1929 Louis Myers*
1945 Blind Willie Johnson+
1966 Will Shade+
1970 Jimi Henderix+
1970 Maxwell Davis+
1983 Roy Milton+
1995 Malte Wollenburg*
1997 Jimmy Witherspoon+
Mick Martin*
Tommy Schneller*
Paul Olsen*
Happy Birthday
Louis Myers *18.09.1929
Louis Myers (* 18. September 1929 in Byhalia, Mississippi; † 5. September 1994 in Chicago, Illinois) war ein US-amerikanischer Bluesmusiker (Gitarre, Mundharmonika), der vor allem als Mitglied der Band The Aces bekannt wurde.
Wie sein Bruder Dave kam Louis Myers 1941 mit der Familie aus Mississippi nach Chicago. Beide lernten durch Lonnie Johnson den Chicago Blues kennen, nachdem sie zuvor bereits von ihrem Vater Amos Myers gelernt hatten, den Country Blues auf der Gitarre zu spielen. Als Teenager trat Louis trat mit Bluesmusikern wie Othum Brown und Arthur „Big Boy“ Spires auf.[1]
Mit seinem Bruder Dave (Gitarre, Mundharmonika) bildete Louis das Duo „The Little Boys“. Dave spielte auf seiner E-Gitarre den Rhythmus, während Louis die Leadgitarre spielte. Zusammen mit Junior Wells (Mundharmonika) und Fred Below (Schlagzeug) entstanden daraus schließlich „The Aces“. Mit Little Walter anstelle von Wells spielten sie bis Mitte der 1950er als „Little Walter & His Jukes“ eine ganze Reihe von Hits ein.[2]
1954 verließ Louis die Band, um als Sessionmusiker zu arbeiten. In den 1970ern gingen die Myers-Brüder wieder als „The Aces“ auf Tour. 1978 brachte Louis mit I'm a Southern Man sein erstes Album unter eigenem Namen heraus. Während der Aufnahmen zu seinem letzten Album, Tell My Story Movin’, erlitt Louis Myers 1991 einen Schlaganfall. Er starb am 5. September 1994 in Chicago.
Wie sein Bruder Dave kam Louis Myers 1941 mit der Familie aus Mississippi nach Chicago. Beide lernten durch Lonnie Johnson den Chicago Blues kennen, nachdem sie zuvor bereits von ihrem Vater Amos Myers gelernt hatten, den Country Blues auf der Gitarre zu spielen. Als Teenager trat Louis trat mit Bluesmusikern wie Othum Brown und Arthur „Big Boy“ Spires auf.[1]
Mit seinem Bruder Dave (Gitarre, Mundharmonika) bildete Louis das Duo „The Little Boys“. Dave spielte auf seiner E-Gitarre den Rhythmus, während Louis die Leadgitarre spielte. Zusammen mit Junior Wells (Mundharmonika) und Fred Below (Schlagzeug) entstanden daraus schließlich „The Aces“. Mit Little Walter anstelle von Wells spielten sie bis Mitte der 1950er als „Little Walter & His Jukes“ eine ganze Reihe von Hits ein.[2]
1954 verließ Louis die Band, um als Sessionmusiker zu arbeiten. In den 1970ern gingen die Myers-Brüder wieder als „The Aces“ auf Tour. 1978 brachte Louis mit I'm a Southern Man sein erstes Album unter eigenem Namen heraus. Während der Aufnahmen zu seinem letzten Album, Tell My Story Movin’, erlitt Louis Myers 1991 einen Schlaganfall. Er starb am 5. September 1994 in Chicago.
Though he was certainly capable of brilliantly fronting a band, remarkably versatile guitarist/harpist Louis Myers will forever be recognized first and foremost as a top-drawer sideman and founding member of the Aces -- the band that backed harmonica wizard Little Walter on his immortal early Checker waxings.
Along with his older brother David -- another charter member of the Aces -- Louis left Mississippi for Chicago with his family in 1941. Fate saw that the family move next door to blues great Lonnie Johnson, whose complex riffs caught young Louis' ear. Another Myers brother, harp-blowing Bob, hooked Louis up with guitarist Othum Brown for house party gigs. Myers also played with guitarist Arthur "Big Boy" Spires before teaming with his brother, David, on guitar and young harpist Junior Wells, to form the first incarnation of the Aces (who were initially known as the Three Deuces). In 1950, drummer Fred Below came on board.
In effect, the Aces and Muddy Waters traded harpists in 1952, Wells leaving to play with Waters while Little Walter, just breaking nationally with his classic "Juke," moved into the frontman role with the Aces. Myers and the Aces backed Walter on his seminal "Mean Old World," "Sad Hours," "Off the Wall," and "Tell Me Mama" and at New York's famous Apollo Theater before Louis left in 1954 (he and the Aces moonlighted on Wells' indispensable 1953-1954 output for States).
Plenty of sideman work awaited Myers -- he played with Otis Rush, Earl Hooker, and many more. But his own recording career was practically non-existent; after a solitary 1956 single for Abco, "Just Whaling"/"Bluesy," that found Myers blowing harp in Walter-like style, it wasn't until 1968 that two Myers tracks turned up on Delmark.
I'm a Southern Man
the Aces re-formed during the '70s and visited Europe often as a trusty rhythm section for touring acts. Myers cut a fine set for Advent in 1978, I'm a Southern Man, that showed just how effective he could be as a leader (in front of an L.A. band, no less). Myers was hampered by the effects of a stroke while recording his last album for Earwig, 1991's Tell My Story Movin'. He courageously completed the disc but was limited to playing harp only. His health soon took a turn for the worse, ending his distinguished musical career.
Along with his older brother David -- another charter member of the Aces -- Louis left Mississippi for Chicago with his family in 1941. Fate saw that the family move next door to blues great Lonnie Johnson, whose complex riffs caught young Louis' ear. Another Myers brother, harp-blowing Bob, hooked Louis up with guitarist Othum Brown for house party gigs. Myers also played with guitarist Arthur "Big Boy" Spires before teaming with his brother, David, on guitar and young harpist Junior Wells, to form the first incarnation of the Aces (who were initially known as the Three Deuces). In 1950, drummer Fred Below came on board.
In effect, the Aces and Muddy Waters traded harpists in 1952, Wells leaving to play with Waters while Little Walter, just breaking nationally with his classic "Juke," moved into the frontman role with the Aces. Myers and the Aces backed Walter on his seminal "Mean Old World," "Sad Hours," "Off the Wall," and "Tell Me Mama" and at New York's famous Apollo Theater before Louis left in 1954 (he and the Aces moonlighted on Wells' indispensable 1953-1954 output for States).
Plenty of sideman work awaited Myers -- he played with Otis Rush, Earl Hooker, and many more. But his own recording career was practically non-existent; after a solitary 1956 single for Abco, "Just Whaling"/"Bluesy," that found Myers blowing harp in Walter-like style, it wasn't until 1968 that two Myers tracks turned up on Delmark.
I'm a Southern Man
the Aces re-formed during the '70s and visited Europe often as a trusty rhythm section for touring acts. Myers cut a fine set for Advent in 1978, I'm a Southern Man, that showed just how effective he could be as a leader (in front of an L.A. band, no less). Myers was hampered by the effects of a stroke while recording his last album for Earwig, 1991's Tell My Story Movin'. He courageously completed the disc but was limited to playing harp only. His health soon took a turn for the worse, ending his distinguished musical career.
Mick Martin *18.09.
The only member of the original Crawdad line up, Mick’s career has spanned more than three decades & a multitude of musical styles. An award winning guitarist whose past band efforts include mid 80’s Pop/Rock act Idol Minds, The Country Boys & The Blue Heeler Band, as well as years of supporting/backing international stars including Nick Lowe, Joe Walsh (from the Eagles) Johnny Tillotson & local heroes such as Col Elliot, Jackie Love, Adam Harvey, Lee & Tania Kernaghan, Peter Cupples, Little Pattie, Normie Rowe, Barry Crocker, Judie Stone, Paul Martell, Jane Scali, The Drifters, Ian Turpie, Bev Harrell & Slim Dusty just to name a few. Better known to the rest of the band as “Captain Craw”, Mick thrives on playing with great musicians & loves this line up. “We’re keeping it great without sacrificing the fun aspect of the live performances”.
Tommy Schneller *18.09.
Er kennt die Festivals in Europa und die kleinen Clubs auf der Beale Street in Memphis - Tommy
Schneller ist auf den großen Bühnen dieser Welt zuhause. Sein charmanter, unverwechselbarerGesang und sein erdig warmer Saxophonsound haben ihn in den vergangenen Jahren zu einem der
beliebtesten Musiker Europas gemacht. Schneller wurde drei Mal mit dem German Blues Award
(2010, 2012, 2014) sowie dem Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (2011) ausgezeichnet.
Tommy Schnellers Band beinhaltet mehrere Attribute, die keine andere Band dieses Genre in
Deutschland hat: Für eine siebenköpfige Band ist sie soundmäßig sehr kompakt, hier wirkt niemals
ein Song überladen oder fahrig, wie man es bei der Besetzung bei vielen anderen Bands oft nach ein
paar Titeln feststellt. Die Musik hat einen authentischen US-touch, ist frisch und lebt von Tommys
wiedererkennbarer Stimme und natürlich von seinem unverkennbarem Saxophonsound. Blues-Soul
mit viel Druck, Tanzbarkeit und voller Groove. Eine hoch attraktive und, last but not least, eine dazu
sehr sympathische Band.
http://tommyschneller.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Backbeat-press.pdf
Tommy Schneller (* 18. September 1969 in Ankum bei Osnabrück) ist ein deutscher Bluesmusiker, Saxophonist und Sänger. Neben der Arbeit in seiner eigenen Band ist er immer wieder Gastmusiker in diversen anderen Formationen. Sein Album „Smiling for a Reason“ gewann 2012 den Vierteljahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik[1].
Musikalischer Werdegang
Im Alter von fünf unternahm Tommy Schneller erste kreative Schritte im Rahmen der musikalischen Früherziehung am Osnabrücker Konservatorium, im Grundschulalter folgte Geigenunterricht. Über seinen Lehrer Hans Schwach, der Klarinettist beim Osnabrücker Sinfonieorchester war, lernte er alte Swing-Aufnahmen kennen: etwa von Louis Jordan, Count Basie, Duke Ellington und Satchmo[2]. Tommy Schneller wechselte das Instrument zum Saxophon und wurde Mitglied in der Big-Band seiner Schule. Als „musikalisches Schlüsselerlebnis“[2] bezeichnet Tommy Schneller ein Konzert des Pianisten Little Willie Littlefield, das er 1986 im Osnabrücker Blues Club Pink Piano sah und das mit einer vierhändigen Improvisation zusammen mit Christian Rannenberg endete, in die letztendlich Saxofonist Gary Wiggins einstieg. Letzterer lebte in der Nachbarschaft des damals 16-Jährigen und wurde sein Mentor, mit dem er bei Sessions erste Liveerfahrungen sammelte. 1989 folgte die erste feste Bandbesetzung Tommy Schnellers bei Christian Bleimings Boogie Boys. Gleichzeitig etablierte er sich auch als Sänger. Weitere Engagements für Al Jones und Tom Vieth folgten und begründeten die Profimusiker-Laufbahn des Saxophonisten. In den 1990ern zog Tommy Schneller nach Köln und wurde Mitglied von Richard Bargels Talkin’ Blues Combo. 1995 kam es mit der First Class Bluesband zur Zusammenarbeit mit Frank Biner. Dort spielte er erstmals auch mit Kevin Duvernay (Bass) und Tommie Harris (Drums), die später in seiner ersten eigenen Band die Rhythmussektion bildeten. In Deutschland war der gelernte Kaufmann Tommy Schneller kurzzeitig bei der Frankfurter Konzertagentur Lynro Music als Booker, Veranstaltungsassistent und Tourmanager tätig. Zu seinen Klienten zählten etwa Sweets Edison, Red Holloway und Ed Thigpen; mit ihnen stand der Saxophonist auch teilweise auf der Bühne. Des Weiteren war er als Roadmanager für John Hendrix, Clark Terry und Ray Brown tätig. In Zusammenarbeit mit der Bluesnight Band sowie der Grand Jam Band arbeitete Tommy Schneller seit 2000 mit diversen Größen aus der Bluesszene zusammen – darunter Larry Garner, Andreas Schmidt-Martelle, Rolf Stahlhofen und Ron Williams[2].
Eigene Projekte
Zurück in Osnabrück gründete Tommy Schneller zusammen mit dem Bassisten Olli Geselbracht das Label „Out Of Space“ und nahm im Februar 1997 seine erste Solo CD „Blown Away“ auf. Es folgten weitere Veröffentlichungen als Tommy Schneller Band und Bluesin’ the Groove, einem Projekt, das er zusammen mit Christian Rannenberg und Alex Lex 2010 etablierte. Zudem ist er ein gefragter Studiomusiker. Tommy Schneller nahm unter anderem mit Gregor Hilden, Supercharge und Henrik Freischlader auf. Letzterer zeichnete auch als Produzent seines Albums „Smiling for a Reason“ (2011) verantwortlich, das mit dem Vierteljahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik ausgezeichnet wurde.
Tommy Schneller Band
Zur Tommy Schneller Band gehören als feste Besetzung noch Jens Filser (Gitarre, Gesang), Gregory Barrett (Keyboard, Gesang), Gary Winters (Trompete, Flügelhorn, Gesang), Dieter Kuhlmann (Trombone, Saxophon), Bernhard Weichinger (Schlagzeug, Gesang) und Maik Reishaus (Bass, Gesang).[3]
Neben eigenen Stücken von Tommy Schneller spielt die Band Klassiker aus den Bereichen Blues, Funk und Soul.
Musikalischer Werdegang
Im Alter von fünf unternahm Tommy Schneller erste kreative Schritte im Rahmen der musikalischen Früherziehung am Osnabrücker Konservatorium, im Grundschulalter folgte Geigenunterricht. Über seinen Lehrer Hans Schwach, der Klarinettist beim Osnabrücker Sinfonieorchester war, lernte er alte Swing-Aufnahmen kennen: etwa von Louis Jordan, Count Basie, Duke Ellington und Satchmo[2]. Tommy Schneller wechselte das Instrument zum Saxophon und wurde Mitglied in der Big-Band seiner Schule. Als „musikalisches Schlüsselerlebnis“[2] bezeichnet Tommy Schneller ein Konzert des Pianisten Little Willie Littlefield, das er 1986 im Osnabrücker Blues Club Pink Piano sah und das mit einer vierhändigen Improvisation zusammen mit Christian Rannenberg endete, in die letztendlich Saxofonist Gary Wiggins einstieg. Letzterer lebte in der Nachbarschaft des damals 16-Jährigen und wurde sein Mentor, mit dem er bei Sessions erste Liveerfahrungen sammelte. 1989 folgte die erste feste Bandbesetzung Tommy Schnellers bei Christian Bleimings Boogie Boys. Gleichzeitig etablierte er sich auch als Sänger. Weitere Engagements für Al Jones und Tom Vieth folgten und begründeten die Profimusiker-Laufbahn des Saxophonisten. In den 1990ern zog Tommy Schneller nach Köln und wurde Mitglied von Richard Bargels Talkin’ Blues Combo. 1995 kam es mit der First Class Bluesband zur Zusammenarbeit mit Frank Biner. Dort spielte er erstmals auch mit Kevin Duvernay (Bass) und Tommie Harris (Drums), die später in seiner ersten eigenen Band die Rhythmussektion bildeten. In Deutschland war der gelernte Kaufmann Tommy Schneller kurzzeitig bei der Frankfurter Konzertagentur Lynro Music als Booker, Veranstaltungsassistent und Tourmanager tätig. Zu seinen Klienten zählten etwa Sweets Edison, Red Holloway und Ed Thigpen; mit ihnen stand der Saxophonist auch teilweise auf der Bühne. Des Weiteren war er als Roadmanager für John Hendrix, Clark Terry und Ray Brown tätig. In Zusammenarbeit mit der Bluesnight Band sowie der Grand Jam Band arbeitete Tommy Schneller seit 2000 mit diversen Größen aus der Bluesszene zusammen – darunter Larry Garner, Andreas Schmidt-Martelle, Rolf Stahlhofen und Ron Williams[2].
Eigene Projekte
Zurück in Osnabrück gründete Tommy Schneller zusammen mit dem Bassisten Olli Geselbracht das Label „Out Of Space“ und nahm im Februar 1997 seine erste Solo CD „Blown Away“ auf. Es folgten weitere Veröffentlichungen als Tommy Schneller Band und Bluesin’ the Groove, einem Projekt, das er zusammen mit Christian Rannenberg und Alex Lex 2010 etablierte. Zudem ist er ein gefragter Studiomusiker. Tommy Schneller nahm unter anderem mit Gregor Hilden, Supercharge und Henrik Freischlader auf. Letzterer zeichnete auch als Produzent seines Albums „Smiling for a Reason“ (2011) verantwortlich, das mit dem Vierteljahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik ausgezeichnet wurde.
Tommy Schneller Band
Zur Tommy Schneller Band gehören als feste Besetzung noch Jens Filser (Gitarre, Gesang), Gregory Barrett (Keyboard, Gesang), Gary Winters (Trompete, Flügelhorn, Gesang), Dieter Kuhlmann (Trombone, Saxophon), Bernhard Weichinger (Schlagzeug, Gesang) und Maik Reishaus (Bass, Gesang).[3]
Neben eigenen Stücken von Tommy Schneller spielt die Band Klassiker aus den Bereichen Blues, Funk und Soul.
Even as a child Tommy Schneller knew what he wanted to be when he grew up and didn't once change his mind--after catching the musical virus from an Elvis cassette, he set his sights on music and never looked back. Schneller grew up in Germany's "Blues Capital", Osnabrueck, well -known for the number of nationally active artists in the genre who live there, and while still young he began to appear regularly at the legendary Monday jams in the city's live music institution the "Pink Piano".
In 1987 he worked his first professional gigs with a number of acts, and ten years later
delivered his debut CD "BLOWING AWAY". Since then he has toured and performed
regularly throughout Europe's rich network of great music clubs and festivals. By 2004
Schneller had released two more albums, "BLUES FOR THE LADIES" (2000), the popular title
cut of which was rearranged and recorded again for the new CD, and "A HEARTBEAT AWAY"
(2004).
