Saturday Night Attitude Sonic Dancing Celebrating the 2022 Birthday of the Greatest Guitar Player of all time, Musical Genius Jimi Hendrix
by Robert Wilkinson
Tonight's show is starting early because of the talent. There's really nothing I could say to add to the legend that is Jimi Hendrix. Tomorrow the Sagittarius Fire Guitar Master would have been 80, as impossible as that seems. He left us a magnificent musical legacy, both in terms of performances, guitar technique, and production innovations that have changed the way music is done forever.
A superstar flaming nova for 4 years, Jimi Hendrix (November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) changed the face of music forever, not just in terms of guitar sonics, but also through his pioneering use of the studio. His innovative techniques created effects that have been studied in countless advanced music engineering and production courses in colleges around the world over the decades since the debut of Electric Ladyland. Today we remember this extraordinary Sagittarian Fire god and musical genius.
From All Music Guide, a fitting intro in case you have lived in another Solar system these past 50 years:
In his brief four-year reign as a superstar, Jimi Hendrix expanded the vocabulary of the electric rock guitar more than anyone before or since. Hendrix was a master at coaxing all manner of unforeseen sonics from his instrument, often with innovative amplification experiments that produced astral-quality feedback and roaring distortion. His frequent hurricane blasts of noise and dazzling showmanship -- he could and would play behind his back and with his teeth and set his guitar on fire -- has sometimes obscured his considerable gifts as a songwriter, singer, and master of a gamut of blues, R&B, and rock styles.
I once read of a meeting between Jimi and the legendary Son House, one of the three "Fathers of the Blues." It is said that upon hearing Jimi, Son House proclaimed him "the One." In case you don't know who Son House was, he was the source and inspiration for Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters.
As an aside, it is generally accepted that W.C. Handy is THE "Father of the Blues," with Jelly Roll Morton the third though Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, and Blind Willie Johnson also are in contention for the third spot. In the interest of equal time, the "Mothers of the Blues" were Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Ida Cox., with Mamie Smith and Alberta Hunter also in contention.
Anyway, enough blues history. Jimi was the consummate performer, fusing blues, jazz, and rock in a unique blend that no one before or since has ever done. In these videos you will see things done with a guitar never done before in history.
On a final historical note, for those into supernatural trivia, there are also some very interesting timing connections between Jimi's life, Robert Johnson's life, and the jukejoint he was killed in involving whirlwinds and tornadoes for those who want to check them out. Voodoo Chile indeed!
As usual, this superstar's birthday tribute always involves fixing about 80 busted links. It seems that there's a lot of copyright claims that force people to take some extraordinary videos off line. Ridiculous, but that's the way it is.
On with the show! Here's an early Hendrix classic in black and white! From April 1967, "Purple Haze." Here's another live Beat Club performance from September 1967 of Purple Haze performed by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. These show him just after he exploded onto the scene. When I first heard "Purple Haze" I knew the world had been changed in a big way.
Here's Jimi Hendrix and the Experience playing a 10 minute set of pure gold on Beat Beat Beat, a live music German tv show in 1967!. For your enjoyment, “Stone Free," "Purple Haze," and “Hey Joe”
Here's Jimi doing a live performance in 1967 in France on Dim Dam Dum of one of his first hits, the incredible "Hey Joe."
Also in 1967, with his hair more far out at this point in his life than it was in any other video I've seen, here a great b/w performance of the iconic hit "Wild Thing." Wow!
To get a sense of his evolution as a performer these years, please check out the movie Monterey Pop, the D.A. Pennebaker classic film of the world's first Rock Festival where Jimi was introduced to America "up close and personal" when he burned his guitar on stage to finish his set. Talk about different - "Thank you very much for Bob Dylan's grandmother... I don't think I'm losing my mind....We're going to do the English and American combined anthem together... Wild Thing!"
2 years ago I had Jimi's entire performance on video (except for a couple) on you tube, but they keep getting pulled. That includes “Killing Floor,” “Foxey Lady,” “Like A Rolling Stone,” “Can You See Me,” “Sgt. Pepper’s,” “The Wind Cries Mary,” and “Purple Haze.” This year I found his iconic performance of “Wild Thing” again, so all great gratitude! Maybe next year someone will allow a few more to be in the public domain. But I did find these three videos ...
