From the Vaults: \u00a0Hendrix lives on<\/p>\n
Newsflash: \u00a0I am no longer mad at Jimi Hendrix for dying the week before my 17th \u00a0birthday. \u00a0I am also no longer concerned that so many young rock stars flamed out at age 27, which by sheer coincidence happens to be the number of the day I was born. \u00a0I can say that when I actually turned 27 myself in 1980, I no longer saw anything but a sad happenstance of numbers. \u00a0I am not sure why, but for some reason this confluence of bad things happening around my birthday number bothered me for most of my senior year in high school. \u00a0\u00a0Maybe I just needed something to worry about. \u00a0I had a pretty good senior year with my band The Twig to keep me occupied so perhaps I was still doing what my dad called \u201cthe worry-wart thing\u201d.<\/p>\n
When the \u2018new\u2019 posthumous Hendrix recordings began appearing on vinyl (and later CD), I judged it to be a money grab by anyone who could lay claim to the Hendrix name. \u00a0I can now say with flat out certainty that I no longer feel that way. \u00a0I was wrong. \u00a0A recent Classic Rock magazine interview with John McDermott changed my mind. \u00a0Who is John McDermott? \u00a0For the past twenty years, McDermott has been the official archivist of the Experience Hendrix Foundation. \u00a0In short, he is the man whose job is to keep the Hendrix legacy alive and if he worried at all about over saturating the market with all things Hendrix, it was Hendrix\u2019s father Al who put it all in perspective for him. \u00a0McDermott recounts Al Hendrix telling him, \u201cShare this music with the people . . . because that\u2019s what\u2019s gonna keep the memory of my son alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
I get it now. \u00a0My generation grew up with Jimi, but we don\u2019t hold exclusive rights to his music. \u00a0Hendrix was someone I admired when I was first getting involved in music. \u00a0He had talent, he was innovative, and he had a rhythm section that was a lot of fun to listen to. \u00a0Drummer Mitch Mitchell was a great teacher for someone learning to play the drums. \u00a0Some years ago, former Ontonagon band director Bob Lundquist called and said \u2018I have a kid who really wants to learn how to play rock and roll drums, what would you suggest?\u201d \u00a0I made him a cassette of some pretty straight forward songs starting with straight 4\/4 time signatures and then variations of other typical rock beats. \u00a0I wrote Bob a note when I sent him the cassette and said, \u201cHave your student play along with side one of this tape until he can do it in his sleep. \u00a0Then let him listen to and start playing along with side two.\u201d \u00a0Side two was a heavy dose of Mitch Mitchell\u2019s work with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, John Densmore with The Doors, and Ginger Baker\u2019s drumming with Cream. \u00a0I kept the Keith Moon stuff from The Who at a minimum because his unorthodox style doesn\u2019t fit a patterns that most drummers can replicate. \u00a0If side one of the cassette was \u201cRock drumming 101\u201d, \u00a0side two was certainly the master\u2019s program.<\/p>\n
Forty five years after his passing, people are still fascinated with what kind of music Hendrix might be making if we was still around. \u00a0His final recording sessions at his Electric Lady studio in New York gave us some glimpses of what was to come, but sadly, we only hear the beginning of his next phase. \u00a0He had tired of the theatrical aspect of performing and wanted to be seen as a serious musician. \u00a0\u00a0According to his last bass player, Billy Cox, \u201cThe music would have been wonderful. \u00a0He had this concept of the Sky Church and Electric Church and had planned for this full manifestation. \u00a0I saw his vision. \u00a0He was global before the rest of the world became global. \u00a0He was a future man.\u201d \u00a0He had Mitchell, Cox, and a studio at his disposal but most important of all, he had creative control of his future.<\/p>\n
As legendary as Hendrix is, I am finding out that he was much deeper than the wild performer that we see in the videos. \u00a0He was quiet, respectful, and had a wicked sense of humor that wasn\u2019t always apparent because he was basically a shy person, at least until he got on stage. \u00a0He made a big impression in England before he started making waves in the States and everyone from The Beatles to Clapton to Beck came to check him out. \u00a0As a student, Brian May of Queen booked Hendrix to play at a multi-band ball at Imperial College in West London in May of 1967. \u00a0His most vivid memory of Hendrix playing was that it made one either want to give up playing guitar or try that much harder. \u00a0May concluded, \u201cI looked at his equipment and looked at him, and thought: \u00a0\u2018Well, he\u2019s just a man, and that\u2019s just a guitar, and those are just amps.\u2019 \u00a0But when he started up it was like an earthquake. \u00a0That doesn\u2019t even describe it, \u00a0It was like a cross between an earthquake, and orchestra, and a whirlwind of sound. \u00a0And it was apparently magical.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another early admirer of Hendrix was crooner Engelbert Humperdinck. \u00a0Humperdinck, The Walker Brothers and the Jimi Hendrix Experience were part of a package tour in 1967, and one night, Englebert\u2019s guitar player didn\u2019t show up for the gig. \u00a0Hendrix offered to play for that part of the show, but it was decided that it would be less strange for the audience if he played from backstage. \u00a0Humperdinck recounted, \u201cHe went behind the curtain at the side of the stage and played, \u00a0\u00a0It felt as though there were three guitars behind me that night. \u00a0That\u2019s how great he sounded. \u00a0He was so solid and made everything sound massive, \u00a0Afterwards, I said to the audience: \u2018I don\u2019t think you people realize, but the great Jimi Hendrix has just been playing guitar for me.\u2019 \u00a0He saved my show.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is another revival of the Hendrix story taking place right now. \u00a0There is a new DVD out on the Sony\/Legacy label called Jimi Hendrix Experience: \u00a0Electric Church<\/i> and it features his fabled set at the second (and final) Atlanta Pop Festival from July 4, 1970. \u00a0Although his performances at both Woodstock and the Isle of Wight festivals have been available for years, it has taken a lot longer for this festival performance to surface. \u00a0Unlike his Woodstock performance (which took place at 9 am on the last day of the festival when only half of the crowd remained), Atlanta Pop put him on stage at prime time in front of the largest concert crowd ever assembled (between 400 and 500,000). \u00a0I am looking forward to picking it up soon because all the reviews I have read claim that it is one of his best shows on film and it includes glimpses of his past and his future. \u00a0The future part ended ten weeks later with his tragic death, but releases like Electric Church<\/i> and the Experience Hendrix Tours that have taken place over the past several years will keep his memory alive. \u00a0Al Hendrix wouldn\u2019t want it any other way.<\/p>\n
As of this past week, I was able to pick up the CD of Machine Gun<\/i> which includes the entire first show of the two night, 4 concert series Hendrix recorded with Cox and drummer Buddy Miles at the Fillmore East on December 31, 1969 and January 1, 1970. \u00a0A six song album by the Band of Gypsys was rushed out in April of 1970 to fulfill the last album Hendrix had to make for his label before he could be free to chart a new course. \u00a0The entire first set has never been released and on first listen, it confirms what people have been saying since his passing: \u00a0Jimi knew where he wanted to go but he just ran out of time to get there. \u00a0Tune in to hear this amazing set over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n
Top Piece Video – here is a rehearsal clip for the opening track of MACHINE GUN called Power of Soul<\/em>