Beyond the recordings and shows under his own name Schneller has worked with a number
of other international artists as a member of the "Blues Night Band" since the turn of the
century including (among others):
the Ford Blues Band, Sydney Youngblood, Ron Williams, Rolf Stahlhofen, Red Holloway,
Angela Brown and MANY others. In addition, he recently released the trio CD "LET'S GET
HIGH" with "Bluesin' the Groove" in which he is joined by piano icon Christian Rannenberg
and young lion drummer/singer Alex Lex.
In 2007 Schneller met the guitarist, singer and multi-instrumentalist HENRIK FREISCHLADER,
with whom he worked beginning in 2008 in the formation "5 LIVE". With the support of
major German broadcaster NDR (North German Broadcasting) the CD "5 LIVE: IN THE KITCHEN" was released.
In 2010 Tommy received the offer from Freischlader which resulted in the current CD
"SMILING FOR A REASON" (2011): a mix of funky blues and soul which infects the listener
with its driving rhythms. With one exception (the Al Green classic "Never Found Me a Girl")
the recording is made up of compositions by Freischlader, keyboarder Barrett and Schneller
himself. Tommy Schneller has dedicated "SMILING FOR A REASON" to his late father Konrad
Schneller, for many years a judge and state representative for the CDU party in the Lower
Saxony Assembly:
"Things weren't always rosy between us. How could they be? As a conservative politician
and public figure my father had to deal with the escapades of a teenager who had just
discovered Elvis and was swept up by youthful rebellion. Not easy for him! But he let me
find my way...he supported me in the search for a calling that would bring me happiness,
and for that I will be eternally grateful."
In 1987 he worked his first professional gigs with a number of acts, and ten years later
delivered his debut CD "BLOWING AWAY". Since then he has toured and performed
regularly throughout Europe's rich network of great music clubs and festivals. By 2004
Schneller had released two more albums, "BLUES FOR THE LADIES" (2000), the popular title
cut of which was rearranged and recorded again for the new CD, and "A HEARTBEAT AWAY"
(2004).
Beyond the recordings and shows under his own name Schneller has worked with a number
of other international artists as a member of the "Blues Night Band" since the turn of the
century including (among others):
the Ford Blues Band, Sydney Youngblood, Ron Williams, Rolf Stahlhofen, Red Holloway,
Angela Brown and MANY others. In addition, he recently released the trio CD "LET'S GET
HIGH" with "Bluesin' the Groove" in which he is joined by piano icon Christian Rannenberg
and young lion drummer/singer Alex Lex.
In 2007 Schneller met the guitarist, singer and multi-instrumentalist HENRIK FREISCHLADER,
with whom he worked beginning in 2008 in the formation "5 LIVE". With the support of
major German broadcaster NDR (North German Broadcasting) the CD "5 LIVE: IN THE KITCHEN" was released.
In 2010 Tommy received the offer from Freischlader which resulted in the current CD
"SMILING FOR A REASON" (2011): a mix of funky blues and soul which infects the listener
with its driving rhythms. With one exception (the Al Green classic "Never Found Me a Girl")
the recording is made up of compositions by Freischlader, keyboarder Barrett and Schneller
himself. Tommy Schneller has dedicated "SMILING FOR A REASON" to his late father Konrad
Schneller, for many years a judge and state representative for the CDU party in the Lower
Saxony Assembly:
"Things weren't always rosy between us. How could they be? As a conservative politician
and public figure my father had to deal with the escapades of a teenager who had just
discovered Elvis and was swept up by youthful rebellion. Not easy for him! But he let me
find my way...he supported me in the search for a calling that would bring me happiness,
and for that I will be eternally grateful."
Tommy Schneller & Band - Too through with you / Lindenbrauerei Unna Germany 2014
Fernsehkonzert: "Tommy Schneller Band" aus Osnabrück
Live-Musik - präsentiert von Kanal 21, Bielefeldhttps://www.nrwision.de/programm/sendungen/ansehen/fernsehkonzert-tommy-schneller-band-aus-osnabrueck-2.html
Paul Olsen *18.09.
Scrapomatic is an American blues duo, consisting of two performers, Paul Olsen, and Mike Mattison. Backed by other musicians, they have performed together since the mid-1990s, and the duo often open for The Derek Trucks Band, of which Mattison is also a member, performing as their lead vocalist since 2003.[1]
Biography
The duo Scrapomatic was founded in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota, by Paul Olsen and Mike Mattison, who were raised and schooled there. Both musicians were taught separately but came to embrace an Americana-flavored roots-based approach to music. Both had formal musical training and found common ground in jazz and funk rhythms. They gained recognition when the duo were nominated for Best R&B Group and Best Male Vocalist by the Minnesota Music Awards.[2] After a move to Brooklyn, they have performed throughout New York City, and played Carnegie Hall.
Olsen is now primarily active as an ASCAP award-winning songwriter, producer and musical director. Mattison is involved in several projects that have sprung from his association with Derek Trucks, including his bands.
Career
2003 was the year that the two men released their first self-titled album, Scrapomatic, receiving very good reviews. Scrapomatic often are the opening act for The Derek Trucks Band and Susan Tedeschi.
Biography
The duo Scrapomatic was founded in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota, by Paul Olsen and Mike Mattison, who were raised and schooled there. Both musicians were taught separately but came to embrace an Americana-flavored roots-based approach to music. Both had formal musical training and found common ground in jazz and funk rhythms. They gained recognition when the duo were nominated for Best R&B Group and Best Male Vocalist by the Minnesota Music Awards.[2] After a move to Brooklyn, they have performed throughout New York City, and played Carnegie Hall.
Olsen is now primarily active as an ASCAP award-winning songwriter, producer and musical director. Mattison is involved in several projects that have sprung from his association with Derek Trucks, including his bands.
Career
2003 was the year that the two men released their first self-titled album, Scrapomatic, receiving very good reviews. Scrapomatic often are the opening act for The Derek Trucks Band and Susan Tedeschi.
Scrapomatic - Louisiana Anna
Scrapomatic featuring Mike Mattison: Full Concert
R.I.P.
Blind Willie Johnson +18.09.1945
Nach einer später entdeckten Sterbeurkunde wurde Johnson 1897 in der Nähe von Brenham in Texas geboren. Vorher waren andere Geburtsorte (Waco, Temple) und auch ein späteres Geburtsdatum (um 1902) genannt worden. Seine Kindheit verbrachte er größtenteils in Marlin. Johnsons Mutter starb, als er noch ein kleines Kind war; sein Vater heiratete danach erneut. Er war nicht von Geburt an blind. Als er ungefähr sieben Jahre alt war, schüttete ihm seine Stiefmutter infolge eines Wutanfalls Lauge in die Augen. Als Johnson älter wurde, begann er auf der Straße Gitarre zu spielen, um sich Geld zu verdienen. Schon damals verwendete er die Slide-Technik, jedoch nicht mit einem abgebrochenen Flaschenhals, sondern mit einer Zange. Johnson hatte aber eigentlich nicht vor, Blues-Musiker zu sein, der bibelfeste junge Mann wollte lieber Gospel singen.
Karriere
1927 lernte er seine erste Frau Willie B. Harris kennen, zusammen mit ihr begann er um Dallas und Waco herum aufzutreten. Sie inspirierte ihn, alte Lieder des 19. Jahrhunderts mit in sein Repertoire aufzunehmen, unter anderem Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning und Praise God I’m Satisfied. Später war Johnson mit einer Frau namens Angeline verheiratet. Bis heute ist keine Heiratsurkunden oder dergleichen gefunden worden, die belegen, ob bzw. in welchen Zeiträumen Johnson verheiratet war. Es wird angenommen, dass er mit Willie B. Harris von 1926 (oder 1927) bis 1932 (oder 1933) verheiratet war. Seine zweite Frau überlebte ihn und arbeitete als Krankenschwester.
Am 3. Dezember 1927 nahm er in den Studios der Columbia Records seine ersten sechs Stücke auf, darunter sein wohl bekanntestes Dark Was The Night – Cold Was The Ground. Ein Jahr später hielt er mit seiner Frau erneut eine Aufnahme-Session ab; 1929 reisten die beiden mit Elder Dave Ross nach New Orleans, wo er für Columbia zehn Songs aufnahm, darunter das Gospel-Stück Let Your Light Shine On Me. Außerdem spielte er nur noch einmal Lieder ein, im April 1930. Wieder dabei war seine Frau Willie. Dies war das letzte Mal für Johnson, dass er Platten aufnahm. Fortan trat er auf der Straße auf, um sich seinen Lebensunterhalt zu verdienen.
1945, vielleicht auch erst 1947, brannte sein Haus nieder. Da Johnson jedoch sehr arm war, blieb im nichts anderes übrig, als weiterhin in der Ruine zu leben. Blind Willie Johnson verstarb danach an einer Lungenentzündung.
Johnsons Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground ist auf der goldenen Schallplatte Voyager Golden Record enthalten, die sich an Bord der beiden interstellaren Raumsonden Voyager 1 und Voyager 2 befindet. Ebenso in der legendären Wireliste The Wire's "100 Records That Set The World On Fire (While No One Was Listening)".
"Blind" Willie Johnson (January 22, 1897 – September 18, 1945) was a gospel blues singer and guitarist. While the lyrics of his songs were usually religious, his music drew from both sacred and blues traditions. It is characterized by his slide guitar accompaniment and tenor voice, and his frequent use of a lower-register 'growl' or false bass voice.[1]
Life
According to his death certificate, Johnson was born in 1897, in Independence, near Brenham, Texas. (Earlier, Temple, Texas had been suggested as his birthplace.)[2] When he was five, he told his father he wanted to be a preacher and then made a cigar box guitar for himself. His mother died when he was young, and his father remarried soon after her death.[3]
Johnson was not born blind. Although it is not certain how he lost his sight, his alleged widow Angeline Johnson told Samuel Charters that when Willie was seven his father beat his stepmother after catching her going out with another man; and that she in spite blinded young Willie by throwing lye in his face.[3]
It is believed that Johnson married at least twice. He was married to Willie B. Harris. Her recollection of their initial meeting was recounted in the liner notes for Yazoo Records's album Praise God I'm Satisfied. He was later alleged to have been married to a woman named Angeline. Johnson was also said to be married to a sister of blues artist L. C. Robinson.[citation needed] No marriage certificates have yet been discovered. As Angeline Johnson often sang and performed with him,[citation needed] the first person to attempt to research his biography, Samuel Charters, made the mistake of assuming it was Angeline who had sung on several of Johnson's records.[2] However, later research showed that it was Willie B. Harris.[2]
Johnson remained poor until the end of his life, preaching and singing in the streets of several Texas cities including Beaumont. A city directory shows that in 1945, a Rev. W. J. Johnson, undoubtedly Blind Willie, operated the House of Prayer at 1440 Forrest Street, Beaumont, Texas.[2] This is the same address listed on Johnson's death certificate. In 1945, his home burned to the ground. With nowhere else to go, Johnson lived in the burned ruins of his home, sleeping on a wet bed in the August/September Texas heat. He lived like this until he contracted malarial fever, and died on September 18, 1945. (The death certificate reports the cause of death as malarial fever, with syphilis and blindness as contributing factors.)[2] In an interview, Angeline said that she tried to take him to a hospital, which refused to admit him because he was blind. Other sources report that the refusal was due to his being black.
According to his death certificate, he was buried in Blanchette Cemetery, Beaumont. The location of that cemetery had been forgotten until it was rediscovered in 2009. His exact gravesite remains unknown; but in 2010, the researchers who had identified the cemetery erected a monument there in his honor.[4]
Musical career
His father would often leave him on street corners to sing for money. Tradition has it that he was arrested for nearly starting a riot at a New Orleans courthouse with a powerful rendition of "If I Had My Way I'd Tear the Building Down", a song about Samson and Delilah. According to Samuel Charters, however, he was simply arrested while singing for tips in front of the Customs House by a police officer who misconstrued the title lyric and mistook it for incitement.[3] Timothy Beal argued that the officer did not, in fact, misconstrue the meaning of the song, but that "the ancient story suddenly sounded dangerously contemporary" to him.[5]
Johnson made 30 commercial recording studio record sides (29 songs) in five separate sessions for Columbia Records from 1927–1930.[6] On some of these recordings Johnson uses a fast rhythmic picking style, while on others he plays slide guitar. According to a reputed one-time acquaintance, Blind Willie McTell (1898–1959), Johnson played with a brass ring; but the bluesman Tom Shaw, interviewed by Guido van Rijn in 1972, says that he used a knife.[7] However, in enlargement, the only known photograph of Johnson seems to show that there is an actual bottleneck on the little finger of his left hand.[8] While his other fingers are apparently fretting the strings, his little finger is extended straight—which also suggests there is a slide on it as well.
Legacy
Several of Blind Willie Johnson's songs have been interpreted by other musicians, including "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed", "It's Nobody's Fault but Mine", "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground", "John the Revelator", "You'll Need Somebody on Your Bond", "Motherless Children" and "Soul of a Man".
"Dark Was the Night" is one of the music tracks on the Voyager Golden Record, copies of which were placed in 1977 on both the unmanned Voyager Project space probes. It is the penultimate track, preceding only the Cavatina from Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 130: the blind musician and the deaf one side by side. The astronomer Timothy Ferris, who worked with Carl Sagan in selecting those tracks, has said:[9][10]
"Johnson's song concerns a situation he faced many times, nightfall with no place to sleep. Since humans appeared on Earth, the shroud of night has yet to fall without touching a man or woman in the same plight."
Ry Cooder's slide guitar title song and soundtrack music of the Wim Wenders film Paris, Texas (1984) was based on "Dark Was the Night".
"Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" was played in the TV series The West Wing (season 5) episode 13, The Warfare of Genghis Khan. "It's Nobody's Fault but Mine" was played in the TV series The Walking Dead (season 5) episode 4 Slabtown.
Life
According to his death certificate, Johnson was born in 1897, in Independence, near Brenham, Texas. (Earlier, Temple, Texas had been suggested as his birthplace.)[2] When he was five, he told his father he wanted to be a preacher and then made a cigar box guitar for himself. His mother died when he was young, and his father remarried soon after her death.[3]
Johnson was not born blind. Although it is not certain how he lost his sight, his alleged widow Angeline Johnson told Samuel Charters that when Willie was seven his father beat his stepmother after catching her going out with another man; and that she in spite blinded young Willie by throwing lye in his face.[3]
It is believed that Johnson married at least twice. He was married to Willie B. Harris. Her recollection of their initial meeting was recounted in the liner notes for Yazoo Records's album Praise God I'm Satisfied. He was later alleged to have been married to a woman named Angeline. Johnson was also said to be married to a sister of blues artist L. C. Robinson.[citation needed] No marriage certificates have yet been discovered. As Angeline Johnson often sang and performed with him,[citation needed] the first person to attempt to research his biography, Samuel Charters, made the mistake of assuming it was Angeline who had sung on several of Johnson's records.[2] However, later research showed that it was Willie B. Harris.[2]
Johnson remained poor until the end of his life, preaching and singing in the streets of several Texas cities including Beaumont. A city directory shows that in 1945, a Rev. W. J. Johnson, undoubtedly Blind Willie, operated the House of Prayer at 1440 Forrest Street, Beaumont, Texas.[2] This is the same address listed on Johnson's death certificate. In 1945, his home burned to the ground. With nowhere else to go, Johnson lived in the burned ruins of his home, sleeping on a wet bed in the August/September Texas heat. He lived like this until he contracted malarial fever, and died on September 18, 1945. (The death certificate reports the cause of death as malarial fever, with syphilis and blindness as contributing factors.)[2] In an interview, Angeline said that she tried to take him to a hospital, which refused to admit him because he was blind. Other sources report that the refusal was due to his being black.
According to his death certificate, he was buried in Blanchette Cemetery, Beaumont. The location of that cemetery had been forgotten until it was rediscovered in 2009. His exact gravesite remains unknown; but in 2010, the researchers who had identified the cemetery erected a monument there in his honor.[4]
Musical career
His father would often leave him on street corners to sing for money. Tradition has it that he was arrested for nearly starting a riot at a New Orleans courthouse with a powerful rendition of "If I Had My Way I'd Tear the Building Down", a song about Samson and Delilah. According to Samuel Charters, however, he was simply arrested while singing for tips in front of the Customs House by a police officer who misconstrued the title lyric and mistook it for incitement.[3] Timothy Beal argued that the officer did not, in fact, misconstrue the meaning of the song, but that "the ancient story suddenly sounded dangerously contemporary" to him.[5]
Johnson made 30 commercial recording studio record sides (29 songs) in five separate sessions for Columbia Records from 1927–1930.[6] On some of these recordings Johnson uses a fast rhythmic picking style, while on others he plays slide guitar. According to a reputed one-time acquaintance, Blind Willie McTell (1898–1959), Johnson played with a brass ring; but the bluesman Tom Shaw, interviewed by Guido van Rijn in 1972, says that he used a knife.[7] However, in enlargement, the only known photograph of Johnson seems to show that there is an actual bottleneck on the little finger of his left hand.[8] While his other fingers are apparently fretting the strings, his little finger is extended straight—which also suggests there is a slide on it as well.
Legacy
Several of Blind Willie Johnson's songs have been interpreted by other musicians, including "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed", "It's Nobody's Fault but Mine", "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground", "John the Revelator", "You'll Need Somebody on Your Bond", "Motherless Children" and "Soul of a Man".
"Dark Was the Night" is one of the music tracks on the Voyager Golden Record, copies of which were placed in 1977 on both the unmanned Voyager Project space probes. It is the penultimate track, preceding only the Cavatina from Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 130: the blind musician and the deaf one side by side. The astronomer Timothy Ferris, who worked with Carl Sagan in selecting those tracks, has said:[9][10]
"Johnson's song concerns a situation he faced many times, nightfall with no place to sleep. Since humans appeared on Earth, the shroud of night has yet to fall without touching a man or woman in the same plight."
Ry Cooder's slide guitar title song and soundtrack music of the Wim Wenders film Paris, Texas (1984) was based on "Dark Was the Night".
"Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" was played in the TV series The West Wing (season 5) episode 13, The Warfare of Genghis Khan. "It's Nobody's Fault but Mine" was played in the TV series The Walking Dead (season 5) episode 4 Slabtown.
Blind Willie Johnson - Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground
Jimi Hendrix +18.09.1970
James Marshall „Jimi“ Hendrix (* 27. November 1942 in Seattle, Washington; † 18. September 1970 in London) war ein US-amerikanischer Gitarrist, Komponist und Sänger.
Jimi Hendrix, der wegen seiner experimentellen und innovativen Spielweise auf der E-Gitarre als einer der bedeutendsten Gitarristen gilt, hatte nachhaltigen Einfluss auf die Entwicklung der Rockmusik, obwohl er nur dreieinhalb Jahre nach seinem Bekanntwerden starb. Mit seinen Bands, unter anderem The Jimi Hendrix Experience und Gypsy Sun & Rainbows, trat er auf dem Monterey Pop Festival, dem Woodstock-Festival und dem Isle of Wight Festival 1970 auf.
Biografie
Kindheit und Jugend
Jimi Hendrix war der Sohn von James Allen Hendrix und Lucille Jeter und hieß zunächst John Allen Hendrix. Sein Vater war Afroamerikaner und seine Mutter cherokee-irischer Abstammung.[1] James Allen Hendrix war zur Zeit der Geburt seines Sohnes gerade mit der US-Armee in Alabama stationiert. Nach seiner Entlassung im Jahr 1946 ließ er den Namen seines Sohnes in James Marshall Hendrix ändern.[2] Die Eltern, die 1948 noch einen weiteren gemeinsamen Sohn namens Leon bekamen, ließen sich 1950 scheiden. Jimi Hendrix wuchs fortan bei seinem Vater auf.
Sein erstes Musikinstrument war eine Mundharmonika, die er mit vier Jahren erhielt.[3] Als Jugendlicher begann er sich für Rock ’n’ Roll zu begeistern. Er besuchte unter anderem Konzerte von Elvis Presley und Little Richard. Mit 13 Jahren bekam er von seinem Vater eine einsaitige Ukulele geschenkt, die dieser beim Aufräumen in einer Garage gefunden hatte.[4] Im Sommer 1957 erwarb sein Vater für fünf Dollar eine gebrauchte akustische Gitarre, auf der Hendrix mit seiner ersten Band The Velvetones nur eine kurze Zeit spielte, denn schon bald bekam er eine elektrische Gitarre, die „Supro Ozark 1560S“ geschenkt. Diese spielte er auch in seiner zweiten Band The Rocking Kings.
Nach dem erfolgreichen Abschluss der Highschool besuchte Hendrix die Garfield High School, die er jedoch 1959 wegen schlechter Noten verlassen musste. Nach einem Autodiebstahl stellte man ihn vor die Wahl, zwei Jahre im Gefängnis zu verbringen oder der Army beizutreten. Im Mai 1961 verpflichtete sich Jimi Hendrix für drei Jahre und kam nach der Grundausbildung zur 101. US-Luftlandedivision in Fort Campbell. Hendrix fiel bei der US Army sehr schnell unangenehm auf. Vorgesetzte bemängelten seine geringe Motivation und Verstöße gegen Befehle und Regeln. Hendrix könne sich nicht auf seine Pflichten konzentrieren, da er außerhalb des Dienstes zu viel Gitarre spiele und ständig daran denke. Außerdem besitze er keine guten Charaktereigenschaften. Nach 13 Monaten wurde Hendrix vorzeitig entlassen.[5]
Karrierebeginn als Musiker
Während seines Militärdienstes hatte er Billy Cox kennen gelernt, der Bass in den Wohltätigkeitsclubs in Nashville spielte. Mit Cox zusammen gründete Hendrix die Band The King Kasuals. Zusätzlich spielte er in den folgenden Jahren als Begleitmusiker unter anderem für Little Richard, The Supremes, The Isley Brothers und Jackie Wilson.
Im Januar 1964 zog er in den New Yorker Stadtteil Harlem. Bereits im Monat darauf konnte er einen Wettbewerb des Apollo Theater gewinnen.
1965 übernahm Hendrix die Rolle des Gitarristen bei den Isley Brothers und begleitete sie auf einer Tour durch die USA. Noch im gleichen Jahr stieg Hendrix bei der New Yorker Band Curtis Knight and the Squires ein. Curtis Knights Manager, Ed Chalpin, bot an, ihn unter Vertrag zu nehmen. Hendrix unterschrieb und bekam einen Vorschuss von einem Dollar und einen Anteil von einem Prozent an den Lizenzeinnahmen und verpflichtete sich gleichzeitig, drei Jahre lang exklusiv für ihn zu spielen.[6] Doch auch sein Engagement in dieser Gruppe hatte nur kurzen Bestand.
Die erste Band, in der Hendrix selbst als Frontmann und Sänger aktiv war, war die 1965 gegründete Formation Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. In der zweiten Hälfte des Jahres 1965 und Anfang 1966 spielte Hendrix mit diesen Musikern in Clubs des Greenwich Village.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Als Hendrix gemeinsam mit seinen Begleitmusikern am 3. August 1966 im „Cafe Wha?“ in New Yorks Künstlerviertel Greenwich Village auftrat, war auch der ehemalige Animals-Bassist Chas Chandler anwesend, der von Hendrix’ künstlerischer Leistung beeindruckt war. Er bot ihm einen Vertrag an, dem zufolge Hendrix in London eine neue Band aufbauen sollte. Für die neue Funktion wurde das alte Pseudonym Jimmy James aufgegeben. Hendrix sollte künftig unter eigenem Namen auftreten. Gemeinsam mit Schlagzeuger Mitch Mitchell (vorher Georgie Fame’s Blue Flames) und Bassist Noel Redding wurde so die Jimi Hendrix Experience September 1966 in London gegründet. Chandler fungierte auch in Zukunft als Manager und Produzent für die Gruppe. Er war für den künstlerischen Teil des Managements zuständig, während sich Michael Jeffery um das Finanzielle kümmerte. Jeffery war bereits Chandlers Manager gewesen, als dieser bei den Animals spielte.
Ihr erster gemeinsamer Auftritt war als Vorgruppe für Johnny Hallyday im Pariser Olympia. Die ersten Songs, Hey Joe und Stone Free, wurden im Oktober/November 1966 aufgenommen. Die Single wurde noch im Dezember 1966 veröffentlicht und platzierte sich im Februar 1967 in England auf Platz 4 der Hitparade. Das erste Album, Are You Experienced, erreichte Platz 2 der UK-Charts.
Am 18. Juni 1967 trat Hendrix mit seiner Band auf dem Monterey Pop Festival auf, wodurch seine Popularität sehr gesteigert wurde. Bekannt wurde der Auftritt auch dadurch, dass Hendrix am Ende nach dem neunten Song Wild Thing seine Gitarre anzündete. Er selbst äußerte sich dazu so:
“The time I burned my guitar it was like a sacrifice. You sacrifice the things you love. I love my guitar.”
„Als ich meine Gitarre verbrannte, war das wie ein Opfer. Man opfert die Dinge, die man liebt. Ich liebe meine Gitarre.“
– Jimi Hendrix[7]
Nach der Veröffentlichung von Axis: Bold as Love startete die Band im Februar 1968 eine längere Tour durch die USA, auf der sie unter anderem auch im Fillmore West in San Francisco auftrat. Noch im selben Jahr veröffentlichte sie Electric Ladyland mit den bekannten Songs Voodoo Child (Slight Return) und All Along the Watchtower. Das Album eroberte Platz 1 der Billboard-Charts. Der letzte gemeinsame Auftritt der Jimi Hendrix Experience fand am 29. Juni 1969 in Denver statt.
Ebenfalls im Februar 1968 erstellte das damalige Groupie Cynthia Plaster Caster einen Abguss von Hendrix' Penis. Eine Kopie davon findet sich heute im Rock’n’popmuseum in Gronau (Westf.).[8]
Auftritt in Woodstock
Das Jahr 1969 begann mit Problemen mit der kanadischen Justiz. Im Mai wurden bei einer Kontrolle am Flughafen von Toronto in Hendrix' Gepäck Heroin und Haschisch gefunden. Hendrix behauptete, die Drogen seien ohne sein Wissen hineingelangt.
Im Sommer 1969 stellte er für das Woodstock-Festival eine neue Band zusammen. Diese nannte er Gypsy Sun & Rainbows – zugehörig waren Mitch Mitchell am Schlagzeug, sein alter Armee-Freund Billy Cox am Bass, Larry Lee an der Rhythmusgitarre und zwei Perkussionisten. Witterungsbedingt verzögerte sich der Auftritt der Band und so traten die Musiker erst am frühen Montagmorgen des 18. August 1969 auf, als das Festival eigentlich schon vorbei sein sollte.
Von den mehr als 400.000 Besuchern waren zu diesem Zeitpunkt gerade noch rund 25.000 anwesend.[9]
Bei diesem Auftritt präsentierte Hendrix zum ersten Mal seine in konservativen Kreisen umstrittene und nachfolgend weltbekannte Interpretation der US-amerikanischen Nationalhymne The Star-Spangled Banner. Durch seine Spieltechnik und den Einsatz von Effekten (vor allem Wah-Wah und Fuzz-Face) verfremdete er die Hymne und nahm somit auf akustische Weise Stellung zum Kriegsgeschehen in Vietnam.
„Durch Spieltechnik und den Einsatz von Effekten ließ er zwischen den bekannten Motiven der Hymne auch Kriegsszenen hörbar werden, darunter verblüffend deutlich Maschinengewehrsalven, Fliegerangriffe und Geschosseinschläge.“[10]
Band of Gypsys
Nach dem Woodstock-Auftritt gab die Band nur noch zwei Konzerte und löste sich dann auf. Um Ed Chalpins Ansprüche aus dem 1-Dollar-Vertrag zu befriedigen, wurde ein Konzert mitgeschnitten, das Silvester 1969 im Fillmore East stattfand. Dafür stellte Hendrix eine neue Band namens Band of Gypsys mit Billy Cox am Bass und Buddy Miles am Schlagzeug zusammen.
Die neue Jimi Hendrix Experience
Die Band of Gypsys war gerade mal einen Monat zusammen aufgetreten, als Hendrix im März 1970 die Jimi Hendrix Experience neu formierte. Er übernahm Billy Cox aus der Band of Gypsys und spielte weiter mit Mitch Mitchell.
1970 fanden zahlreiche, oft spontane Studioaufnahmen mit wechselnden Besetzungen statt, die in ein geplantes Album mit dem Arbeitstitel First Rays of the New Rising Sun münden sollten. Eine Auswahl der Songs wurde 1971 als Cry Of Love veröffentlicht, als komplettes Album erschien es erst 1997. Für die Aufnahmen ließ Hendrix in der 8th Street in New York ein eigenes Aufnahmestudio errichten, das im August 1970 fertiggestellt wurde. Als Name wurde „Electric Lady Studios“ gewählt.
In diesem Jahr ging die Band auf ihre letzte US- und Europa-Tournee. Auftakt in Europa war das Isle of Wight Festival am 30. August 1970. Nach anschließenden Auftritten in Stockholm, Kopenhagen und Berlin (am 4. September 1970 in der Deutschlandhalle) absolvierte Hendrix beim Love-and-Peace-Festival am 6. September 1970 auf der schleswig-holsteinischen Ostseeinsel Fehmarn seinen letzten Auftritt. Später wurde dort ein Gedenkstein platziert. Noch heute werden regelmäßige Revival-Festivals durchgeführt.[11]
Im selben Jahr wirkte Hendrix bei den Aufnahmen für das Solo-Debütalalbum von Stephen Stills mit. Dessen Erscheinen im November 1970 erlebte er nicht mehr. Stills widmete das Album „James Marshall Hendrix“.
Tod
Während der vorangegangenen Jahre hatte sich Hendrix’ Drogenkonsum massiv verstärkt. Als Konsequenz hatte insbesondere sein Auftreten auf den letzten Konzerten sehr gelitten.
„Er verlor an Bodenhaftung, lieferte unter dem Einfluss von Drogen teilweise katastrophale Konzerte ab und verfiel im Anschluss daran immer häufiger in Depressionen. […] das Konzert auf der Ostseeinsel Fehmarn geriet zum Desaster. Jimi Hendrix kehrte ausgelaugt und nervlich zerrüttet nach London zurück.“[12]
Am 17. September 1970 jammte Hendrix zusammen mit Eric Burdon und War in Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London. Diese Jamsession wurde von Fans auf Tonband aufgenommen und ist ein unter Insidern begehrter Mitschnitt, da es die letzte Aufnahme von Hendrix ist. Am frühen Morgen des nächsten Tages, am 18. September 1970, wurde Hendrix tot im Londoner Samarkand Hotel aufgefunden, nachdem er die Nacht dort mit seiner Freundin Monika Dannemann verbracht hatte. Während als Todesursache zunächst härtere Drogen vermutet worden waren, wurde später festgestellt, dass Hendrix Alkohol und Schlaftabletten konsumiert hatte und an seinem Erbrochenen erstickt war.[13] In seiner Lunge fand man große Mengen Rotwein. Laut dem zuständigen Krankenhausarzt habe Hendrix ein mit Rotwein getränktes Stück Stoff um den Hals getragen, einen Pullover oder ein Handtuch.[14]
Obwohl die Todesursache offiziell geklärt war („Tod durch Ersticken“), entstanden um Hendrix’ Tod zahlreiche Spekulationen. Auch wenn sein Manager Chas Chandler mit den Worten zitiert wird, dass Hendrix’ Tod absehbar gewesen sei,[15] entstanden Verschwörungstheorien, dass es sich um Mord oder Selbstmord gehandelt habe. 1993 wurden erneut Ermittlungen aufgenommen, da eine andere ehemalige Freundin von Hendrix klagte, dass Dannemann den Notarzt zu spät alarmiert habe. Ein Urteil gegen Dannemann wurde in dem Prozess nicht gesprochen.[16]
In seiner 2009 veröffentlichten Autobiografie Rock Roadie beschuldigt Hendrix’ ehemaliger Roadie James Wright den Hendrix-Manager Michael Jeffery des Mordes an Hendrix: Jeffery habe eine Lebensversicherung für Hendrix abgeschlossen und sich selbst als Begünstigten eingetragen, um sich eine Versicherungssumme in Höhe von 1,2 Millionen Pfund auszahlen zu lassen.[17]
Jimi Hendrix wurde in Seattle neben den Gräbern seiner Mutter und Großmutter bestattet. Nach seinem Tod wurde bekannt, dass er ein Projekt mit der Supergroup Emerson, Lake and Palmer geplant hatte.[18]
Hendrix starb im Alter von 27 Jahren und wird dadurch, wie andere einflussreiche Musiker, dem Klub 27 zugerechnet. Ebenso wie Janis Joplin und Jim Morrison wird ihm zugeschrieben, nach der Devise „Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young“ gelebt zu haben.
Politische Aussagen
Obwohl Jimi Hendrix kein politischer Aktivist war, hatte er in den US-amerikanischen Medien einige Kommentare zu den Black Panthers abgegeben, die eine Art „geistige Verbundenheit“ zum Ausdruck bringen sollten, wie er es nannte. In dem 2004 veröffentlichten Dokumentarfilm Jimi Hendrix – The Last 24 Hours von Michael Parkinson wird berichtet, dass Hendrix am 28. Januar 1970 beim Benefizkonzert des Vietnam Moratorium Committee „Winter Festival Of Peace“ im Madison Square Garden teilnahm und Geld an die Black Panthers spendete. Auch ein Konzert für Bobby Seale und die Chicago Seven wird erwähnt. Dadurch kam Hendrix auf den Sicherheitsindex des FBI, wie aus dem freigegebenen Teil der FBI-Akten nachweisbar ist.
Auszeichnungen und Ehrungen
Im Jahr 1992 wurde Hendrix posthum der Grammy für sein Lebenswerk verliehen, und er wurde in die Rock and Roll Hall of Fame aufgenommen.[19] Zwei Jahre darauf wurde ihm ein Stern auf dem Hollywood Walk of Fame gewidmet.
Erst 1995 erhielten sein Vater und seine Schwester die Kontrolle über Hendrix’ Erbe zurück. In dieser Zeit wurde der Wert dieses Vermächtnisses auf vierzig bis einhundert Millionen US-Dollar geschätzt.[20] 1998 wurde Hendrix in die NAMA Hall of Fame der Native Americans aufgenommen.[21] 2000 gründete Paul Allen, Mitbegründer von Microsoft, das 240 Millionen Dollar teure Experience Music Project in Seattle, in dem eine große Zahl von Hendrix-Memorabilia ständig ausgestellt wird, unter anderem Gitarren, Kleidung und Songtexte.[22] 2006 benannte Hendrix’ Heimatstadt Seattle einen Park nach ihm, obwohl sie sich zu Lebzeiten eher distanziert zu ihm verhalten hatte.[23]
Daneben wurde er von vielen Musikmagazinen als herausragender Musiker anerkannt. Von Rolling Stone, Guitar World und anderen Zeitschriften wurde er zum besten E-Gitarristen aller Zeiten ernannt.[24] VH1 listete ihn an dritter Stelle der Best Hard Rock Artists of all time hinter Black Sabbath und Led Zeppelin und an gleicher Position bei den 100 Best Pop Artists of all time, nach den Rolling Stones und den Beatles, auf.
