Jimi Hendrix , (. - .)
James Marshall Hendrix, best known as the Jimi Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix November 27, 1942 in Seattle and died September 18, 1970 in London) was a guitarist, singer and American composer. He is considered one of the most innovative musicians of the twentieth century, partly because of his revolutionary approach to electric guitar and recording techniques in the studio. Jimi Hendrix had the distinction of being a left handed guitar player, but playing on a guitar right-handed, after having ascended the ropes under this inversion.

Improviser outside the box, he released his instrument from its constraints by using the resources arising from the amplification and gave the modern electric guitar acclaim. His influence extends far beyond rock music: most music styles that developed in the 1970s took up some elements of his music. Miles Davis and played a very strong electric jazz by guitarist [1].



James Marshall Hendrix was born November 27, 1942 in Seattle (Washington). It is the first son of Al Hendrix and Lucille Hendrix, born Jeter, Cherokee ancestry. Al Hendrix met his son only three years later because it needs to meet its military obligations. Unable to take the education of his son due to alcoholism, the mother does not care. Demobilized, Al Hendrix Johnny Allen recovers, he renamed James Marshall (perhaps because the lover of Lucille was John Williams) and Lucille offers to settle together. Lucille gave birth to Leon Hendrix in 1948. [2] The couple is very poor, continues to argue and eventually divorced 17 December 1951 [3].

James was profoundly affected by conditions of poverty and neglect in which he grew up, but also family problems he experienced in his childhood, his parents divorced when he was 9 years old, and especially the death of his mother, an alcoholic, in February 1958. Hendrix was repeatedly beaten by his father, Al Hendrix, who also suffered severe alcohol problems.

The fact that James Marshall Hendrix had lived his childhood in Seattle may explain the ease with which he managed to break the various racial or cultural barriers. Indeed, he lived in a neighborhood where community exchanges were continuing. Certainly there was segregation, but in proportions much lower than in the south. [4] James himself is of mixed descent, black, white and Native American (Cree).

His first musical instrument was a harmonica from his father for his four years, but he tired quickly. He acquires his first guitar at age 15 (an acoustic bought for $ 5 a friend of his father), replaces the one-stringed ukulele his father had given him after having caught playing with a broom! [5] Therefore, he learned the guitar by himself by devoting all his spare time. His grades are felt quickly, but Hendrix is ​​now an obsession: to become a musician. [6] Soon enough, the young Jimmy (not Jimi) joined his first band, The Velvetones. He obtains his first electric guitar, a Supro Ozark 1560, which he uses with his next group The Rocking Kings. [7]

In 1961, involved in a stolen car history [8], prefers Hendrix enlisted in the U.S. Army rather than face prison. In November 1962, he obtained the right to wear the badge of the Screaming Eagles, the 101st Airborne Division. Assigned to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Hendrix formed The King Casuals with Billy Cox on bass. [9] Hendrix said in an interview [10] he was discharged because of an ankle injury following a jump parachute, but would have also simulated a sore back. There is controversy on this point [11].





Hendrix worked as a guitarist by the name of Jimmy James in various rhythm and blues that run in what was then called the Chitlin 'Circuit (the circuit of clubs frequented by African-American). It records the occasion as a session musician [12].

End of 1965, Hendrix played with some renowned musicians such as Sam Cooke, Ike & Tina Turner [13], the Isley Brothers and Little Richard in particular. It is satisfied that Jimmy gets too far forward and decided to dispense with his services. [14]

In 1965, Hendrix joined Curtis Knight & The Squires, a New York group without reaching. October 15, 1965, Hendrix signed a recording contract for three years with a producer named Ed Chalpin, for only $ 1 and 1% royalty on sales of recordings made with Curtis Knight. Without affecting the scope, the contract has disastrous consequences later. [15]

Based in Greenwich Village, Hendrix decided to play his own music and became the leader of Jimmy James & The Blue Flames. Randy California, a future member of Spirit, is a guitarist in the group. There is no record of this amateur group. The testimony of Mike Bloomfield, however, can get an idea of ​​how Hendrix played in 1966: "The first time I saw Jimi play, it was with Jimmy James & The Blue Flames. I played with Paul Butterfield and I thought was the best guitarist around! I had never heard of Hendrix. Then someone said, 'You should go listen to the guitarist John Hammond. " I was at the "Cafe au Go Go" and it was the "Nite Owl" or "Cafe Wha" I crossed the street and I saw him. Hendrix knew who I was, and that day in front of me, it disintegrated. H-bombs tumbled, guided missiles were flying in every corner - I do not tell you the sounds that came from his guitar. All the sounds I had heard the play later, he has made in this room, with a Stratocaster, a Twin, a Maestro Fuzz-Tone, and that's it - he played a very thorough volume. "[16]