Jimi Hendrix at the 1967 Summer of Love Monterey Pop Festival "Rock Me Baby"
Jimi Hendrix at the 1967 Summer of Love Monterey Pop Festival "Hey Joe."
This one shook the world! "Wild Thing."
From late 1967 at Blackpool, a great performance of "Wild Thing."
Here’s a great b/w 1967 performance in Paris of "Wild Thing."
This looks to be the official music video of the song! "Hey Joe."
From Dec 1967 in the UK, a tune he did because he liked the Beatles! "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" (Last year I had “Wild Thing” from this same performance, but it’s disappeared)
Now for some great audio-only pieces!
From 1967 in Sweden, this is a 1 hour and 14 audio of “EXP Over Sweden”
I found it again! Here’s entire 40 minute audio only set in February 1968 from the Denver Regis College Fieldhouse. So for your enjoyment, the entire concert! Jimi Hendrix live at Denver at Regis College Fieldhouse
Two years ago I had a full hour and 17 From March 1968, live at the Café A Go Go in NYC in March 1968, but this year it’s disappeared. However, I did find a 49 minute clip from that show! Jimi Hendrix Live at the Café A Go Go – March 1968.
From May 1968, live in Italy, a great audio only track of “Manic Depression”
From May 1968, 53 minutes live at the Fillmore East! Jimi Hendrix Live at the Fillmore East 1968
23 minutes of live footage in August 1968! Jimi Plays Brooklyn – August 1968
Here’s a full hour live audio-only show from September 1968! Jimi Hendrix Live in Vancouver 1968
From 1968, a great 11 minutes of Jimi jamming with Buddy Guy (thanks to Alexei for this great catch!)
From November 1968, an audio only 2 hour 21 minutes of two live concerts! Jimi Hendrix live in Boston and Jimi Hendrix Live in Rhode Island
Back to video performances! The Jan 9, 1969 Stockholm concert was dedicated to all the draft resisters who fled Amerika to protest our illegal war in Vietnam. For your enjoyment, here's a 57 minute video of pure Electric Church!! The Jimi Hendrix Live Concert in Stockholm 1969.
From that live performance in Stockholm in 1969, Jimi opens with a killer version of "Red House." From the same show, a great 8 minute version of the Cream monster hit Sunshine of Your Love" and "Hey Joe." Also from that legendary performance, “Spanish Castle Magic,” which we follow with ”Killing Floor,” culminating in the amazing “Voodoo Child (slight return)”
AWESOME footage! This hour and 17 video just surfaced and it’s great! For your amazement, the legendary February 1969 Royal Albert Hall concert! Jimi Hendrix at the Royal Albert Hall 1969
Here’s the video of his June 1969 set at the Newport festival in Northridge, CA!
Jimi Hendrix Live at the 1969 Newport Pop Festival Part 1
Jimi Hendrix Live at the 1969 Newport Pop Festival Part 2
Here’s the entire 1 hour and 10 minute audio-only show from the Northern California Folk Rock Festival in May 1969! Jimi Hendrix at the San Jose Pop Festival 1969
Here are a bunch of single song clips from that festival!
”Purple Haze” and “Foxey Lady”
From Devonshire Downs, June 1969, some great live color footage!
Jimi Hendrix at Devonshire Downs 1969 – pt. 1 (7+ min.)
Jimi Hendrix at Devonshire Downs 1969 – pt. 2 (7+ min.)
Jimi Hendrix at Devonshire Downs 1969 – pt. 3 (7+ min.)
For your enjoyment, here’s the legend at Woodstock!
Here’s the Master at Woodstock cranking out “Voodoo Child,” followed by “The Star Spangled Banner” and “Purple Haze,” which clips at the moment the next tune, “Villanova Junction” comes in to play out the video.
That's truly one of the most incredible version of "The Star Spangled Banner" ever done! I was in college at the time it hit the airwaves, and it sure flipped out warmongers and hypocritical "patriots" everywhere. Jimi (who once served with the 101st Airborne, the "Screaming Eagles") wanted to replicate the sounds of war, bombs, and planes, and succeeded in high style. And of course, he followed it with "Purple Haze" featuring some unbelievable guitar mastery.
It’s still gone. 2 years ago I had an hour and 22 video of “Jimi Hendrix Live at Woodstock” but it’s gone.