Musik
Hendrix’ Gitarrenspiel
Als Teenager hatte Hendrix hauptsächlich Blues- und Rock-’n’-Roll-Musiker wie Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, B. B. King, Chuck Berry und Eddie Cochran als Vorbilder[25] und coverte auch deren Songs.[26] In seinen aktiven Jahren als Gitarrist imitierte er nicht nur deren Musik, sondern entwickelte den Musikstil weiter. Er prägte und veränderte insbesondere den Sound der Rock-Gitarre wesentlich. In seinen improvisierten Soli verwendete er Fuzz-Effektgeräte, ähnlich wie die Rolling Stones vor ihm, um den Klang zu verzerren, und nutzte früh ein Wah-Wah-Pedal. Im Gegensatz zu vielen frühen Rockgitarristen, die meist nur einfachere Akkorde oder nur Powerchords verwendeten, benutzte er bei der Begleitung auch komplexere Akkorde und für die Rockmusik ungewöhnliche Akkordfolgen, wie sie bis dahin eher im Bereich des Jazz eingesetzt wurden. Beispiele hierfür sind die Songs „Bold as love“ oder „May this be love“. Mittels des exzessiven Einsatzes des Tremolohebels auf seiner Fender Stratocaster, kombiniert mit einer völligen Übersteuerung der Verstärker, kreierte Hendrix völlig neue, psychedelische, sphärisch-klingende Sounds und Spielweisen auf der E-Gitarre – passend zu vielfach surrealen Texten. Das wohl bekannteste Beispiel für diese ungewöhnliche Expressivität auf der E-Gitarre ist seine Interpretation der amerikanischen Nationalhymne auf dem Woodstock-Festival. Einen weiteren Klangeffekt produzierte er einfach dadurch, dass er seine Gitarre um einen halben Ton tiefer stimmte, so dass insbesondere die von ihm heftig zur Unterstützung des Akkordspiels und der Licks eingesetzten tiefen Basstöne eine mächtigere Farbe bekamen. Eine Besonderheit seiner Spielweise bestand auch darin, dass er mittels des Daumens der Griffhand die Akkorde vervollständigte oder auch als Einzeltöne die Akkorde umspielte.
Gegen Ende der 1960er begannen zahlreiche Rockmusiker, besonders die aus dem Umfeld des Progressive Rock, mit längeren Improvisationen zu arbeiten, die bis dahin nur im Jazz üblich waren. Neben Eric Clapton war Hendrix einer der ersten Gitarristen, die dem Solospiel eine wesentliche Rolle zuwiesen. Hendrix konnte hier seine Fingerfertigkeit und Technik unter Beweis stellen. Indem er die Sologitarre derart in den Vordergrund brachte, veränderte sich in den Folgejahren der Status der Gitarristen in den Bands; sie wurden von bloßen Begleitmusikern zu eigenen Stars neben dem Sänger. In diesem Sinne war er Vorbild für das Hervortreten bekannter Gitarristen in den 1970ern, wie Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page, Ted Nugent oder Tony Iommi.
Zu den von ihm beeinflussten Künstlern werden heute außerdem Stevie Ray Vaughan, Brian May, Prince, Eddie Van Halen, Kirk Hammett, John Frusciante und Uli Jon Roth gezählt.[27] Dutzende Bands coverten später Songs von Hendrix, insbesondere namhafte Gitarristen wie Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Joe Satriani, Lenny Kravitz, Michael Schenker, Steve Vai, Slash und Yngwie Malmsteen, aber auch die Bands Pearl Jam, The Cure oder die Red Hot Chili Peppers. Von den vielen Roadies, die Hendrix auf seinen Touren begleiteten, erlangten einige später selber Berühmtheit. Beispielsweise waren Lemmy Kilmister (gründete später Motörhead),[28] Ace Frehley (später bei Kiss)[29] und Schauspieler und Komiker Phil Hartman[30] vor ihrer Karriere im Umfeld von Jimi Hendrix aktiv.
Hendrix’ Rhythmusarbeit zu Little Wing ist geprägt von Akkordgrundtönen, die er mit dem Daumen griff, erweitert mit tonartgerechten Verzierungen
Wenn Hendrix auf der Gitarre seinen Gesang begleitete, spielte er in aller Regel nicht nur die zugehörigen Akkorde, sondern untermalte diese durch eine Reihe von Verzierungen. Da er auf diese Weise gleichzeitig die Aufgabe des klassischen Rhythmusgitarristen und des Leadgitarristen übernahm, entsteht der Eindruck, als würden mehrere Gitarren gleichzeitig spielen. In einer Vielzahl von Licks und Fills, die Hendrix in seine Begleitung einbaute, zeigt sich seine künstlerische Kreativität.
Eine Eigenart von ihm war es, dass er Melodien und Akkorde nicht in Form von Noten oder Tabulatur niederschrieb, sondern Farben verwendete. Als Grund dafür gilt, dass Hendrix Synästhetiker war, also Töne und Farben zusammen wahrnehmen konnte.[31] Das Zusammenspiel von Musik, Farben und Emotionen beschrieb er unter anderem mit dem Song „Bold as Love“, in dem er darlegt, wie Farben unterschiedliche Gefühle hervorrufen können.[32]
Live-Auftritte
Neben dem reinen Gitarrenspiel setzte Hendrix bei Konzerten zahlreiche Showelemente ein. So spielte er beispielsweise hinter Kopf oder Rücken oder mit den Zähnen. Bekannt ist auch das Verbrennen seiner Gitarre am Monterey Pop Festival. Er setzte den unerwünschten Effekt des Feedbacks, bei dem sich eine Rückkopplung zwischen Gitarre und Verstärker zu einem schrillen Pfeifen aufschaukelt, neben Pete Townshend und den Beatles, als einer der ersten bewusst als Gestaltungsmittel in seinen Songs ein.[33] Besonders bekannt ist die verzerrte, von Hendrix in Woodstock gespielte Variante der amerikanischen Nationalhymne The Star-Spangled Banner. Hier reizte Hendrix auch die Möglichkeiten des Tremolos aus, das in der Zeit vor ihm fast ausschließlich zur leichten Verzierung von Tönen genutzt wurde. Das folgende Beispiel zeigt die Verwendung der sogenannten Divebomb:
Mit Hilfe des Tremolohebels drückt Hendrix die Saiten soweit hinunter (hier sind fünf Halbtöne angegeben), dass sie auf den Magneten der Tonabnehmer zu liegen kommen.
Der Song diente gleichermaßen zur Äußerung von Kritik an der US-Regierung und dem Vietnamkrieg, gegen den Hendrix klar Stellung bezog.
„Sein Instrument jault und kreischt. ‚The Star Spangled Banner‘ – jeder Ton ist eine bittere Anklage, ist tränenreiche Trauer, Protest, ein wütender Aufschrei gegen die zynische Macht des Establishments. ‚Wir sind gegen euren verdammten Krieg im fernen Vietnam.‘ Die Botschaft ist unmissverständlich. Freiheitssehnsucht und Widerstand, alles steckt in ein paar Gitarren-Läufen.“[34]
Seine Kritik setzte er auch textlich innerhalb seiner Songs um. „House Burning Down“ (vom Album Electric Ladyland, 1968) handelt von den Aufständen der Farbigen, etwa während der Watts-Unruhen, bei denen 1965 in Los Angeles einige tausend Menschen verhaftet wurden, oder während der Krawalle in Newark und Detroit 1967.[35]
Equipment
Hendrix spielte bevorzugt Stratocaster-Gitarren der Firma Fender, selten auch Instrumente von Gibson, wie die Flying V und SG. Weil er Linkshänder war, Linkshänder-Gitarren aber Ende der 1960er schwer erhältlich und teuer waren, verwendete er Rechtshänder-Modelle, bei denen er die Saiten in umgekehrter Reihenfolge aufzog. Deshalb befinden sich die Regler und der Vibratohebel bei Konzertaufnahmen auf der oberen, statt – wie allgemein üblich – auf der unteren Seite des Gitarrenkorpus. Er beherrschte jedoch ebenfalls die übliche Spielweise eines Rechtshänders mit normal aufgezogenen Saiten, wobei er Anschlag- und Griffhand vertauschen musste, wie bei einigen Liveauftritten in der Band von James Brown zu sehen ist.
Nach seinem Tod veröffentlichte Fender insgesamt sieben Tribute-Modelle, die jeweils auf wenige Exemplare limitiert wurden. Unter anderem wurden Kopien der Gitarren kreiert, auf denen er in Monterey und Woodstock gespielt hatte.[36] Von Hendrix gespielte Instrumente werden heute unter Fans für hohe Summen gehandelt. Im November 2004 erzielte eine Gitarre 70.000 britische Pfund, umgerechnet etwa 129.000 US-Dollar. Bei der gleichen Auktion wurden zwei leere Zigarettenschachteln für umgerechnet 330 US-Dollar verkauft.[37] Im September 2008 wurde die Fender Stratocaster, welche im März 1967 während eines Konzertes in London von Hendrix in Brand gesetzt worden war, für 280.000 britische Pfund versteigert.[38]
Als Verstärker kamen die meiste Zeit seiner Karriere 100-Watt-Marshall-Verstärker zum Einsatz. Hendrix war einer der ersten Gitarristen, die Marshall-Verstärker benutzten. Er lernte Jim Marshall persönlich kennen und war vom Klang des Verstärkers begeistert. In jüngeren Jahren und im Studio bevorzugte Hendrix auch Verstärker der Firma Fender.
An Effektgeräten hatte er oft modifizierte Geräte wie das „Vox Clyde McCoy“ und „Vox v846 Wah“, das von Roger Mayer entwickelte „Octavia“ (ein Fuzz-Octave-Effekt)[39], das Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face und das Unicord Univibe (Chorus und Vibrato) verschiedener Hersteller im Einsatz. Roger Mayer, der damals für die britische Marine arbeitete, entwickelte und passte Geräte Hendrix’ Wünschen an. Zudem benutzte Hendrix oft ein Leslie-Kabinett für sein Gitarrenspiel und den Gesang.
Hendrix' Strat
Es sind im Laufe der Zeit über zehn verschiedene Modelle von Fender erschienen, die an die von Hendrix benutzten Gitarren angelehnt sind. Hierzu zählt ein Instrument für Rechtshänder mit einem Korpus für Linkshändergitarren, die so die Optik von Hendrix Gitarrenhaltung imitiert, jeweils ein Nachbau der Gitarre, die Hendrix beim Woodstock-Festival bzw. beim Monterey Pop-Festival benutzte oder auch eine Rechtshändergitarre mit Linkshänderhals und entsprechend verschobenen Tonabnehmern.
Wirkung
In der Literatur
Der Roman Hymne (2011) von Lydie Salvayre, die für ihren jüngsten Roman mit dem Prix Goncourt 2014 ausgezeichnet worden ist, basiert auf dem Leben von Jimi Hendrix.
Diskografie
Eine vollständige Diskografie von Jimi Hendrix zu erstellen, gestaltet sich schwierig, da es eine große Zahl mitgeschnittener Jamsessions gibt, deren Authentizität nicht immer erwiesen ist. Außerdem gibt es verschiedene Aufnahmen von Hendrix als Begleitmusiker vor seiner Solokarriere. Insgesamt sollen nach Hendrix’ Tod noch mehr als einhundert Aufnahmen veröffentlicht worden sein.
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music".[1]
Born in Seattle, Washington, Hendrix began playing guitar at the age of 15. In 1961, he enlisted in the US Army; he was granted an honorable discharge the following year. Soon afterward, he moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, and began playing gigs on the chitlin' circuit, earning a place in the Isley Brothers' backing band and later with Little Richard, with whom he continued to work through mid-1965. He then played with Curtis Knight and the Squires before moving to England in late 1966 after being discovered by Linda Keith, who in turn interested bassist Chas Chandler of the Animals in becoming his first manager. Within months, Hendrix had earned three UK top ten hits with the Jimi Hendrix Experience: "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind Cries Mary". He achieved fame in the US after his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and in 1968 his third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland, reached number one in the US; it was Hendrix's most commercially successful release and his first and only number one album. The world's highest-paid performer, he headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 before his accidental death from barbiturate-related asphyxia on September 18, 1970, at the age of 27.
Hendrix was inspired musically by American rock and roll and electric blues. He favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, and was instrumental in utilizing the previously undesirable sounds caused by guitar amplifier feedback. He helped to popularize the use of a wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock, and was the first artist to use stereophonic phasing effects in music recordings. Holly George-Warren of Rolling Stone commented: "Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source. Players before him had experimented with feedback and distortion, but Hendrix turned those effects and others into a controlled, fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began."[2]
Hendrix was the recipient of several music awards during his lifetime and posthumously. In 1967, readers of Melody Maker voted him the Pop Musician of the Year, and in 1968, Billboard named him the Artist of the Year and Rolling Stone declared him the Performer of the Year. Disc and Music Echo honored him with the World Top Musician of 1969 and in 1970, Guitar Player named him the Rock Guitarist of the Year. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. Rolling Stone ranked the band's three studio albums, Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland, among the 100 greatest albums of all time, and they ranked Hendrix as the greatest guitarist and the sixth greatest artist of all time.
Ancestry and childhood
Jimi Hendrix was primarily of African American descent, and also had Irish and Cherokee ancestors. His paternal great-great-grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee from Georgia who married an Irishman named Moore. They had a son Robert, who married an African-American woman named Fanny. In 1883, Robert and Fanny had a daughter whom they named Zenora "Nora" Rose Moore, Hendrix's paternal grandmother.[3][nb 1] Hendrix's paternal grandfather, Bertran Philander Ross Hendrix (born 1866), was the result of an extramarital affair between a black woman, also named Fanny, and a grain merchant from Urbana, Ohio or Illinois, and one of the wealthiest white men in the area at that time.[6][7][nb 2] On June 10, 1919, Hendrix and Moore had a son they named James Allen Ross Hendrix; people called him Al.[9]
In 1941, Al met Lucille Jeter (1925–1958) at a dance in Seattle; they married on March 31, 1942.[10] Al, who had been drafted by the United States Army to serve in World War II, left to begin his basic training three days after the wedding.[11] Johnny Allen Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942, in Seattle, Washington; he was the first of Lucille's five children. In 1946, Johnny's parents changed his name to James Marshall Hendrix, in honor of Al and his late brother Leon Marshall.[12][nb 3]
Stationed in Alabama at the time of Hendrix's birth, Al was denied the standard military furlough afforded servicemen for childbirth; his commanding officer placed him in the stockade to prevent him from going AWOL to see his infant son in Seattle. He spent two months locked up without trial, and while in the stockade received a telegram announcing his son's birth.[14][nb 4] During Al's three-year absence, Lucille struggled to raise their son, often neglecting him in favor of nightlife.[16] When Al was away, Hendrix was mostly cared for by family members and friends, especially Lucille's sister Delores Hall and her friend Dorothy Harding.[17] Al received an honorable discharge from the US Army on September 1, 1945. Two months later, unable to find Lucille, Al went to the Berkeley, California home of a family friend named Mrs. Champ, who had taken care of and had attempted to adopt Hendrix. There Al saw his son for the first time.[18]
After returning from service, Al reunited with Lucille, but his inability to find steady work left the family impoverished. They both struggled with alcohol abuse, and often fought when intoxicated. The violence sometimes drove Hendrix to withdraw and hide in a closet in their home.[19] His relationship with his brother Leon (born 1948) was close but precarious; with Leon in and out of foster care, they lived with an almost constant threat of fraternal separation.[20] In addition to Leon, Hendrix had three younger siblings: Joseph, born in 1949, Kathy in 1950, and Pamela, 1951, all of whom Al and Lucille gave up to foster care and adoption.[21] The family frequently moved, staying in cheap hotels and apartments around Seattle. On occasion, family members would take Hendrix to Vancouver to stay at his grandmother's. A shy and sensitive boy, he was deeply affected by his life experiences.[22] In later years, he confided to a girlfriend that he had been the victim of sexual abuse by a man in uniform.[23] On December 17, 1951, when Hendrix was nine years old, his parents divorced; the court granted Al custody of him and Leon.[24]
First instruments
At Horace Mann Elementary School in Seattle during the mid-1950s, Hendrix's habit of carrying a broom with him to emulate a guitar gained the attention of the school's social worker. After more than a year of his clinging to a broom like a security blanket, she wrote a letter requesting school funding intended for underprivileged children, insisting that leaving him without a guitar might result in psychological damage.[25] Her efforts failed, and Al refused to buy him a guitar.[25][nb 5]
In 1957, while helping his father with a side-job, Hendrix found a ukulele amongst the garbage that they were removing from an older woman's home. She told him that he could keep the instrument, which had only one string.[27] Learning by ear, he played single notes, following along to Elvis Presley songs, particularly Presley's cover of Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog".[28][nb 6] By the age of thirty-three, Hendrix's mother Lucille had developed cirrhosis of the liver, and on February 2, 1958, she died when her spleen ruptured.[30] Al refused to take James and Leon to attend their mother's funeral; he instead gave them shots of whiskey and instructed them that was how men were supposed to deal with loss.[30][nb 7] In mid-1958, at age 15, Hendrix acquired his first acoustic guitar, for $5.[31] Hendrix earnestly applied himself, playing the instrument for several hours daily, watching others and getting tips from more experienced guitarists, and listening to blues artists such as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, and Robert Johnson.[32] The first tune Hendrix learned how to play was the theme from Peter Gunn.[33]
Soon after he acquired the acoustic guitar, Hendrix formed his first band, the Velvetones. Without an electric guitar, he could barely be heard over the sound of the group. After about three months, he realized that he needed an electric guitar in order to continue.[34] In mid-1959, his father relented and bought him a white Supro Ozark.[34] Hendrix's first gig was with an unnamed band in the basement of a synagogue, Seattle's Temple De Hirsch, but after too much showing off, the band fired him between sets.[35] He later joined the Rocking Kings, which played professionally at venues such as the Birdland club. When someone stole his guitar after he left it backstage overnight, Al bought him a red Silvertone Danelectro.[36] In 1958, Hendrix completed his studies at Washington Junior High School, though he did not graduate from Garfield High School.[37][nb 8]
Military service
Before Hendrix was 19 years old, law enforcement authorities had twice caught him riding in stolen cars. When given a choice between spending time in prison or joining the Army, he chose the latter and enlisted on May 31, 1961.[40] After completing eight weeks of basic training at Fort Ord, California, he was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.[41] He arrived there on November 8, and soon afterward he wrote to his father: "There's nothing but physical training and harassment here for two weeks, then when you go to jump school ... you get hell. They work you to death, fussing and fighting."[42] In his next letter home, Hendrix, who had left his guitar at his girlfriend Betty Jean Morgan's house in Seattle, asked his father to send it to him as soon as possible, stating: "I really need it now."[42] His father obliged and sent the red Silvertone Danelectro on which Hendrix had hand-painted the words "Betty Jean", to Fort Campbell.[43] His apparent obsession with the instrument contributed to his neglect of his duties, which led to verbal taunting and physical abuse from his peers, who at least once hid the guitar from him until he had begged for its return.[44]
In November 1961, fellow serviceman Billy Cox walked past an army club and heard Hendrix playing guitar.[45] Intrigued by the proficient playing, which he described as a combination of "John Lee Hooker and Beethoven", Cox borrowed a bass guitar and the two jammed.[46] Within a few weeks, they began performing at base clubs on the weekends with other musicians in a loosely organized band called the Casuals.[47]
Hendrix completed his paratrooper training in just over eight months, and Major General C.W.G. Rich awarded him the prestigious Screaming Eagles patch on January 11, 1962.[42] By February, his personal conduct had begun to draw criticism from his superiors. They labeled him an unqualified marksman and often caught him napping while on duty and failing to report for bed checks.[48] On May 24, Hendrix's platoon sergeant, James C. Spears filed a report in which he stated: "He has no interest whatsoever in the Army ... It is my opinion that Private Hendrix will never come up to the standards required of a soldier. I feel that the military service will benefit if he is discharged as soon as possible."[49] On June 29, 1962, Captain Gilbert Batchman granted Hendrix an honorable discharge on the basis of unsuitability.[50] Hendrix later spoke of his dislike of the army and falsely stated that he had received a medical discharge after breaking his ankle during his 26th parachute jump.[51][nb 9]
Music career
Early years