Cafe Wha spotted by Chas Chandler [17], it offers Hendrix coming to be known and recorded his first single in the UK, while booming music with groups like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Jimi Hendrix would have agreed to meet the condition that appears as the reference then British on guitar: Eric Clapton. On the way, then definitely he adopts the name of Jimi Hendrix (instead of Jimmy) on the advice of his manager [18].

He met for the first time at a concert Clapton of Cream (the trio he had just created with Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce) on 1 October 1966 at Central London Polytechnic. Considered the best English blues guitarist since his time at John Mayall, Eric Clapton Jimi Hendrix agrees to join them on stage (despite the reluctance of Ginger Baker). In his autobiography, Clapton tells how Jimi Hendrix was then interpreted the Killing Floor Howlin 'Wolf: "He played guitar with his teeth, behind the head, lying on the ground, doing the splits and other figures. It was amazing and brilliant musically and not just a real fireworks to contemplate. (...) I got scared, because just when we started to find our stride, along comes a real genius. "[19]



Shortly after his arrival in London, hearings are held to find the musicians who accompanied him. He recruited initially postulated that Noel Redding, however as a guitarist - he was not playing yet so low - in the Animals, the former group of Chas Chandler. Perhaps inspired by Cream, Hendrix decided to opt for a trio and engaging the services of Mitch Mitchell. According to John Hiseman (later drummer of Colosseum), Mitchell was unknown at this stage of the circle of jazz musicians in London. Amateur Elvin Jones and Max Roach, he officiated in a group where previously he had no freedom [18].

Impressed with Hendrix one of his friends met in a London club, Johnny Hallyday asked him to run in his new band making its first part in the following four dates: [20] October 13, 1966 in Evreux, [21] 14 Nancy, 15, and especially in Villerupt 18 at the Olympia (Paris). This date is important: a Europe then proposed a program called Musicorama whose team professionally recorded performance of the short Jimi Hendrix Experience [22].

December 16, 1966: Hey Joe marked the beginning discography Jimi Hendrix Experience. The single entered the UK charts January 5, 1967 [23], and rises even to the sixth place. Most biographers agree on the interest that Chas Chandler, the manager of the Experience, demonstrating for the title even before discovering Jimi Hendrix. Not surprisingly, the choice fell on the composition of Billy Roberts, that Jimi was already playing at Cafe Wha with the Blue Flames. [18]

December 26, Hendrix Purple Haze up on the sidelines of a club [23], Chas Chandler has held as soon as the Experience is a tube power. And the facts quickly give reason: published March 17, 1967 in England, the title comes from the charts on March 23 and culminates even third place. Beyond commercial success, Purple Haze is primarily a major artistic success: Hendrix is ​​not only the best performer of rock music, it is also an original composer whose ideas are revolutionary. [24] Hendrix has Yet neither the melodic inventiveness of the Beatles or the harmonic mastery of John Coltrane, but when his second single, it creates a musical world beyond its influences, the unique universe that is enhanced by his mastery of studio effects. Purple Haze is like nothing that has gone before: the experience can begin in earnest.

The third single from the Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Wind Cries Mary, was recorded the same day as the basic track of Purple Haze. In just 20 minutes according to Chas Chandler [25]: the reality is probably a little different (save the basic track, solo and singing in such a short time is an achievement ...), but it remains that this single is typical of the production of Chas Chandler, and his modus operandi: to work quickly and well. [18] Musically, The Wind Cries Mary stark contrast with the first two singles: it's a minimalist ballad, which are based influences of Bob Dylan and Curtis Mayfield.

The first album, Are You Experienced, was released May 5, 1967. A cornerstone of the electric guitar, he shares the instrumentalists between ancient and modern. Considered one of the best rock records by the critics, it is not only the base directory of the Experience, but the trio Hendrix / Redding / Mitchell. Taking unprecedented I Do not Live Today [26] shows that the guitarist was heading an even more audacious music, the production of Chandler has probably limited, aware that the beaches were far too free unless vendors.

