Music Legends: Featured Artist ... Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall Hendrix rock career spanned a meager four years, but in that time he earned the title Guitar Legend from his peers, music critics and his legion of fans. For you youngsters who may not be familiar with his music, get comfortable … gut wrenching raw sound flowing from the amps will keep you rooted to your seat!!

Born Johnny Allen Hendrix in Seattle in 1942, and later renamed James Marshall by his father, Jimi Hendrix was to become one of the greatest electric guitarists ever witnessed, a view also held by the authorative Rolling Stones magazine.

Young Jimmy (as he was called as a kid ) showed interest in playing the guitar from a young age, using an old straw broom as an instrument. When he was 16 his father bought him a second hand acoustic guitar and shortly after that he joined his first band, The Velvetones. A year later his father bought him his first electric guitar a Supra Ozark 1560s

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Jimmy joined the army in 1961 and by November 1962 he had earned the right to wear a paratrooper patch, although his soldier days were curtailed due to an injury sustained when jumping from a helicopter (this is a very watered down version of things…. Let us focus on the music..shall we). After his discharge, Jimmy worked as a session guitarist for a few years under the name Jimmy James. By 1965 he had played with names such as Little Richard, Ike and Tina Turner and Sam Cooke.

In 1965 Jimmy started a band called Jimmy James and The Flames, moving from back line guitarist to lead guitarist …….. and so it began. Chas Chandler (The Animals bassist) convinced him to move to London, and change his name to Jimi Hendrix where he joined Mitch Mitchell (drums) and Noel Redding (bass) to form the band Experience. Time for some music now… their first single Hey Joe made it to number 6 on the UK Charts

Hendrix was self taught, did not know how to music and played everything by ear…. Drawing his influence from all the major acts at the time, notably BB King, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf and Buddy Holly, Jimi rewired the way guitars are played

In 1969 at Woodstock Jimi Hendrix stunned the crowd with his guitar solo of The Star Spangled Banner.

All you Americans, stand at attention when listening to the next piece of brilliance

The bands first album “Are you Experienced” to this day remains one of the most popular of rock albums, containing tracks such as Purple Haze, The Wind Cries Mary (I must include this one…bloggers right) and Foxy Lady

At this time Jimi Hendrix was a resounding success in Britain, but relatively unknown in the States. He returned in 1967 and blew the audience away at the Monterey International Pop Festival performing Wild Thing, and literally overnight The Experience became one of the highest grossing acts in America.

Back in America, Jimi built his own recording studio Electric Lady Studios. During 1968 and 1969 the hectic tours and studio work took its toll on the band and they finally disbanded in 1969. Billy Cox and Buddy Miles joined Hendrix to form Band of Gypseys… a track from their first album

machine gun…. Amazing stuff

A quote from Rolling Stones Magazine

the greatest guitarist of all time, Jimi Hendrix was also one of the biggest cultural figures of the Sixties, a psychedelic voodoo child who spewed clouds of distortion and pot smoke.
A left-hander who took a right-handed Fender Stratocaster and played it upside down, Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source. Players before Hendrix had experimented with feedback and distortion, but he turned those effects and others into a controlled, fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began.

In 1970 Jimi Hendrix died from ‘drug related complications’, joining the ’27 Club’… other notable members being Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin. His music has never died and there have been literally hundreds of tribute albums and shows done for him.

I hope you enjoyed the music. Music Legends takes a break now for a few days, and then we will be moving onto the Rock bands of the era…such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, King Crimson, Uriah Heep and so many more !!

I am featuring artists from the 60’s and 70’s from diverse genre’s over the next few months. If you love music … FOLLOW and take the journey with me..it is going to be one thrilling ride !! Furthermore I will only be featuring artists from MY vinyl collection, and I shall start all of the posts with a photo of an album cover to authenticate