In September 1963, after Cox was discharged from the Army, he and Hendrix moved to Clarksville, Tennessee and formed a band called the King Kasuals.[53] Hendrix had watched Butch Snipes play with his teeth in Seattle and by now Alphonso 'Baby Boo' Young, the other guitarist in the band, was performing this guitar gimmick.[54] Not to be upstaged, Hendrix learned to play with his teeth, he commented: "The idea of doing that came to me ... in Tennessee. Down there you have to play with your teeth or else you get shot. There's a trail of broken teeth all over the stage."[55] Although they began playing low-paying gigs at obscure venues, the band eventually moved to Nashville's Jefferson Street, which was the traditional heart of the city's black community and home to a thriving rhythm and blues music scene.[56] They earned a brief residency playing at a popular venue in town, the Club del Morocco, and for the next two years Hendrix made a living performing at a circuit of venues throughout the South who were affiliated with the Theater Owners' Booking Association (TOBA), widely known as the Chitlin' Circuit.[57] In addition to playing in his own band, Hendrix performed as a backing musician for various soul, R&B, and blues musicians, including Wilson Pickett, Slim Harpo, Sam Cooke, and Jackie Wilson.[58]
In January 1964, feeling he had outgrown the circuit artistically and frustrated by having to follow the rules of bandleaders, Hendrix decided to venture out on his own. He moved into the Hotel Theresa in Harlem, where he befriended Lithofayne Pridgeon, known as "Faye", who became his girlfriend.[59] A Harlem native with connections throughout the area's music scene, Pridgeon provided him with shelter, support, and encouragement.[60] Hendrix also met the Allen twins, Arthur and Albert.[61][nb 10] In February 1964, Hendrix won first prize in the Apollo Theater amateur contest.[63] Hoping to secure a career opportunity, he played the Harlem club circuit and sat in with various bands. At the recommendation of a former associate of Joe Tex, Ronnie Isley granted Hendrix an audition that led to an offer to become the guitarist with the Isley Brothers' back-up band, the I.B. Specials, which he readily accepted.[64]
First recordings
In March 1964, Hendrix recorded the two-part single "Testify" with the Isley Brothers. Released in June, it failed to chart.[65] In May, he provided guitar instrumentation for the Don Covay song, "Mercy Mercy". Issued in August by Rosemart Records and distributed by Atlantic, the track reached number 35 on the Billboard chart.[66]
Hendrix toured with the Isleys during much of 1964, but near the end of October, after growing tired of playing the same set every night, he left the band.[67][nb 11] Soon afterward, Hendrix joined Little Richard's touring band, the Upsetters.[69] During a stop in Los Angeles in February 1965, he recorded his first and only single with Richard, "I Don't Know What You Got (But It's Got Me)", written by Don Covay and released by Vee-Jay Records.[70] Richard's popularity was waning at the time, and the single peaked at number 92, where it remained for one week before dropping off the chart.[71][nb 12] Hendrix met singer Rosa Lee Brooks while staying at the Wilcox Hotel in Hollywood, and she invited him to participate in a recording session for her single, which included "My Diary" as the A-side, and "Utee" as the B-side.[73] He played guitar on both tracks, which also included background vocals by Arthur Lee. The single failed to chart, but Hendrix and Lee began a friendship that lasted several years; Hendrix later became an ardent supporter of Lee's band, Love.[73]
In July 1965, on Nashville's Channel 5 Night Train, Hendrix made his first television appearance. Performing in Little Richard's ensemble band, he backed up vocalists Buddy and Stacy on "Shotgun". The video recording of the show marks the earliest known footage of Hendrix performing.[69] Richard and Hendrix often clashed over tardiness, wardrobe, and Hendrix's stage antics, and in late July, Richard's brother Robert fired him.[74] He then briefly rejoined the Isley Brothers, and recorded a second single with them, "Move Over and Let Me Dance" backed with "Have You Ever Been Disappointed".[75] Later that year, he joined a New York-based R&B band, Curtis Knight and the Squires, after meeting Knight in the lobby of a hotel where both men were staying.[76] Hendrix performed with them for eight months.[77] In October 1965, he and Knight recorded the single, "How Would You Feel" backed with "Welcome Home" and on October 15, Hendrix signed a three-year recording contract with entrepreneur Ed Chalpin.[78] While the relationship with Chalpin was short-lived, his contract remained in force, which later caused legal and career problems for Hendrix.[79][nb 13] During his time with Knight, Hendrix briefly toured with Joey Dee and the Starliters, and worked with King Curtis on several recordings including Ray Sharpe's two-part single, "Help Me".[81] Hendrix earned his first composer credits for two instrumentals, "Hornets Nest" and "Knock Yourself Out", released as a Curtis Knight and the Squires single in 1966.[82][nb 14]
Feeling restricted by his experiences as an R&B sideman, Hendrix moved to New York City's Greenwich Village in 1966, which had a vibrant and diverse music scene.[87] There, he was offered a residency at the Cafe Wha? on MacDougal Street and formed his own band that June, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, which included future Spirit guitarist Randy California.[88][nb 15] The Blue Flames played at several clubs in New York and Hendrix began developing his guitar style and material that he would soon use with the Experience.[90][91] In September, they gave some of their last concerts at the Cafe au Go Go, as John Hammond Jr.'s backing group.[92][nb 16]
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
By May 1966, Hendrix was struggling to earn a living wage playing the R&B circuit, so he briefly rejoined Curtis Knight and the Squires for an engagement at one of New York City's most popular nightspots, the Cheetah Club.[93] During a performance, Linda Keith, the girlfriend of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards noticed Hendrix. She remembered: "[His] playing mesmerised me".[93] She invited him to join her for a drink; he accepted and the two became friends.[93]
While he was playing with Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, Keith recommended Hendrix to Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and producer Seymour Stein. They failed to see Hendrix's musical potential, and rejected him.[94] She then referred him to Chas Chandler, who was leaving the Animals and interested in managing and producing artists. Chandler liked the Billy Roberts song "Hey Joe", and was convinced he could create a hit single with the right artist.[95] Impressed with Hendrix's version of the song, he brought him to London on September 24, 1966,[96] and signed him to a management and production contract with himself and ex-Animals manager Michael Jeffery.[97] On September 24, Hendrix gave an impromptu solo performance at the Scotch-Club, and later that night he began a relationship with Kathy Etchingham that lasted for two and a half years.[98][nb 17]
Following Hendrix's arrival in London, Chandler began recruiting members for a band designed to highlight the guitarist's talents, the Jimi Hendrix Experience.[100] Hendrix met guitarist Noel Redding at an audition for the New Animals, where Redding's knowledge of blues progressions impressed Hendrix, who stated that he also liked Redding's hairstyle.[101] Chandler asked Redding if he wanted to play bass guitar in Hendrix's band; Redding agreed.[101] Chandler then began looking for a drummer and soon after, he contacted Mitch Mitchell through a mutual friend. Mitchell, who had recently been fired from Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, participated in a rehearsal with Redding and Hendrix where they found common ground in their shared interest in rhythm and blues. When Chandler phoned Mitchell later that day to offer him the position, he readily accepted.[102] Chandler also convinced Hendrix to change the spelling of his first name from Jimmy to the exotic looking Jimi.[103]
On September 30, Chandler brought Hendrix to the London Polytechnic at Regent Street, where Cream was scheduled to perform, and where Hendrix and Eric Clapton met. Clapton later commented: "He asked if he could play a couple of numbers. I said, 'Of course', but I had a funny feeling about him."[100] Halfway through Cream's set, Hendrix took the stage and performed a frantic version of the Howlin' Wolf song "Killing Floor".[100] In 1989, Clapton described the performance: "He played just about every style you could think of, and not in a flashy way. I mean he did a few of his tricks, like playing with his teeth and behind his back, but it wasn't in an upstaging sense at all, and that was it ... He walked off, and my life was never the same again".[100]
UK success
In mid-October 1966, Chandler arranged an engagement for the Experience as Johnny Hallyday's supporting act during a brief tour of France.[103] Thus, the Jimi Hendrix Experience performed their very first show on October 13, 1966, at the Novelty in Evreux.[104] Their enthusiastically received 15-minute performance at the Olympia theatre in Paris on October 18 marks the earliest known recording of the band.[103] In late October, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, managers of the Who, signed the Experience to their newly formed label, Track Records, which released the Experience's first single on October 23.[105] "Hey Joe", which included a female chorus provided by the Breakaways, was backed by Hendrix's first songwriting effort after arriving in England, "Stone Free".[106]
A black and white photograph of a man playing an electric guitar.
Hendrix on stage in 1967
In mid-November, they performed at the Bag O'Nails nightclub in London, with Clapton, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, and Kevin Ayers in attendance.[107] Ayers described the crowd's reaction as stunned disbelief: "All the stars were there, and I heard serious comments, you know 'shit', 'Jesus', 'damn' and other words worse than that."[107] The successful performance earned Hendrix his first interview, published in Record Mirror with the headline: "Mr. Phenomenon".[107] "Now hear this ... we predict that [Hendrix] is going to whirl around the business like a tornado", wrote Bill Harry, who asked the rhetorical question: "Is that full, big, swinging sound really being created by only three people?"[108] Hendrix commented: "We don't want to be classed in any category ... If it must have a tag, I'd like it to be called, 'Free Feeling'. It's a mixture of rock, freak-out, rave and blues".[109] After appearances on the UK television shows Ready Steady Go! and the Top of the Pops, "Hey Joe" entered the UK charts on December 29, 1966, peaking at number six.[110] Further success came in March 1967 with the UK number three hit "Purple Haze", and in May with "The Wind Cries Mary", which remained on the UK charts for eleven weeks, peaking at number six.[111]
On March 31, 1967, while the Experience waited to perform at the London Astoria, Hendrix and Chandler discussed ways in which they could increase the band's media exposure. When Chandler asked journalist Keith Altham for advice, Altham suggested that they needed to do something more dramatic than the stage show of the Who, which involved the smashing of instruments. Hendrix joked: "Maybe I can smash up an elephant", to which Altham replied: "Well, it's a pity you can't set fire to your guitar".[112] Chandler then asked road manager Gerry Stickells to procure some lighter fluid. During the show, Hendrix gave an especially dynamic performance before setting his guitar on fire at the end of a 45-minute set. In the wake of the stunt, members of London's press labeled Hendrix the "Black Elvis" and the "Wild Man of Borneo".[113][nb 18]
Are You Experienced
After the moderate UK chart success of their first two singles, "Hey Joe" and "Purple Haze", the Experience began assembling material for a full-length LP.[115] Recording began at De Lane Lea Studios and later moved to the prestigious Olympic Studios.[115] The album, Are You Experienced, features a diversity of musical styles, including blues tracks such as "Red House" and "Highway Chile", and the R&B song "Remember".[116] It also included the experimental science fiction piece, "Third Stone from the Sun" and the post-modern soundscapes of the title track, with prominent backwards guitar and drums.[117] "I Don't Live Today" served as a medium for Hendrix's guitar feedback improvisation and "Fire" was driven by Mitchell's drumming.[115]
Released in the UK on May 12, 1967, Are You Experienced spent 33 weeks on the charts, peaking at number two.[118][nb 19] It was prevented from reaching the top spot by the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[120][nb 20] On June 4, 1967, Hendrix opened a show at the Saville Theatre in London with his rendition of Sgt. Pepper 's title track, which was released just three days previous. Beatles manager Brian Epstein owned the Saville at the time, and both George Harrison and Paul McCartney attended the performance. McCartney described the moment: "The curtains flew back and he came walking forward playing 'Sgt. Pepper'. It's a pretty major compliment in anyone's book. I put that down as one of the great honors of my career."[121] Released in the U.S. on August 23 by Reprise Records, Are You Experienced reached number five on the Billboard 200.[122][nb 21]
In 1989, Noe Goldwasser, the founding editor of Guitar World magazine, described Are You Experienced as "the album that shook the world ... leaving it forever changed".[124][nb 22] In 2005, Rolling Stone called the double-platinum LP Hendrix's "epochal debut", and they ranked it the 15th greatest album of all time, noting his "exploitation of amp howl", and characterizing his guitar playing as "incendiary ... historic in itself".[126]
Monterey Pop Festival
Although popular in Europe at the time, the Experience's first U.S. single, "Hey Joe", failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 chart upon its release on May 1, 1967.[128] The group's fortunes improved when McCartney recommended them to the organizers of the Monterey Pop Festival. He insisted that the event would be incomplete without Hendrix, whom he called "an absolute ace on the guitar", and he agreed to join the board of organizers on the condition that the Experience perform at the festival in mid-June.[129]
Introduced by Brian Jones as "the most exciting performer [he had] ever heard", Hendrix opened with a fast arrangement of Howlin' Wolf's song "Killing Floor", wearing what author Keith Shadwick described as "clothes as exotic as any on display elsewhere."[130] Shadwick wrote: "[Hendrix] was not only something utterly new musically, but an entirely original vision of what a black American entertainer should and could look like."[131] The Experience went on to perform renditions of "Hey Joe", B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby", Chip Taylor's "Wild Thing", and Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone", as well as four original compositions: "Foxy Lady", "Can You See Me", "The Wind Cries Mary", and "Purple Haze".[121] The set ended with Hendrix destroying his guitar and tossing pieces of it out to the audience.[132] Rolling Stone 's Alex Vadukul wrote:
When Jimi Hendrix set his guitar on fire at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival he created one of rock's most perfect moments. Standing in the front row of that concert was a 17-year-old boy named Ed Caraeff. Caraeff had never seen Hendrix before nor heard his music, but he had a camera with him and there was one shot left in his roll of film. As Hendrix lit his guitar, Caraeff took a final photo. It would become one of the most famous images in rock and roll.[133][nb 23]
Caraeff stood on a chair next to the edge of the stage while taking a series of four monochrome pictures of Hendrix burning his guitar.[136][nb 24] Caraeff was close enough to the fire that he had to use his camera as a shield to protect his face from the heat. Rolling Stone later colorized the image, matching it with other pictures taken at the festival before using the shot for a 1987 magazine cover.[136] According to author Gail Buckland, the fourth and final frame of "Hendrix kneeling in front of his burning guitar, hands raised, is one of the most famous images in rock."[136] Author and historian Matthew C. Whitaker wrote: "Hendrix's burning of his guitar became an iconic image in rock history and brought him national attention."[137] The Los Angeles Times asserted that, upon leaving the stage, Hendrix "graduated from rumor to legend".[138] Author John McDermott commented: "Hendrix left the Monterey audience stunned and in disbelief at what they'd just heard and seen."[139] According to Hendrix: "I decided to destroy my guitar at the end of a song as a sacrifice. You sacrifice things you love. I love my guitar."[140] The performance was filmed by D.A. Pennebaker, and later included in the concert documentary Monterey Pop, which helped Hendrix gain popularity with the U.S. public.[141]
Immediately after the festival, the Experience were booked for a series of five concerts at Bill Graham's Fillmore, with Big Brother and the Holding Company and Jefferson Airplane. The Experience outperformed Jefferson Airplane during the first two nights, and replaced them at the top of the bill on the fifth.[142] Following their successful West Coast introduction, which included a free open-air concert at Golden Gate Park and a concert at the Whisky a Go Go, the Experience were booked as the opening act for the first American tour of the Monkees.[143] They requested Hendrix as a supporting act because they were fans, but their young audience disliked the Experience, who left the tour after six shows.[144] Chandler later admitted that he engineered the tour in an effort to gain publicity for Hendrix.[145]
Axis: Bold as Love
The second Experience album, Axis: Bold as Love, opens with the track "EXP", which innovatively utilized microphonic and harmonic feedback.[146] It also showcased an experimental stereo panning effect in which sounds emanating from Hendrix's guitar move through the stereo image, revolving around the listener.[147] The piece reflected his growing interest in science fiction and outer space.[148] He composed the album's title track and finale around two verses and two choruses, during which he pairs emotions with personas, comparing them to colors.[149] The song's coda features the first recording of stereo phasing.[150][nb 25] Shadwick described the composition as "possibly the most ambitious piece on Axis, the extravagant metaphors of the lyrics suggesting a growing confidence" in Hendrix's songwriting.[152] His guitar playing throughout the song is marked by chordal arpeggios and contrapuntal motion, with tremolo-picked partial chords providing the musical foundation for the chorus, which culminates in what musicologist Andy Aledort described as "simply one of the greatest electric guitar solos ever played".[153] The track fades out on tremolo-picked thirty-second note double stops.[154]
The scheduled release date for Axis was almost delayed when Hendrix lost the master tape of side one of the LP, leaving it in the back seat of a London taxi.[155] With the deadline looming, Hendrix, Chandler, and engineer Eddie Kramer remixed most of side one in a single overnight session, but they could not match the quality of the lost mix of "If 6 Was 9". Bassist Noel Redding had a tape recording of this mix, which had to be smoothed out with an iron as it had gotten wrinkled.[156] During the verses, Hendrix doubled his singing with a guitar line which he played one octave lower than his vocals.[157] Hendrix voiced his disappointment about having re-mixed the album so quickly, and he felt that it could have been better had they been given more time.[155]
A color photograph of the Experience painted in Hindustani style
Axis featured psychedelic cover art that depicts Hendrix and the Experience as various forms of Vishnu, incorporating a painting of them by Roger Law, from a photo-portrait by Karl Ferris.[158] The painting was then superimposed on a copy of a mass-produced religious poster.[159] Hendrix stated that the cover, which Track spent $5,000 producing, would have been more appropriate had it highlighted his American Indian heritage.[160] He commented: "You got it wrong ... I'm not that kind of Indian."[160] Track released the album in the UK on December 1, 1967, where it peaked at number five, spending 16 weeks on the charts.[161] In February 1968, Axis: Bold as Love reached number three in the U.S.[162]
While author and journalist Richie Unterberger described Axis as the least impressive Experience album, according to author Peter Doggett, the release "heralded a new subtlety in Hendrix's work".[163] Mitchell commented: "Axis was the first time that it became apparent that Jimi was pretty good working behind the mixing board, as well as playing, and had some positive ideas of how he wanted things recorded. It could have been the start of any potential conflict between him and Chas in the studio."[164]
