work permit so the next step was to find him a band.\u00a0 He could legally perform and Chas was going to take advantage of the situation.\u00a0 Jimmy hinted he would like to do a full on Chitlin\u2019 Circuit Revue band with horns but Chas squashed that idea right off.\u00a0 His suggestion was a power trio ala Cream composed of a) two white sidemen who were b) good but not so brilliant they would outshine Jimi.\u00a0 And oh yes, Chandler now suggested he get rid of the Jimmy James handle and become Jimi Hendrix.\u00a0 Noel Redding was a 21-year-old guitarist who had failed an audition with Eric Burdon\u2019s new Animals lineup.\u00a0 Chandler and Jimi entered the Birdland Club where the auditions were taking place to check him out.\u00a0 Redding was capable of playing rhythm and lead, as was Jimi, but his natural afro made him, visually, a fit.\u00a0 Jimi just had to convince him to switch to bass guitar, which Noel had never played.\u00a0 Jimi offered to teach him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The drummer\u2019s slot was down to well known Aynsley Dunbar from Liverpool and twenty-year old John \u2018Mitch\u2019 Mitchell, a former child actor who fell in love with drums and had actually worked at Marshall\u2019s drum-shop before Jim got into building his powerful line of amps.\u00a0 Mitchell was slight of build and had jazzier tendencies than Dunbar, but he could also lay down just as powerful a rock beat as Dunbar.\u00a0 It came down to a coin flip and Mitchell was in.\u00a0 When Jimi discovered the \u2018Mitchell – Marshall\u2019 connection, he conveniently dropped his 30 Watt Burns amp down the stairs and put in an order for one of Marshall\u2019s monster stacks.\u00a0 Marshall was thrilled because Jimi didn\u2019t want freebies, he wanted to buy and also get after-the-sale service as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Prior to becoming the bassist in Yes, an 18 year old Chris Squire was in a band called the Syn who happened into an opening gig for the newly christened Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Marquee Club.\u00a0 As he observed Jimi trying to teach Redding a basic bass lick, he thought, \u201cHow can they be headlining.?\u00a0 They can\u2019t even play five notes together!\u201d\u00a0 He was in for a surprise, however, when Syn took the stage:\u00a0 \u201cThen we go on stage, I look down at the first four rows and see all my biggest heros . . . Pete Townshend . . . Keith Richard . . . Stevie Winwood . . .\u00a0 Eric Clapton looking like, \u2018Oh my God, I\u2019m not God anymore.\u201d\u00a0 Not able to get back to the dressing rooms after their set, Squire watched The Experience while sitting on a grand piano behind Mitchell\u2019s drums.\u00a0 It turns out, Redding\u2019s still unsteady bass fingerings didn\u2019t matter once Jimi kicked things into gear.\u00a0 \u201cJimi just blew me away,\u201d Squire recalled.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jimi finally called Al collect because he was not sure what an overseas phone call would do to his phone bill.\u00a0 Crusty Al refused to believe Jimi was in England until his son put Kathy on the phone.\u00a0 Once her accent convinced him Jimi was telling the truth, the told Etchingham, \u201cYou tell my boy to write me.\u00a0 I ain\u2019t paying for no collect calls,\u201d and then he hung up.\u00a0 Kathy said Jimi was hurt by the snub, but he didn\u2019t have time to dwell on it.\u00a0 A quick tour in France was on tap as well as studio time to knock out their first single (<\/span>Hey Joe <\/span><\/i>backed by Hendrix\u2019s own composition, <\/span>Stone Free<\/span><\/i>).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The rest of 1966 was spent gigging and recording in England, Jimi\u2019s triumphant return to the United States a few months in the future.\u00a0 After ringing in 1967 playing a 50 pound show at a club in Noel Redding\u2019s home town of Folkestone, the bass player took Jimi and Kathy over to meet his mother.\u00a0 It was a cold winter night and Mrs Redding had a crackling fire blazing in her fireplace, something Jimi had never seen except in movies.\u00a0 The first thing he asked Noel\u2019s mum was, \u201cMay I stand in front of your fire?\u201d\u00a0 When <\/span>Are You Experienced?<\/span><\/i>, the band\u2019s first full length album, came out a few months later, it would have a lively track called <\/span>Fire<\/span><\/i> with a simple call and answer chorus:\u00a0 <\/span>Let me stand next to your fire.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jimmy Hendrix had indeed invaded England and the one thing he had told Al on the phone was most certainly true:\u00a0 \u201cDad, it looks like I am on the way to the big time.\u201d\u00a0 Only time would tell what kind of reception he would receive when he finally got back to the States that summer, but that again, is a story for another day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 The\u00a0Are You Experienced?\u00a0<\/em>track that would NOT be on the US release!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A while back, we chronicled the life of Jimi Hendrix from his childhood in Seattle, Washington to the first meeting with his future manager and producer, Chas Chandler in New York City in 1966 (FTV:\u00a0 Johnny Allen Hendrix\u00a0 5-25-22 and Johnny Allen Hendrix – Part 2\u00a0 6-1-22).\u00a0 While musicians in the United States were just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-from-the-vaults","category-new-music","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2621"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2624,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2621\/revisions\/2624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}