On June 4, 1967, Hendrix interpreter Saville Theatre in London a version of the title track of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the new Beatles album released just three days earlier. Paul McCartney and George Harrison in the audience are impressed with the performance, even if the rest of the concert was marred by technical problems [18].

It is on the good advice of Paul McCartney as the organizers of the Monterey International Pop Festival invited the Jimi Hendrix Experience, at the height of its popularity in England [27].

Performance of June 18, 1967 is historical: the virtually unknown in the United States, the group quickly became cult rock circles, if not really known to the general public. [18] Immortalized by the movie D. A. Pennebaker's reputation showman Jimi Hendrix was made for the coming years. For better or for worse. For if Monterey is certainly one of the best rock concerts of all time, Jimi Hendrix degrades its image among musicians "serious" who take it for a show-off (even if Miles Davis did not stop at that [28 ]), but also vis-à-vis the public expects of him more often show a strictly musical performance. A particular image is remembered: when he sacrifices his Stratocaster in himself on fire before crashing to the ground.

The group then records the Burning Of The Midnight Lamp, his next single, before assuming the first part of the Monkees during his U.S. tour in the summer of 1967, following a very poor understanding of the public of the two groups by Mike Jeffery the other manager of the Experience. The group, however, does not meet its contractual obligations and leave the tour prematurely on the grounds of the complaint Daughters of the American Revolution, a league of morality, that Hendrix was too erotic for young fans of the Monkees [29].

After a series of concerts, the band recorded in London with new compositions that give the material the band's second album, Axis: Bold as Love, released in December 1967. This is an album very different from the previous game: Hendrix focuses here on his skills as a rhythm guitarist and songwriter. The influence of the production of Chas Chandler is still very present, most titles do not exceed three minutes. [23]

In the process, Hendrix recorded a cover of London All Along the Watchtower by Bob Dylan. After a U.S. tour, Hendrix decided to continue recording his third album at the Record Plant in New York. Hendrix takes full advantage of technological advances of the day: Electric Ladyland is registered on a 16-track, leaving his creative freedom while orchestral unexpected [23].

Hendrix, in his unconventional way of working, invites anyone who will come to the studio ... where engineers must almost apologize to them. [23] When recording of Gypsy Eyes, Chas Chandler throws the Sponge: Hendrix is ​​now his own producer. [23] This recording also marks a sharp deterioration of its relationship with Noel Redding, bassist. The latter complained that his little room leader leaves him in the group, but also the turn of sessions, where Hendrix never seems satisfied that he made records. Noel Redding, moreover, that only plays on some tracks of the album Experience [18].

Hendrix is ​​not limited to members of the Experience and many meetings with famous musicians (Steve Winwood, Chris Wood, Buddy Miles, Jack Casady, Al Kooper) who join him on various compositions and rare wealth: Voodoo Child and 1983 ... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) are among the most ambitious works of his career. [23] Electric Ladyland is widely considered his masterpiece.

Experience the concerts of the change over for months: focus on the songs at the beginning of the group [30], they are now the scene of lengthy improvisations often exceeding 10 minutes. [31] Reports in the group continue to deteriorate and the following recording sessions do more than many informal jams rather than finished compositions publishable on a rock record [23].

On May 3, 1969, the Jimi Hendrix Experience comes to 9 hours and a half to Pearson International Airport in Toronto (Ontario). Canada Customs are in one of the bags of illegal substances guitarist: he was immediately arrested and taken to police headquarters in downtown Toronto. He was freed against a deposit of 10,000 dollars in cash and must appear in court in Toronto on May 5 The consequences of this incident are disastrous: Hendrix live with the fear of imprisonment until the end of 1969 [32].

After a final U.S. tour in spring 1969, the band broke up after his performance in Denver, June 29, 1969 [33].