Electric Ladyland
Recording for the Experience's third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland, began at the newly opened Record Plant Studios, with Chandler as producer and engineers Eddie Kramer and Gary Kellgren.[165] As the sessions progressed, Chandler became increasingly frustrated with Hendrix's perfectionism and his demands for repeated takes.[166] Hendrix also allowed numerous friends and guests to join them in the studio, which contributed to a chaotic and crowded environment in the control room and led Chandler to sever his professional relationship with Hendrix.[166] Redding later recalled: "There were tons of people in the studio; you couldn't move. It was a party, not a session."[167] Redding, who had formed his own band in mid-1968, Fat Mattress, found it increasingly difficult to fulfill his commitments with the Experience, so Hendrix played many of the bass parts on Electric Ladyland.[166] The album's cover stated that it was "produced and directed by Jimi Hendrix".[166][nb 26]
During the Electric Ladyland recording sessions, Hendrix began experimenting with other combinations of musicians, including Jefferson Airplane's Jack Casady and Traffic's Steve Winwood, who played bass and organ, respectively, on the fifteen-minute slow-blues jam, "Voodoo Chile".[166] During the album's production, Hendrix appeared at an impromptu jam with B.B. King, Al Kooper, and Elvin Bishop.[169][nb 27] Electric Ladyland was released on October 25, and by mid-November it had reached number one in the U.S., spending two weeks at the top spot.[171] The double LP was Hendrix's most commercially successful release and his only number one album.[172] It peaked at number six in the UK, spending 12 weeks on the chart.[111] Electric Ladyland included Hendrix's cover of Bob Dylan's song, "All Along the Watchtower", which became Hendrix's highest-selling single and his only U.S. top 40 hit, peaking at number 20; the single reached number five in the UK.[173] The album also included his first recorded song to feature the use of a wah-wah pedal, "Burning of the Midnight Lamp", which reached number 18 in the UK charts.[174]
In 1989, Noe Goldwasser, the founding editor of Guitar World magazine, described Electric Ladyland as "Hendrix's masterpiece".[175] According to author Michael Heatley, "most critics agree" that the album is "the fullest realization of Jimi's far-reaching ambitions."[166] In 2004, author Peter Doggett commented: "For pure experimental genius, melodic flair, conceptual vision and instrumental brilliance, Electric Ladyland remains a prime contender for the status of rock's greatest album."[176] Doggett described the LP as "a display of musical virtuosity never surpassed by any rock musician."[176]
Break-up of the Experience
In January 1969, after an absence of more than six months, Hendrix briefly moved back into his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham's Brook Street apartment, which was next door to the Handel House Museum in the West End of London.[177][nb 28] During this time, the Experience toured Scandinavia, Germany, and gave their final two performances in France.[179] On February 18 and 24, they played sold-out concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall, which were the last European appearances of this line-up.[180][nb 29]
By February 1969, Redding had grown weary of Hendrix's unpredictable work ethic and his creative control over the Experience's music.[181] During the previous month's European tour, interpersonal relations within the group had deteriorated, particularly between Hendrix and Redding.[182] In his diary, Redding documented the building frustration during early 1969 recording sessions: "On the first day, as I nearly expected, there was nothing doing ... On the second it was no show at all. I went to the pub for three hours, came back, and it was still ages before Jimi ambled in. Then we argued ... On the last day, I just watched it happen for a while, and then went back to my flat."[182] The last Experience sessions that included Redding—a re-recording of "Stone Free" for use as a possible single release—took place on April 14 at Olmstead and the Record Plant in New York.[183] Hendrix then flew bassist Billy Cox to New York; they started recording and rehearsing together on April 21.[184]
The last performance of the original Experience line-up took place 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 police using tear gas to control the audience.[185] The band narrowly escaped from the venue in the back of a rental truck, which was partly crushed by fans who had climbed on top of the vehicle.[186] Before the show, a journalist angered Redding by asking why he was there; the reporter then informed him that two weeks earlier Hendrix announced that he had been replaced with Billy Cox.[187] The next day, Redding quit the Experience and returned to London.[185] He announced that he had left the band and intended to pursue a solo career, blaming Hendrix's plans to expand the group without allowing for his input as a primary reason for leaving.[188] Redding later commented: "Mitch and I hung out a lot together, but we're English. If we'd go out, Jimi would stay in his room. But any bad feelings came from us being three guys who were traveling too hard, getting too tired, and taking too many drugs ... I liked Hendrix. I don't like Mitchell."[189]
Soon after Redding's departure, Hendrix began lodging at the eight-bedroom Ashokan House, in the hamlet of Boiceville near Woodstock in upstate New York, where he had spent some time vacationing in mid-1969.[190] Manager Michael Jeffery arranged the accommodations in the hope that the respite might encourage Hendrix to write material for a new album. During this time, Mitchell was unavailable for commitments made by Jeffery, which included Hendrix's first appearance on U.S. TV—on The Dick Cavett Show—where he was backed by the studio orchestra, and an appearance on The Tonight Show where he appeared with Cox and session drummer Ed Shaughnessy.[187]
Woodstock
By 1969, Hendrix was the world's highest-paid rock musician.[192] In August, he headlined the Woodstock Music and Art Fair that included many of the most popular bands of the time.[193] For the concert, he added rhythm guitarist Larry Lee and conga players Juma Sultan and Jerry Velez. The band rehearsed for less than two weeks before the performance, and according to Mitchell, they never connected musically.[194] Before arriving at the engagement, he heard reports that the size of the audience had grown to epic proportions, which gave him cause for concern as he did not enjoy performing for large crowds.[195] He was an important draw for the event, and although he accepted substantially less money for the appearance than his usual fee he was the festival's highest-paid performer.[196][nb 30] As his scheduled time slot of midnight on Sunday drew closer, he indicated that he preferred to wait and close the show in the morning; the band took the stage around 8:00 a.m. on Monday.[198] By the time of their set, Hendrix had been awake for more than three days.[199] The audience, which peaked at an estimated 400,000 people, was now reduced to 30–40,000, many of whom had waited to catch a glimpse of Hendrix before leaving during his performance.[195] The festival MC, Chip Monck, introduced the group as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, but Hendrix clarified: "We decided to change the whole thing around and call it Gypsy Sun and Rainbows. For short, it's nothin' but a Band of Gypsys".[200]
Hendrix's performance featured a rendition of the U.S. national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", during which he used copious amounts of amplifier feedback, distortion, and sustain to replicate the sounds made by rockets and bombs.[201] Although contemporary political pundits described his interpretation as a statement against the Vietnam War, three weeks later Hendrix explained its meaning: "We're all Americans ... it was like 'Go America!'... We play it the way the air is in America today. The air is slightly static, see".[202] Immortalized in the 1970 documentary film, Woodstock, his guitar-driven version would become part of the sixties Zeitgeist.[203] Pop critic Al Aronowitz of The New York Post wrote: "It was the most electrifying moment of Woodstock, and it was probably the single greatest moment of the sixties."[202] Images of the performance showing Hendrix wearing a blue-beaded white leather jacket with fringe, a red head-scarf, and blue jeans are widely regarded as iconic pictures that capture a defining moment of the era.[204][nb 31] He played "Hey Joe" during the encore, concluding the 3½-day festival. Upon leaving the stage, he collapsed from exhaustion.[203][nb 32] In 2011, the editors of Guitar World placed his rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Woodstock at number one in their list of his 100 greatest performances.[207]
Band of Gypsys
A legal dispute arose in 1966 regarding a record contract that Hendrix had entered into the previous year with producer Ed Chalpin.[208] After two years of litigation, the parties agreed to a resolution that granted Chalpin the distribution rights to an album of original Hendrix material. Hendrix decided that they would record the LP, Band of Gypsys, during two live appearances.[209] In preparation for the shows he formed an all-black power-trio with Cox and drummer Buddy Miles, formerly with Wilson Pickett, the Electric Flag, and the Buddy Miles Express.[210] Critic John Rockwell described Hendrix and Miles as jazz-rock fusionists, and their collaboration as pioneering.[211] Others identified a funk and soul influence in their music.[212] Concert promoter Bill Graham called the shows "the most brilliant, emotional display of virtuoso electric guitar" that he had ever heard.[213] Biographers have speculated that Hendrix formed the band in an effort to appease members of the Black Power movement and others in the black communities who called for him to use his fame to speak-up for civil rights.[214]
Hendrix had been recording with Cox since April and jamming with Miles since September, and the trio wrote and rehearsed material which they performed at a series of four shows over two nights on December 31 and January 1, at the Fillmore East. They used recordings of these concerts to assemble the LP, which was produced by Hendrix.[215] The album includes the track "Machine Gun", which musicologist Andy Aledort described as the pinnacle of Hendrix's career, and "the premiere example of [his] unparalleled genius as a rock guitarist ... In this performance, Jimi transcended the medium of rock music, and set an entirely new standard for the potential of electric guitar."[216] During the song's extended instrumental breaks, Hendrix created sounds with his guitar that sonically represented warfare, including rockets, bombs, and diving planes.[217]
The Band of Gypsys album was the only official live Hendrix LP made commercially available during his lifetime; several tracks from the Woodstock and Monterey shows were released later that year.[218] The album was released in April 1970 by Capitol Records; it reached the top ten in both the U.S. and the UK.[213] That same month a single was issued with "Stepping Stone" as the A-side and "Izabella" as the B-side, but Hendrix was dissatisfied with the quality of the mastering and he demanded that it be withdrawn and re-mixed, preventing the songs from charting and resulting in Hendrix's least successful single; it was also his last.[219]
On January 28, 1970, a third and final Band of Gypsys appearance took place; they performed during a music festival at Madison Square Garden benefiting the anti-Vietnam War Moratorium Committee titled the "Winter Festival for Peace".[220] American blues guitarist Johnny Winter was backstage before the concert; he recalled: "[Hendrix] came in with his head down, sat on the couch alone, and put his head in his hands ... He didn't move until it was time for the show."[221] Minutes after taking the stage he snapped a vulgar response at a woman who had shouted a request for "Foxy Lady". He then began playing "Earth Blues" before telling the audience: "That's what happens when earth fucks with space".[221] Moments later, he briefly sat down on the drum riser before leaving the stage.[222] Both Miles and Redding later stated that Jeffery had given Hendrix LSD before the performance.[223] Miles believed that Jeffery gave Hendrix the drugs in an effort to sabotage the current band and bring about the return of the original Experience lineup.[222] Jeffery fired Miles after the show and Cox quit, ending the Band of Gypsys.[224]
Cry of Love Tour
Soon after the abruptly ended Band of Gypsys performance and their subsequent dissolution, Jeffery made arrangements to reunite the original Experience line-up.[225] Although Hendrix, Mitchell, and Redding were interviewed by Rolling Stone in February 1970 as a united group, Hendrix never intended to work with Redding.[226] When Redding returned to New York in anticipation of rehearsals with a reformed Experience, he was told that he had been replaced with Cox.[227] During an interview with Rolling Stone 's Keith Altham, Hendrix defended the decision: "It's nothing personal against Noel, but we finished what we were doing with the Experience and Billy's style of playing suits the new group better."[225] Although the lineup of Hendrix, Mitchell, and Cox became known as the Cry of Love band, after their accompanying tour, billing, advertisements, and tickets were printed with the New Jimi Hendrix Experience or occasionally just Jimi Hendrix.[228]
During the first half of 1970, Hendrix sporadically worked on material for what would have been his next LP.[219] Many of the tracks were posthumously released in 1971 as The Cry of Love.[229] He had started writing songs for the album in 1968, but in April 1970 he told Keith Altham that the project had been abandoned.[219] Soon afterward, he and his band took a break from recording and began the Cry of Love tour at the L.A. Forum, performing for 20,000 people.[230] Set-lists during the tour included numerous Experience tracks as well as a selection of newer material.[230] Several shows were recorded, and they produced some of Hendrix's most memorable live performances. At one of them, the second Atlanta International Pop Festival, on July 4, he played to the largest American audience of his career.[231] According to authors Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz, as many as 500,000 people attended the concert.[231] On July 17, they appeared at the New York Pop Festival; Hendrix had again consumed too many drugs before the show, and the set was considered a disaster.[232] The American leg of the tour, which included 32 performances, ended at Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 1, 1970.[233] This would be Hendrix's final concert appearance in the U.S.[234]
Electric Lady Studios
In 1968, Hendrix and Jeffery jointly invested in the purchase of the Generation Club in Greenwich Village.[178] They had initially planned to reopen the establishment, but after an audit revealed that Hendrix had incurred exorbitant fees by block-booking lengthy sessions at peak rates they decided that the building would better serve them as a recording studio.[235] With a facility of his own, Hendrix could work as much as he wanted while also reducing his recording expenditures, which had reached a reported $300,000 annually.[236] Architect and acoustician John Storyk designed Electric Lady Studios for Hendrix, who requested that they avoid right angles where possible. With round windows, an ambient lighting machine, and a psychedelic mural, Storyk wanted the studio to have a relaxing environment that would encourage Hendrix's creativity.[236] The project took twice as long as planned and cost twice as much as Hendrix and Jeffery had budgeted, with their total investment estimated at $1 million.[237][nb 33]
Hendrix first used Electric Lady on June 15, 1970, when he jammed with Steve Winwood and Chris Wood of Traffic; the next day, he recorded his first track there, "Night Bird Flying".[238] The studio officially opened for business on August 25, and a grand opening party was held the following day.[238] Immediately afterwards, Hendrix left for England; he never returned to the States.[239] He boarded an Air India flight for London with Cox, joining Mitchell for a performance as the headlining act of the Isle of Wight Festival.[240]
European tour
When the European leg of the Cry of Love tour began, Hendrix was longing for his new studio and creative outlet, and was not eager to fulfill the commitment. On September 2, 1970, he abandoned a performance in Aarhus after three songs, stating: "I've been dead a long time".[241] Four days later, he gave his final concert appearance, at the Isle of Fehmarn Festival in Germany.[242] He was met with booing and jeering from fans in response to his cancellation of a show slated for the end of the previous night's bill due to torrential rain and risk of electrocution.[243][nb 34] Immediately following the festival, Hendrix, Mitchell, and Cox travelled to London.[245]
Three days after the performance, Cox, who was suffering from severe paranoia after either taking LSD or being given it unknowingly, quit the tour and went to stay with his parents in Pennsylvania.[246] Within days of Hendrix's arrival in England, he had spoken with Chas Chandler, Alan Douglas, and others about leaving his manager, Michael Jeffery.[247] On September 16, Hendrix performed in public for the last time during an informal jam at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Soho with Eric Burdon and his latest band, War.[248] They began by playing a few of their recent hits, and after a brief intermission Hendrix joined them during "Mother Earth" and "Tobacco Road". His performance was uncharacteristically subdued; he quietly played backing guitar, and refrained from the histrionics that people had come to expect from him.[249] He died less than 48 hours later.[250]
Drugs and alcohol
In July 1962, after Hendrix was discharged from the U.S. Army, he entered a small club in Clarksville, Tennessee. Drawn in by live music, he stopped for a drink and ended up spending most of the $400 he had saved. He explained: "I went in this jazz joint and had a drink. I liked it and I stayed. People tell me I get foolish, good-natured sometimes. Anyway, I guess I felt real benevolent that day. I must have been handing out bills to anyone that asked me. I came out of that place with sixteen dollars left."[251] According to the authors Steven Roby and Brad Schreiber: "Alcohol would later be the scourge of his existence, driving him to fits of pique, even rare bursts of atypical, physical violence."[252]
Like most acid-heads, Jimi had visions and he wanted to create music to express what he saw. He would try to explain this to people, but it didn't make sense because it was not linked to reality in any way.[253]
—Kathy Etchingham
While Roby and Schreiber assert that Hendrix first used LSD when he met Linda Keith in late 1966, according to the authors Harry Shapiro and Caesar Glebbeek, the earliest that Hendrix is known to have ingested the drug was in June 1967, while attending the Monterey Pop Festival.[254] According to Hendrix biographer Charles Cross, the subject of drugs came up one evening in 1966 at Keith's New York apartment; when one of Keith's friends offered Hendrix acid, which is the street name for lysergic acid diethylamide, Hendrix declined, asking instead for LSD, showing what Cross described as "his naivete and his complete inexperience with psychedelics".[255] Before that, Hendrix had only sporadically used drugs, his experimentation was significantly limited by his dire financial circumstances to cannabis, hashish, amphetamines, and occasionally cocaine.[255] After 1967, he regularly smoked cannabis and hashish, and used LSD and amphetamines, particularly while touring.[256] According to Cross, by the time of his death in September 1970, "few stars were as closely associated with the drug culture as Jimi."[257]
Substance abuse and violence
Hendrix would often become angry and violent when he drank too much alcohol, or when he mixed alcohol with illicit drugs.[258] His friend Herbie Worthington explained: "You wouldn't expect somebody with that kind of love to be that violent ... He just couldn't drink ... he simply turned into a bastard."[259] According to journalist and friend Sharon Lawrence, Hendrix "admitted he could not handle hard liquor, which set off a bottled-up anger, a destructive fury he almost never displayed otherwise."[260]