In previous years I had a fantastic clip of Jimi doing one of his all time signature tunes in January 1969 live on the Happening for Lulu show, the awesome “Voodoo Child (Slight Return).” The BBC laid down a bunch of rules which of course the Experience broke. They were supposed to play 2 songs, the second was to be the outro with Lulu singing at the end with a shift to the show’s theme song, but they went from “Voodoo Child” into “Hey Joe,” then stopped and began “Sunshine of Your Love” because Cream had broken up that day. They played through the credit roll, and delayed the evening news. That got Jimi banned from the BBC! This year the part with “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” and “Hey Joe" are nowhere to be found. But I did find the part where he decided to jump into “Sunshine of Your Love”
This year I found a minidocumentary about how those videos accidentally came to be preserved despite BBC policy. The Story of Jimi Hendrix’ Tribe to Cream on Happening for Lulu
Back to when Jimi wasn't Jimi! The first live broadcast performance of Jimmy James (Jimi) when he was in Little Richard's backing band. From 1965, Buddy & Stacey and Jimi on guitar doing a live performance on Night Train of the Junior Walker classic, "Shotgun."
From the BBC sessions, here’s an audio-only version of "Day Tripper."
I found quite a few clips from the Fillmore East on New Years’ Eve 1969 and other live shows at the FE! This is a historic video of his New Year’s Eve 1969 show at MSG. This is rare color footage of Jimi and the Band of Gypsies performing “Steppin’ Stone”
The rest are audio tracks. Begin with this one, and the rest will autoload. This is a lot of live Hendrix! “The Power of Soul”
From the ’69 show, a few audio-only performances from that gig! (This year “Stone Free,” “Bleeding Heart,” and “Changes” have disappeared.)
Here's a great live video of Jimi doing "12 String Blues" (thanks to Alexei for this great catch!)
From 1969 at the Denver Pop Festival, a bunch of audio-only tracks in order of the set list!
Jimi Hendrix Live at the Denver Pop Festival – “Tax Free”
From January 1970, 14+ audio minutes live in Berlin! “Straight Ahead,” “Spanish Castle Magic,” and “Sunshine of your Love”
From April 1970, an entire hour and 26 audio show! Jimi Hendrix Live at the LA Forum – Apr 1970
Last year I found several live performance clips from the historic May 1970 Berkeley concert, but it seems that some trollish people insist on filing copyright claims, so there’s only two this year. Though they say it’s the Berkeley show, they could be from another concert, but they’re still awesome! Here’s the video of his blistering delivery of Chuck Berry’s iconic “Johnny B Goode” which we’ll follow with the monster "Purple Haze"
These are definitely from the Berkeley show! Here’s the audio-only “Fire,” which we'll follow with “Message to Love” and close with “Machine Gun”
Jimi played the legendary 1970 Isle of Wight Festival just 2 weeks before he died. This year I found only these two clips. The first is a four minute video fragment of him ripping out “Machine Gun” and the second is the audio of “In From the Storm.”
I found it again! This is a great video of Jimi at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival doing my personal favorite "All Along the Watchtower." Bob Dylan, who wrote it, changed the way he did this in concert to this arrangement. I wish I had seen his face the first time he heard this! "All Along the Watchtower." And here’s the original 1968 studio version of "All Along the Watchtower."
From 1970 in Copenhagen, a video of Jimi performing “Machine Gun.” From that same show, an out of synch video of Jimi cranking on “All Along the Watchtower” and the audio of “Ezy Rider”
Here’s the complete 1 hour 35 minute audio-only clip of that concert! Jimi Hendrix Live in Copenhagen
Two years ago I had the full 81 minute live concert performance of the legendary Rainbow Bridge concert on Maui in 1970, but it’s disappeared. I found only these two performances, and they’re great! Jimi Hendrix Rainbow Bridge on Maui 1970 – “Foxey Lady” and the awesome Jimi Hendrix Rainbow Bridge on Maui 1970 – “Voodoo Chile Slight Return”
From June 1970 in Baltimore, a full one hour 13 audio-only of Jimi Hendrix Live in Baltimore
From July 4, 1970, Jimi live at the Atlanta Pop Festival! We begin with a great video clip of “Purple Haze” and the awesome "Freedom."
These are audio-only tracks from that show.