Beginning in July 1969, Jimi Hendrix was invited to two important issues: the "Dick Cavett Show" and the "Tonight Show." He is accompanied by Billy Cox in the second issue. In fact, it's been several weeks and record it again with his old friend from the army. With the prospect of a new studio album, Hendrix moved to Shokan House, away from the hustle met in New York to concentrate on his new project [18]: The Gypsy Sun & Rainbows. In addition to Billy Cox, he gathered around him, Larry Lee on guitar (he had known since 1963 [34]), Juma Sultan and Jerry Velez on percussion. Hendrix was obviously interested in the idea of ​​playing with drummers: percussionists from Santana took part in the jam of Tinker Street Cinema in early August 1969. [35]

The music produced by the group stands out from the psychedelic rock of Experience, including freer musical forms that the group experiences. Mitch Mitchell Hendrix found during the summer and became the drummer.

In August 1969, Jimi Hendrix headlined the Woodstock Festival. So it's up to him to close it in principle. Despite the delay in the festival, Jimi Hendrix's management refuses to change the order of appearance of groups. Without the film, the performance of Jimi Hendrix would certainly not become legendary: the Gypsy Sun & Rainbows entered the stage on the morning of Monday, August 18, 1969, which explains a sparse audience when it occurs.

It is important to note that the mixing of different audio and video versions [36] are almost always the trio Hendrix / Cox / Mitchell forward. Larry Lee is slightly audible. The two percussionists, they are almost inaudible from one end to another. Juma Sultan bitterly regret mixing power trio of Gypsy Sun & Rainbows, finding a shame to have removed the profusion of percussion accompanying Star Spangled Banner ... [37] Conversely, John McDermott defends the game teeming with Mitch Mitchell will marry not well with that of two percussionists. Larry Lee then came back from Vietnam, and was certainly not ready for such an event: only her singing operates properly. The two songs he sings during the concert, however, have never had the honor of an official publication.

If the records pirates [38] the performance of the Gypsy Sun & Rainbows show that the group was not always in place, the fact remains that the second part of the concert, brought to an arm's length by Hendrix yet exhausted [39 ], remains one of the greatest moments of improvisational rock music. The interpretation of the American national anthem by the guitarist, a true musical Guernica is the highlight of the festival. Closer by free jazz than rock music, his approach to the guitar is totally revolutionary. Hendrix became the first sculptor in the history of music, literally cutting into the block noise. Other guitarists have used the vibrato or feedback (such as Jeff Beck in the Yardbirds) before him. But it is the first to have built a new language as containing all the technical vocabulary. The central passage shows a wide ranging musical vision beyond established genres such as rock or blues shouts, bombs, Hendrix plunges with his music in the world of his contemporaries. His mastery of feedback on the final scores showed the ability to work in real time on the block noise (diversity of choice and instant response). With Star Spangled Banner, Hendrix crystallizes the ambiguity of the military intervention of the United States in Vietnam.

The band broke up after a few sessions in the studio very productive (no album will be drawn from these sessions) and two concerts in early September. Mitch Mitchell [40] and Billy Cox [23] agree on the fact that the group was not progressing musically.



For New Year's Eve 1969 at the Fillmore East in New York, it is with a new formation that occurs Jimi Hendrix. The Band of Gypsys is a trio made up entirely of African-American Billy Cox and drummer Buddy Miles. Jimi Hendrix reveals a sensitivity to funk and more, in the space of two days (December 31, 1969 and January 1, 1970), book four concerts. A live album Band of Gypsys, is derived: this will be the last published during his lifetime.

Few albums have been as much controversy as the latter. Indeed, apart Machine Gun, universally hailed as one of the major works of the guitar, the rest of the album (and by extension the four concerts that led to Live) continues to share fans, critics and musicians.

The rock press was generally disappointed in a work which marked, according to her, a creative decline vis-à-vis the third album of Experience (via a return to rhythm and blues), and that should not have to go out, in the opinion of Hendrix himself: "I was not too happy with the album Band Of Gypsys. If it was up to me, I would have never left. "[41] The album is indeed born of legal problems, not the original intention of the musician.

Conversely, many see the Band Of Gypsys a founding group laid the foundation for many musical styles of the 1970s rock funk (Parliament / Funkadelic), rock jazz (Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin) etc ... Miles Davis also notes in his autobiobraphie [42] that the group of Jimi Hendrix that he preferred.