In January 1968, the Experience travelled to Sweden for a one-week tour of Europe. During the early morning hours of the first day, Hendrix became engaged in a drunken brawl in the Hotel Opalen, in Gothenburg, smashing a plate-glass window and injuring his right hand, for which he received medical treatment.[259] The incident culminated in his arrest and release, pending a court appearance that resulted in a large fine.[261] After the 1969 burglary of a house Hendrix was renting in Benedict Canyon, California, and while he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, he punched his friend Paul Caruso and accused him of the theft. He then chased Caruso away from the residence while throwing stones at him.[262] A few days later, one of Hendrix's girlfriends, Carmen Borrero, required stitches after he hit her above her eye with a vodka bottle during a drunken, jealous rage.[259]
Canadian drug charges and trial
On May 3, 1969, while Hendrix was passing through customs at Toronto International Airport, authorities detained him after finding a small amount of what they suspected to be heroin and hashish in his luggage.[263] Four hours later, he was formally charged with drug possession and released on $10,000 bail. He was required to return on May 5 for an arraignment hearing.[264] The incident proved stressful for Hendrix, and it weighed heavily on his mind during the seven months that he awaited trial.[263]
In order for the Crown to prove possession they had to show that Hendrix knew the drugs were there.[265] During the jury trial, which took place in December, he testified that a fan had given him a vial of what he thought was legal medication, which he put in his bag without knowledge of the illegal substances contained therein.[266] He was acquitted of the charges.[267] Both Mitchell and Redding later revealed that everyone had been warned about a planned drug bust the day before flying to Toronto; both men also stated that they believed that the drugs had been planted in Hendrix's bag.[268]
Death, post-mortem, and burial
Although the details of Hendrix's last day and death are widely disputed, he spent much of September 17, 1970, in London with Monika Dannemann, the only witness to his final hours.[269] Dannemann said that she prepared a meal for them at her apartment in the Samarkand Hotel, 22 Lansdowne Crescent, Notting Hill, sometime around 11 p.m., when they shared a bottle of wine.[270] She drove Hendrix to the residence of an acquaintance at approximately 1:45 a.m., where he remained for about an hour before she picked him up and drove them back to her flat at 3 a.m.[271] Dannemann said they talked until around 7 a.m., when they went to sleep. She awoke around 11 a.m., and found Hendrix breathing, but unconscious and unresponsive. She called for an ambulance at 11:18 a.m.; they arrived on the scene at 11:27 a.m.[272] Paramedics then transported Hendrix to St Mary Abbot's Hospital where Dr. John Bannister pronounced him dead at 12:45 p.m. on September 18, 1970.[273]
To determine the cause of death, coroner Gavin Thurston ordered a post-mortem examination on Hendrix's body, which was performed on September 21 by Professor Robert Donald Teare, a forensic pathologist.[274] Thurston completed the inquest on September 28, and concluded that Hendrix aspirated his own vomit and died of asphyxia while intoxicated with barbiturates.[275] Citing "insufficient evidence of the circumstances", he declared an open verdict.[276] Dannemann later revealed that Hendrix had taken nine of her prescribed Vesparax sleeping tablets, 18 times the recommended dosage.[277]
After Hendrix's body had been embalmed by Desmond Henley,[278] it was flown to Seattle, Washington, on September 29, 1970.[279] After a service at Dunlop Baptist Church on October 1, he was interred at Greenwood Cemetery in Renton, Washington, the location of his mother's gravesite.[280] Hendrix's family and friends traveled in twenty-four limousines and more than two hundred people attended the funeral, including several notable musicians such as original Experience members Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, as well as Miles Davis, John Hammond, and Johnny Winter.[281][nb 35]
Unauthorized and posthumous releases
By 1967, as Hendrix was gaining in popularity, many of his pre-Experience recordings were marketed to an unsuspecting public as Jimi Hendrix albums, sometimes with misleading later images of Hendrix.[283] The recordings, which came under the control of producer Ed Chalpin of PPX, with whom Hendrix had signed a recording contract in 1965, were often re-mixed between their repeated reissues, and licensed to record companies such as Decca and Capitol.[284] Hendrix publicly denounced the releases, describing them as "malicious" and "greatly inferior", stating: "At PPX, we spent on average about one hour recording a song. Today I spend at least twelve hours on each song."[285] These unauthorized releases have long constituted a substantial part of his recording catalogue, amounting to hundreds of albums.[286]
Some of Hendrix's unfinished material was released as the 1971 title The Cry of Love.[229] Although the album reached number three in the U.S. and number two in the UK, producers Mitchell and Kramer later complained that they were unable to make use of all the available songs because some tracks were used for 1971's Rainbow Bridge; still others were issued on 1972's War Heroes.[287] Material from The Cry of Love was re-released in 1997 as First Rays of the New Rising Sun, along with the other tracks that Mitchell and Kramer had wanted to include.[288][nb 36]
In 1993, MCA Records delayed a multi-million dollar sale of Hendrix's publishing copyrights because Al Hendrix was unhappy about the arrangement.[290] He acknowledged that he had sold distribution rights to a foreign corporation in 1974, but stated that it did not include copyrights and argued that he had retained veto power of the sale of the catalogue.[290] Under a settlement reached in July 1995, Al Hendrix prevailed in his legal battle and regained control of his son's song and image rights.[291] He subsequently licensed the recordings to MCA through the family-run company Experience Hendrix LLC, formed in 1995.[292] In August 2009, Experience Hendrix announced that it had entered a new licensing agreement with Sony Music Entertainment's Legacy Recordings division which would take effect in 2010.[293] Legacy and Experience Hendrix launched the 2010 Jimi Hendrix Catalog Project, starting with the release of Valleys of Neptune in March of that year.[294] In the months before his death, Hendrix recorded demos for a concept album tentatively titled Black Gold, which are now in the possession of Experience Hendrix LLC; as of 2013 no official release date has been announced.[295][nb 37]
Equipment
Guitars and amplifiers
Hendrix played a variety of guitars throughout his career, but the instrument that became most associated with him was the Fender Stratocaster.[297] He acquired his first Stratocaster in 1966, when a girlfriend loaned him enough money to purchase a used one that had been built around 1964.[298] He thereafter used the model prevalently during performances and recordings.[299] In 1967, he described the instrument as "the best all-around guitar for the stuff we're doing"; he praised its "bright treble and deep bass sounds".[300]
With few exceptions, Hendrix played right-handed guitars that were turned upside down and restrung for left-hand playing.[301] This had an important effect on the sound of his guitar; because of the slant of the bridge pickup, his lowest string had a brighter sound while his highest string had a darker sound, which was the opposite of the Stratocaster's intended design.[302] In addition to Stratocasters, Hendrix also used Fender Jazzmasters, Duosonics, two different Gibson Flying Vs, a Gibson Les Paul, three Gibson SGs, a Gretsch Corvette, and a Fender Jaguar.[303] He used a white Gibson SG Custom for his performances on The Dick Cavett Show in September 1969, and a black Gibson Flying V during the Isle of Wight festival in 1970.[304][nb 38]
During 1965 and 1966, while Hendrix was playing back-up for soul and R&B acts in the U.S., he used an 85-watt Fender Twin Reverb amplifier.[306] When Chandler brought Hendrix to England in October 1966, he supplied him with 30-watt Burns amps, which Hendrix thought were too small for his needs.[307][nb 39] After an early London gig when he was unable to use his preferred Fender Twin, he asked about the Marshall amps that he had noticed other groups using.[307] Years earlier, Mitch Mitchell had taken drum lessons from the amp builder, Jim Marshall, and he introduced Hendrix to Marshall.[308] At their initial meeting, Hendrix bought four speaker cabinets and three 100-watt Super Lead amplifiers; he would grow accustomed to using all three in unison.[307] The equipment arrived on October 11, 1966, and the Experience used the new gear during their first tour.[307] Marshall amps were well-suited for Hendrix's needs, and they were paramount in the evolution of his heavily overdriven sound, enabling him to master the use of feedback as a musical effect, creating what author Paul Trynka described as a "definitive vocabulary for rock guitar".[309] Hendrix usually turned all of the amplifier's control knobs to the maximum level, which became known as the Hendrix setting.[310] During the four years prior to his death, he purchased between 50 and 100 Marshall amplifiers.[311] Jim Marshall said that he was "the greatest ambassador" his company ever had.[312]
Effects
One of Hendrix's signature effects was the wah-wah pedal, which he first heard used with an electric guitar in Cream's "Tales of Brave Ulysses", released in May 1967.[314] In July of that year, while playing gigs at the Scene club in New York City, Hendrix met Frank Zappa, whose band, the Mothers of Invention were performing at the adjacent Garrick Theater. Hendrix was fascinated by Zappa's application of the pedal, and he experimented with one later that evening.[315][nb 40] He used a wah pedal during the opening to "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", creating one of the best-known wah-wah riffs of the classic rock era.[317] He can also be heard using the effect on "Up from the Skies", "Little Miss Lover", and "Still Raining, Still Dreaming".[316]
Hendrix consistently used a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face and a Vox wah pedal during recording sessions and live performances, but he also experimented with other guitar effects.[318] He enjoyed a fruitful long-term collaboration with electronics enthusiast Roger Mayer, whom he once called "the secret" of his sound.[319] Mayer introduced him to the Octavia, an octave doubling effect pedal, in December 1966, and he first recorded with the effect during the guitar solo to "Purple Haze".[320]
Hendrix also utilized the Uni-Vibe, which was designed to simulate the modulation effects of a rotating Leslie speaker by providing a rich phasing sound that could be manipulated with a speed control pedal. He can be heard using the effect during his performance at Woodstock and on the Band of Gypsys track "Machine Gun", which prominently features the Uni-vibe along with an Octavia and a Fuzz Face.[321] His signal flow for live performance involved first plugging his guitar into a wah-wah pedal, then connecting the wah-wah pedal to a Fuzz Face, which was then linked to a Uni-Vibe, before connecting to a Marshall amplifier.[322]
Influences
As an adolescent during the 1950s, Hendrix became interested in rock and roll artists such as Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry.[323] In 1968, he told Guitar Player magazine that electric blues artists Muddy Waters, Elmore James, and B.B. King inspired him during the beginning of his career; he also cited Eddie Cochran as an early influence.[324] Of Muddy Waters, the first electric guitarist of which Hendrix became aware, he said: "I heard one of his records when I was a little boy and it scared me to death because I heard all of these sounds."[325] In 1970, he told Rolling Stone that he was a fan of western swing artist Bob Wills and while he lived in Nashville, the television show the Grand Ole Opry.[326]
I don't happen to know much about jazz. I know that most of those cats are playing nothing but blues, though—I know that much. [327]
—Hendrix on jazz music
Cox stated that during their time serving in the U.S. military he and Hendrix primarily listened to southern blues artists such as Jimmy Reed and Albert King. According to Cox, "King was a very, very powerful influence".[324] Howlin' Wolf also inspired Hendrix, who performed Wolf's "Killing Floor" as the opening song of his U.S. debut at the Monterey Pop Festival.[328] The influence of soul artist Curtis Mayfield can be heard in Hendrix's guitar playing, and the influence of Bob Dylan can be heard in Hendrix's songwriting; he was known to play Dylan's records repeatedly, particularly Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde.[329]
Legacy
He changed everything. What don't we owe Jimi Hendrix? For his monumental rebooting of guitar culture "standards of tone", technique, gear, signal processing, rhythm playing, soloing, stage presence, chord voicings, charisma, fashion, and composition? ... He is guitar hero number one.[330]
—Guitar Player magazine, May 2012
The Experience's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame biography states: "Jimi Hendrix was arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music.[1] Hendrix expanded the range and vocabulary of the electric guitar into areas no musician had ever ventured before. His boundless drive, technical ability and creative application of such effects as wah-wah and distortion forever transformed the sound of rock and roll."[331] Musicologist Andy Aledort described Hendrix as "one of the most creative" and "influential musicians that has ever lived".[332] Music journalist Chuck Philips wrote: "In a field almost exclusively populated by white musicians, Hendrix has served as a role model for a cadre of young black rockers. His achievement was to reclaim title to a musical form pioneered by black innovators like Little Richard and Chuck Berry in the 1950s."[333]
Hendrix favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain.[109] He was instrumental in developing the previously undesirable technique of guitar amplifier feedback, and helped to popularize use of the wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock.[334] He rejected the standard barre chord fretting technique used by most guitarists in favor of fretting the low 6th string root notes with his thumb.[335] He applied this technique during the beginning bars of "Little Wing", which allowed him to sustain the root note of chords while also playing melody. This method has been described as piano style, with the thumb playing what a pianist's left hand would play and the other fingers playing melody as a right hand.[336] Having spent several years fronting a trio, he developed an ability to play rhythm chords and lead lines together, giving the audio impression that more than one guitarist was performing.[337][nb 41] He was the first artist to incorporate stereophonic phasing effects in rock music recordings.[340] Holly George-Warren of Rolling Stone commented: "Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source. Players before him had experimented with feedback and distortion, but Hendrix turned those effects and others into a controlled, fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began."[2][nb 42] Aledort wrote: "In rock guitar, there are but two eras — before Hendrix and after Hendrix."
While creating his unique musical voice and guitar style, Hendrix synthesized diverse genres, including blues, R&B, soul, British rock, American folk music, 1950s rock and roll, and jazz.[342] Musicologist David Moskowitz emphasized the importance of blues music in Hendrix's playing style, and according to authors Steven Roby and Brad Schreiber, "[He] explored the outer reaches of psychedelic rock".[343] His influence is evident in a variety of popular music formats, and he has contributed significantly to the development of hard rock, heavy metal, funk, post-punk, and hip hop music.[344] His lasting influence on modern guitar players is difficult to overstate; his techniques and delivery have been abundantly imitated by others.[345] Despite his hectic touring schedule and notorious perfectionism, he was a prolific recording artist who left behind numerous unreleased recordings.[346] More than 40 years after his death, Hendrix remains as popular as ever, with annual album sales exceeding that of any year during his lifetime.[347]
Hendrix has influenced numerous funk and funk rock artists, including Prince, George Clinton, John Frusciante, formerly of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic, and Ernie Isley of the Isley Brothers.[348] Hendrix's influence also extends to many hip hop artists, including De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Digital Underground, Beastie Boys, and Run–D.M.C.[349] Miles Davis was deeply impressed by Hendrix, and he compared Hendrix's improvisational abilities with those of saxophonist John Coltrane.[350][nb 43] Hendrix influenced blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan, Metallica 's Kirk Hammett, instrumental rock guitarist Joe Satriani, and heavy metal virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen, who said: "[Hendrix] created modern electric playing, without question ... He was the first. He started it all. The rest is history."[352]
Recognition and awards
Hendrix received several prestigious rock music awards during his lifetime and posthumously. In 1967, readers of Melody Maker voted him the Pop Musician of the Year.[353] In 1968, Billboard named him the Artist of the Year and Rolling Stone declared him the Performer of the Year.[353] Also in 1968, the City of Seattle gave him the Keys to the City.[354] Disc & Music Echo newspaper honored him with the World Top Musician of 1969 and in 1970, Guitar Player magazine named him the Rock Guitarist of the Year.[355]
Rolling Stone ranked his three non-posthumous studio albums, Are You Experienced (1967), Axis: Bold as Love (1967), and Electric Ladyland (1968) among the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[356] They ranked Hendrix number one on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, and number six on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.[357] Guitar World's readers voted six of Hendrix's solos among the top 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time: "Purple Haze" (70), "The Star-Spangled Banner" (52; from Live at Woodstock), "Machine Gun" (32; from Band of Gypsys), "Little Wing" (18), "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" (11), and "All Along the Watchtower" (5).[358] Rolling Stone placed seven of his recordings in their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: "Purple Haze" (17), "All Along the Watchtower" (47) "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" (102), "Foxy Lady" (153), "Hey Joe" (201), "Little Wing" (366), and "The Wind Cries Mary" (379).[359] They also included three of Hendrix's songs in their list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time: "Purple Haze" (2), "Voodoo Child" (12), and "Machine Gun" (49).[360]
A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was dedicated to Hendrix on November 14, 1991, at 6627 Hollywood Boulevard.[361] The Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005.[1][362] In 1999, readers of Rolling Stone and Guitar World ranked Hendrix among the most important musicians of the 20th century.[363] In 2005, his debut album, Are You Experienced, was one of 50 recordings added that year to the United States National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress, "[to] be preserved for all time ... [as] part of the nation's audio legacy".[364]
The English Heritage blue plaque that identifies his former residence at 23 Brook Street, London, which is one door down from the former residence of George Frideric Handel, was the first the organization ever granted to a pop star.[365] A memorial statue of Hendrix playing a Stratocaster stands near the corner of Broadway and Pine Streets in Seattle. In May 2006, the city renamed a park near its Central District, Jimi Hendrix Park, in his honor.[366] In 2012, an official historic marker was erected on the site of the July 1970 Second Atlanta International Pop Festival near Byron, Georgia. The marker text reads, in part: “Over thirty musical acts performed, including rock icon Jimi Hendrix playing to the largest American audience of his career.”[367]
Hendrix's music has received a number of Hall of Fame Grammy awards, starting with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992, followed by two Grammys in 1999 for his albums Are You Experienced and Electric Ladyland; Axis: Bold as Love received a Grammy in 2006.[368][369] In 2000, he received a Hall of Fame Grammy award for his original composition, "Purple Haze", and in 2001 for his recording of Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower". Hendrix's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was honored with a Grammy in 2009.
Jimi Hendrix - Hear My Train A Comin' (Lyric Video)
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Hey Joe Live
Jimmy Witherspoon +18.9.1997
Erste Aufmerksamkeit erregte Witherspoon als Sänger der Band von Teddy Weatherford in Kalkutta, Indien, die während des Zweiten Weltkriegs regelmäßig in Radiosendungen für die US-Armee zu hören war.