From who knows when, an interesting video of Jimi performing “Bleeding Heart”
I found it again! It’s Jimi’s great and very funny interview with Dick Cavett in 1969. On one of the shows, Jimi and Mitch Mitchell did a live performance of “Izabella”and “Machine Gun” but it’s disappeared. Maybe next year!
Jimi Hendrix on Dick Cavett – Interview and performance
Here’s another clip of that classic video footage of Jimi on the show. “Hear My Train A-Comin’”
It’s back! Here’s the awesome original studio recording of the title song of his second album, Axis: Bold As Love, which features some of the most extraordinary guitar ever played up to that point in history (especially the last 1 min 20 seconds of the song when he went sonic!) It is said the Experience were hired by Chas Chandler because he needed a rhythm section that could keep up with Jimi's guitar pyrotechnics. For your amazement, “Bold As Love”
Here’s a clip will take you to a bunch of performances of the tunes on the album. Jimi Hendrix – Songs from Axis – Bold As Love. And here’s what’s said to be the only live version that exists of this masterpiece! From Milwaukee 1968, “Jimi Hendrix Live – Axis Bold As Love”
There are a few that I found that are studio versions I figured I'd include for your enjoyment!
This year I found this rare gem again! It’s the audio-only version of Jimi doing some absolutely astonishing, over the top psychedelic guitar work on “The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice." It was the original "B side," or "flip side" of a single (remember them?!) that featured as the "A side" a song that wound up on Electric Ladyland. This is said to be the first live performance of the classic "The Burning Of A Midnight Lamp"
From Are You Experienced, his third single, "The Wind Cries Mary." From the same album, "Third Stone From the Sun."
From Axis – Bold As Love, (and the Easy Rider soundtrack!) the ominous "If 6 Was 9."
It’s back again! From Electric Ladyland, "House Burning Down.” Because I found two tributes by extraordinary guitarists in previous years, I’ll leave them in. The first is from my old friend, sonic guitarist Eric Johnson, who took the stage in Indiana in 2010 to give us this amazing version of "House Burning Down." This one is a live video of the amazing Ana Popavic in 2013 doing it in her own unique way! "House Burning Down."
As long as we’re taking a brief detour into amazing guitarists sending up their homage to the Master, I found this great live clip of the awesome Joe Satriani and Doug Pinnick playing the incredible Hendrix outer space tune, “Third Stone From the Sun”
Here’s Jimi’s tribute to Judy! "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
This beauty from The Cry of Love resurfaced this year! For your enjoyment, "Angel."
We'll close this birthday tribute with a song covered by countless guitar masters, said to be Jimi's most beautiful composition. For your remembrance, live in Stockholm in January 1968, “Little Wing.” Here’s another from the same period in March 1968 at the Café A Go Go, "Little Wing."
On a somewhat related note, here's an interesting 1990 performance by Experience bassist Noel Redding and his Secret Freaks doing "Little Miss Strange," one of the only songs on a Hendrix album written by Noel Redding or Mitch Mitchell. Also from 1990, here's the Rolling Stone interview with Noel Redding.
And of course, you can always go to Jimi Hendrix.com to get all the history, products, and commercialization of Jimi anyone could want. I suppose his dad managing Jimi's legacy was better than total strangers making money off a dead icon. I just wish that they wouldn’t pull some of the videos that continually disappear.
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace." - Jimi Hendrix
RIP Jimi, and a Happy 80th in Rock and Roll Heaven. In a few short years you blazed a fiery path across space and time and forged a trail followed by many, many millions of guitarists.
ps. Thanks to Guitar Shorty for marrying Jimi's step-sister and teaching Jimi so many great licks, as well as major stage showmanship! I had the rare privilege of meeting Shorty a while ago when I was doing camera work at Kulaks Woodshed in LA for their live webcasts, and got to hang with this classy, elegant blues Master off and on for an entire evening.
Though relatively unknown, he is a true blues Master. For those who need official cred, he won the W.C. Handy award, tops for the blues. His flashy stage show predates Jimi's and involves things like playing guitar behind his back and other showboat techniques used by Hendrix and many other blues cats over the years. Thanks for everything, Shorty. I hope we meet again.
© Copyright 2022 Robert Wilkinson
from Aquarius Papers - Global Astrology https://ift.tt/iWGfIuv
via IFTTT
Comments
Post a Comment