1945 machte Witherspoon seine ersten Aufnahmen mit der Band von Jay McShann. Seinen ersten Hit unter eigenem Namen, Ain't Nobody's Business, den er mit McShanns Band einspielte, hatte er 1949. Es folgten 1950 die Hits No Rollin' Blues und Big Fine Girl. Mitte der 1950er ließ der Erfolg nach, doch wurde das Album Jimmy Witherspoon at the Monterey Jazz Festival 1959 begeistert aufgenommen.
Witherspoon machte Aufnahmen und hatte Auftritte mit vielen Größen des Blues und Jazz, u. a. mit Ben Webster, Eric Burdon, Van Morrison, Count Basie, Alexis Korner, Earl Hines, Robben Ford, Bonnie Raitt und T-Bone Walker. Daneben trat er in einer Reihe von Kino- und TV-Filmen auf, z. B. Georgia mit Jennifer Jason Leigh und The Big Easy.
In den 1980ern wurde bei Witherspoon Krebs festgestellt. Nach einer Operation erholte er sich und kehrte auf die Bühne zurück. 1997 erhielt er für das Album Live At The Mint eine Grammy-Nominierung.
Jimmy Witherspoon starb 1997 im Alter von 74 Jahren. 2008 wurde er in die Blues Hall of Fame aufgenommen.
Jimmy Witherspoon (August 8, 1920 – September 18, 1997) was an American jump blues singer.[1]
Early life and career
James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas.[2] He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during World War II. Witherspoon made his first records with Jay McShann's band in 1945. He first recorded under his own name in 1947,[3] and two years later with the McShann band, he had his first hit, "Ain't Nobody's Business,"[2] a song which came to be regarded as his signature tune. In 1950 he had hits with two more songs closely identified with him: "No Rollin' Blues", "Big Fine Girl", as well as "Failing By Degrees" and "New Orleans Woman" recorded with the Gene Gilbeaux Orchestra which included Herman Washington and Don Hill on the Modern Records label. These were recorded from a live performance on May 10, 1949 at a "Just Jazz" concert Pasadena, CA sponsored by Gene Norman. Another classic Witherspoon composition is "Times Gettin'
Tougher Than Tough".
Witherspoon's style of blues - that of the "blues shouter" - became unfashionable in the mid-1950s, but he returned to popularity with his 1959 album, Jimmy Witherspoon at the Monterey Jazz Festival, which featured Roy Eldridge, Woody Herman, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines and Mel Lewis, among others.[4] He later recorded with Gerry Mulligan, Leroy Vinnegar, Richard "Groove" Holmes and T-Bone Walker.[2]
Tours and successes
In 1961 he toured Europe with Buck Clayton and returned to the UK on many occasions, featuring on a mid-'60s live UK recording Spoon Sings and Swings (1966) with tenor sax player Dick Morrissey's quartet. In 1970, he appeared on Brother Jack McDuff's London Blue Note recording To Seek a New Home together with British jazz musicians, including Dick Morrissey, again, and Terry Smith. In the 1970s he also recorded the album Guilty! (later released on CD as Black & White Blues) with Eric Burdon[2] and featuring Ike White & the San Quentin Prison Band. He then toured with a band of his own featuring Robben Ford and Russ Ferrante. A recording from this period, Spoonful, featured 'Spoon accompanied by Robben Ford, Joe Sample, Cornell Dupree, Thad Jones and Bernard Purdie.[5] He continued performing and recording into the 1990s.[5]
Other performers with whom Witherspoon recorded include Jimmy Rowles, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Vernon Alley, Mel Lewis, Teddy Edwards, Gerald Wiggins, John Clayton, Paul Humphrey, Pepper Adams, Kenny Burrell, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Jimmy Smith, Long John Baldry, Junior Mance, Ellington bassist Jimmy Woode, Kenny Clarke, Gerry Mulligan, Jim Mullen, Count Basie, Van Morrison, Dutch Swing College Band, Gene Gilbeaux and others.
Acting
In the 1995 film Georgia, Witherspoon portrayed a traveling, gun-collecting blues singer, Trucker, who has a relationship with the troubled character Sadie, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Death
Witherspoon died of throat cancer in Los Angeles, California on September 18, 1997.[6] He is survived by his daughter Trena Rae James.
Early life and career
James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas.[2] He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during World War II. Witherspoon made his first records with Jay McShann's band in 1945. He first recorded under his own name in 1947,[3] and two years later with the McShann band, he had his first hit, "Ain't Nobody's Business,"[2] a song which came to be regarded as his signature tune. In 1950 he had hits with two more songs closely identified with him: "No Rollin' Blues", "Big Fine Girl", as well as "Failing By Degrees" and "New Orleans Woman" recorded with the Gene Gilbeaux Orchestra which included Herman Washington and Don Hill on the Modern Records label. These were recorded from a live performance on May 10, 1949 at a "Just Jazz" concert Pasadena, CA sponsored by Gene Norman. Another classic Witherspoon composition is "Times Gettin'
Tougher Than Tough".
Witherspoon's style of blues - that of the "blues shouter" - became unfashionable in the mid-1950s, but he returned to popularity with his 1959 album, Jimmy Witherspoon at the Monterey Jazz Festival, which featured Roy Eldridge, Woody Herman, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines and Mel Lewis, among others.[4] He later recorded with Gerry Mulligan, Leroy Vinnegar, Richard "Groove" Holmes and T-Bone Walker.[2]
Tours and successes
In 1961 he toured Europe with Buck Clayton and returned to the UK on many occasions, featuring on a mid-'60s live UK recording Spoon Sings and Swings (1966) with tenor sax player Dick Morrissey's quartet. In 1970, he appeared on Brother Jack McDuff's London Blue Note recording To Seek a New Home together with British jazz musicians, including Dick Morrissey, again, and Terry Smith. In the 1970s he also recorded the album Guilty! (later released on CD as Black & White Blues) with Eric Burdon[2] and featuring Ike White & the San Quentin Prison Band. He then toured with a band of his own featuring Robben Ford and Russ Ferrante. A recording from this period, Spoonful, featured 'Spoon accompanied by Robben Ford, Joe Sample, Cornell Dupree, Thad Jones and Bernard Purdie.[5] He continued performing and recording into the 1990s.[5]
Other performers with whom Witherspoon recorded include Jimmy Rowles, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Vernon Alley, Mel Lewis, Teddy Edwards, Gerald Wiggins, John Clayton, Paul Humphrey, Pepper Adams, Kenny Burrell, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Jimmy Smith, Long John Baldry, Junior Mance, Ellington bassist Jimmy Woode, Kenny Clarke, Gerry Mulligan, Jim Mullen, Count Basie, Van Morrison, Dutch Swing College Band, Gene Gilbeaux and others.
Acting
In the 1995 film Georgia, Witherspoon portrayed a traveling, gun-collecting blues singer, Trucker, who has a relationship with the troubled character Sadie, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Death
Witherspoon died of throat cancer in Los Angeles, California on September 18, 1997.[6] He is survived by his daughter Trena Rae James.
Jimmy Witherspoon - In The Evening (Alternate Take)
Maxwell Davis +18.09.1970
Maxwell
Davis (* 14. Januar 1916 in Independence, Kansas; † 18. September 1970
in Los Angeles, Kalifornien) war ein amerikanischer Rhythm-and-Blues-
und Jazz-Saxophonist, Arrangeur und Produzent.
1937 zog Maxwell Davis nach Los Angeles und spielte Saxophon im Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. Nachdem er einige Jahre im Swingumfeld arbeitete, spielte er in den 1940er Jahren mehr in der West-Coast-Rhythm-and-Blues-Szene. Davis war regelmäßiger Sessionmusiker und Arrangeur für unabhängige Plattenlabel wie Aladdin Records, wo er u.a an der Session mit Helen Humes und Lester Young mitwirkte und mit Little Miss Cornshucks arbeitete. Er nahm auch mit Louis Jordan, Lester Young und der Jay McShann Band auf, in der der Bluessänger Jimmy Witherspoon mitwirkte. Nach 1952 spielte er außerdem mit Percy Mayfield, Peppermint Harris, „Gatemouth“ Brown, Betty Hall Jones, T-Bone Walker, Jesse Price, Amos Milburn und anderen.
„Maxwell Davis gilt als der unsung hero der frühen Rhythm and Blues“, bemerkte der Songwriter und Produzent Mike Stoller. Er produzierte die meisten Plattensessions von Aladdin Records, Modern Records, und von vielen unabhängigen Rhythm-and-Blues-Labels der späten 1940er und der frühen 1950er Jahre. Seine letzte Aktivität als Produzent waren 1969 Aufnahmen mit dem Soulsänger Z. Z. Hill.
1937 zog Maxwell Davis nach Los Angeles und spielte Saxophon im Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. Nachdem er einige Jahre im Swingumfeld arbeitete, spielte er in den 1940er Jahren mehr in der West-Coast-Rhythm-and-Blues-Szene. Davis war regelmäßiger Sessionmusiker und Arrangeur für unabhängige Plattenlabel wie Aladdin Records, wo er u.a an der Session mit Helen Humes und Lester Young mitwirkte und mit Little Miss Cornshucks arbeitete. Er nahm auch mit Louis Jordan, Lester Young und der Jay McShann Band auf, in der der Bluessänger Jimmy Witherspoon mitwirkte. Nach 1952 spielte er außerdem mit Percy Mayfield, Peppermint Harris, „Gatemouth“ Brown, Betty Hall Jones, T-Bone Walker, Jesse Price, Amos Milburn und anderen.
„Maxwell Davis gilt als der unsung hero der frühen Rhythm and Blues“, bemerkte der Songwriter und Produzent Mike Stoller. Er produzierte die meisten Plattensessions von Aladdin Records, Modern Records, und von vielen unabhängigen Rhythm-and-Blues-Labels der späten 1940er und der frühen 1950er Jahre. Seine letzte Aktivität als Produzent waren 1969 Aufnahmen mit dem Soulsänger Z. Z. Hill.
Maxwell Davis (January 14, 1916 – September 18, 1970[1]) was an American R&B saxophonist, arranger and record producer.
Biography
Davis was born in Independence, Kansas. In 1937 he moved to Los Angeles, California, playing saxophone in the Fletcher Henderson orchestra. After some years playing swing and jazz, he became more involved in the West Coast R&B scene in the mid-1940s, becoming a regular session player and arranger for the fast-growing independent record labels such as Aladdin. He also recorded with the Jay McShann band, featuring blues shouter Jimmy Witherspoon. By 1952, he had played on numerous R&B hits by Percy Mayfield, Peppermint Harris, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, T-Bone Walker, Amos Milburn, and others.[1]
In 1955 he joined Modern Records as musical director, bringing in most of the artists on Modern and Aladdin, and producing most of their records. Although his success rate started to diminish thereafter, he became regarded as an elder statesman, and "the father of West Coast R&B".
"Maxwell Davis is an unsung hero of early rhythm and blues," noted songwriter/producer Mike Stoller. "He produced, in effect, all of the record sessions for Aladdin records, Modern records, all the local independent rhythm and blues companies in the early 1950s, late 1940s in Los Angeles."[2]
His final recording activity was in 1969, as the producer of the soul singer, Z. Z. Hill. Davis died in Los Angeles, at the age of 54, in September 1970.
Biography
Davis was born in Independence, Kansas. In 1937 he moved to Los Angeles, California, playing saxophone in the Fletcher Henderson orchestra. After some years playing swing and jazz, he became more involved in the West Coast R&B scene in the mid-1940s, becoming a regular session player and arranger for the fast-growing independent record labels such as Aladdin. He also recorded with the Jay McShann band, featuring blues shouter Jimmy Witherspoon. By 1952, he had played on numerous R&B hits by Percy Mayfield, Peppermint Harris, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, T-Bone Walker, Amos Milburn, and others.[1]
In 1955 he joined Modern Records as musical director, bringing in most of the artists on Modern and Aladdin, and producing most of their records. Although his success rate started to diminish thereafter, he became regarded as an elder statesman, and "the father of West Coast R&B".
"Maxwell Davis is an unsung hero of early rhythm and blues," noted songwriter/producer Mike Stoller. "He produced, in effect, all of the record sessions for Aladdin records, Modern records, all the local independent rhythm and blues companies in the early 1950s, late 1940s in Los Angeles."[2]
His final recording activity was in 1969, as the producer of the soul singer, Z. Z. Hill. Davis died in Los Angeles, at the age of 54, in September 1970.
Blue Shuffle [10 inch] - Maxwell Davis with Rhythm Accompaniment
Roy Milton +18.09.1983
Roy Milton (* 31. Juli 1907 in Wynnewood, Oklahoma; † 18. September 1983 in Los Angeles, Kalifornien) war ein US-amerikanischer Schlagzeuger, Sänger, Songschreiber und Bandleader, der vor allem im Bereich des Rhythm & Blues hervortrat.
Seine frühen Jahre verbrachte Milton in einem Reservat in Oklahoma; sein Großvater war Indianer. In den 1920er Jahren trat er als Sänger und Schlagzeuger in Tulsa auf. In den 1920er Jahren war Milton Mitglied des Ernie Fields Orchestra, in dem er zunächst als Sänger und schließlich Schlagzeuger tätig war. 1933 ging er nach Los Angeles und gründete seine Band The Solid Senders. Sängerin war Anfang der 1950er Jahre Lil Greenwood, musikalischer Direktor seiner Gruppe war Bobby Smith, ein ehemaliges Mitglied des Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, der den Hit „Tippin’ In” für Milton komponierte. Dieser war mit seinen Hits in dieser Zeit ein erfolgreicher Star in den Nachtclubs; 1946 hatten sie mit R.M. Blues einen Hiterfolg, dem weitere folgten, darunter Milton’s Boogie, True Blues, Hop, Skip and Jump, Information Blues, Oh Babe (im Original von Louis Prima), So Tired und Best Wishes.
Der Erfolg ließ nach, als der Rock ’n’ Roll den Rhythm and Blues in den Hintergrund drängte. Milton versuchte mit Albentiteln wie The Roots of Rock und Instant Groove am Rockboom teilzuhaben. Beim Monterey Jazz Festival 1970 spielte er Schlagzeug in der All-Star-Band von Johnny Otis und war auch als Sänger aktiv. Er blieb weiterhin bis zu seinem Tod im Jahr 1983 aktiv, u.a. arbeitete er an der Westküste in Jingles und hatte Fernsehauftritte, wie in der landesweit gesendeten Sanford and Son Show.
1991 wurde Roy Milton in die Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, 2006 in die Blues Hall of Fame aufgenommen.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Milton
Roy Milton (July 31, 1907 – September 18, 1983)[2] was an American R&B and jump blues singer, drummer and bandleader.[1]
Career
Milton's grandmother was a Chickasaw. He was born in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, United States,[2] and grew up on an Indian reservation before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma. He joined the Ernie Fields band in the late 1920s as singer and, later, drummer.[3]
Moving to Los Angeles, California, in 1933, he formed his own band, the Solid Senders, with Camille Howard on piano.[3] He performed in local clubs and began recording in the 1940s, his first release being "Milton's Boogie" on his own record label.[2] His big break came in 1945, when his "R.M. Blues", on the new Juke Box label, became a hit, reaching number 2 on the Billboard R&B chart and No. 20 on the pop chart.[3] Its success helped establish Art Rupe's company, which he shortly afterwards renamed Specialty Records.[4]
Milton and his band became a major touring attraction, and he continued to record successfully for Specialty Records through the late 1940s and early 1950s. He recorded a total of 19 Top Ten R&B hits, the biggest being "Hop, Skip And Jump" (# 3 R&B, 1948), "Information Blues" (# 2 R&B, 1950), and "Best Wishes" (# 2 R&B, 1951). He left Specialty in 1955. However, releases on other labels were unsuccessful, and the development of rock and roll had rendered him something of an anachronism by the middle of the decade.[3]
Nevertheless he continued to perform, appearing in 1970 as a member of Johnny Otis' band at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and resumed his recording career in the 1970s with albums for Kent Records (# KST-554), "Roots Of Rock, Vol. 1: Roy Milton" and the French label, Black & Blue (# 33.114), "Instant Groove".[3]
Roy Milton ("The Grandfather Of R&B") died in Los Angeles, California, on 18 September 1983, aged 76.
His song, "Reelin' And Rockin'" appears on the 1996 release Jump Shot! by the group, Rocket Sixty-Nine.
Career
Milton's grandmother was a Chickasaw. He was born in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, United States,[2] and grew up on an Indian reservation before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma. He joined the Ernie Fields band in the late 1920s as singer and, later, drummer.[3]
Moving to Los Angeles, California, in 1933, he formed his own band, the Solid Senders, with Camille Howard on piano.[3] He performed in local clubs and began recording in the 1940s, his first release being "Milton's Boogie" on his own record label.[2] His big break came in 1945, when his "R.M. Blues", on the new Juke Box label, became a hit, reaching number 2 on the Billboard R&B chart and No. 20 on the pop chart.[3] Its success helped establish Art Rupe's company, which he shortly afterwards renamed Specialty Records.[4]
Milton and his band became a major touring attraction, and he continued to record successfully for Specialty Records through the late 1940s and early 1950s. He recorded a total of 19 Top Ten R&B hits, the biggest being "Hop, Skip And Jump" (# 3 R&B, 1948), "Information Blues" (# 2 R&B, 1950), and "Best Wishes" (# 2 R&B, 1951). He left Specialty in 1955. However, releases on other labels were unsuccessful, and the development of rock and roll had rendered him something of an anachronism by the middle of the decade.[3]
Nevertheless he continued to perform, appearing in 1970 as a member of Johnny Otis' band at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and resumed his recording career in the 1970s with albums for Kent Records (# KST-554), "Roots Of Rock, Vol. 1: Roy Milton" and the French label, Black & Blue (# 33.114), "Instant Groove".[3]
Roy Milton ("The Grandfather Of R&B") died in Los Angeles, California, on 18 September 1983, aged 76.
His song, "Reelin' And Rockin'" appears on the 1996 release Jump Shot! by the group, Rocket Sixty-Nine.
ROY MILTON Information Blues 1949
Will Shade +18.09.1966
Will Shade- Memphis Jug Band (Evergreen Money Blues(Weldon- Shade )
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