On January 28, 1970, during a concert at Madison Square Garden, in the Winter Festival for Peace, the Band Of Gypsys must occur free to support opponents of the Vietnam War. The group takes the stage at about 3 am, in what will prove to be their last performance, and perhaps the biggest fiasco of the entire career of Jimi Hendrix. After introducing the members of his group, while a young woman claims Foxy Lady, Hendrix replied that "Foxy Lady is sitting there, in yellow underwear, dirty and bloodstained. "The band launches into a particularly uninspired version of Who Knows. According to all witnesses present that night, Hendrix was not ready to go on stage. Johnny Winter confided later that, for him, "it was as if he were already dead. "[43] Clearly, Hendrix is ​​not in its normal state: on Who Knows, contrary to his custom, he does not mix guitar and vocals. The following version of Earth Blues is even less convincing, Hendrix and challenging the audience when he stops playing, "This is what happens when the Earth fucking space, never forget that. This is what happens! "[44] Buddy Miles tried to calm things down, facing the amazement of the audience by promising a comeback will not happen: Hendrix's Stratocaster disconnects and finally leaves the scene, leaving the care of Buddy Miles manage the crowd ...

Even today, the historical controversy remains unresolved about what really happened that night at Madison Square Garden. Mike Jeffery took the opportunity to transfer Buddy Miles on the field ... the latter accusing the manager for giving a dose of LSD Hendrix making it unable to play. Others involve Devon Wilson, one of Hendrix's girlfriends. We will probably never know the end of the story. [45]

During his interview with the February 4, 1970, led by John Burks for Rolling Stone (at the initiative of Mike Jeffery), Hendrix's performance will return to Madison Square Garden: "It's like the end of a beginning or something like that, I think the Madison Square Garden is like the end of a long fairy tale. What's great (...). In my case, the Band Of Gypsys was great. (...) It's just history to change head to renew itself. (...) I was very tired. (...) "He said then that he faced the greatest internal war in his life, and that" it was not the place to do it. "



The concert April 25, 1970 at the LA Forum marks the return of Jimi Hendrix on the front of the stage: this is the first of what will prove to be his final U.S. tour (the Cry Of Love Tour). First all the more important it with a new band that Jimi Hendrix is ​​this: If Billy Cox is still on bass, Mitch Mitchell is back behind the drums. Contrary to the interview in February 1970 to John Burks would have us believe, has not reformed the Hendrix Experience with its original line up. The name of this training is also always open to question: "Jimi Hendrix Experience" according to Billy Cox, "Cry Of Love Band" for others, Jimi Hendrix seems never really clarified this point.

This tour also marks a takeover of his career: Hendrix recorded the week's new studio album and performs in concert at the weekend to fund the construction of the Electric Lady, his own studio (with equal Mike Jeffery). The pace of this tour, much more reasonable than the previous U.S. tour, is no stranger to the quality of both studio sessions and concerts. Critics, biographers and journalists tend to describe this tour in terms to say the least mixed ... Yet, as pointed out in John McDermott Setting The Record Straight, the American tour of 1970 marks the return of great creativity.

According to Billy Cox, Hendrix did not stop setlists accurate [46]: he just specify only the first songs they would play. The group's repertoire is also much less stereotyped than that of the Experience.

Jimi Hendrix opens June 15, 1970 his own recording studio in New York, Electric Lady. By most accounts, Hendrix covers the sessions more seriously than before, although his mood swings and his relationship with Devon Wilson complicated sometimes they are properly conducted. [47]

After months of chaos and doubt artistic staff, Hendrix found inspiration in the creation and progress of his fourth studio album. Sessions such as from 1 July 1970 [48] show his artistic revival. His music is much more rhythmic, more composed. Hendrix architect takes over Hendrix the musician. The guitar uses the speech ... and not vice versa.

Hendrix, however, will not have time to finish this fourth album, the material will be published initially on The Cry Of Love, Rainbow Bridge - Original Motion Picture Sound Track (1971), War Heroes (1972) and Loose Ends ( 1973). Voodoo Soup (1995) and First Rays Of The New Rising Sun (1997) present the vision that producers subsequent Hendrix had this last album.

To fund the studio that just opened officially Hendrix reluctantly agrees to enter into what will prove to be his last European tour. His trio is known to happen on August 30th at the Festival of the Isle of Wight, southern England. "To be honest, it was a bad concert. I can not tell if the heart of Jimi was there. One thing is certain, in retrospect, is that we really had to repeat once. It's strange because the band played so well, it was like clockwork. At this point, we were all confident vis-à-vis our respective games. There was no reason why the concert is bleak. But the feeling was not to go. "Mitch Mitchell will tell. [49]

The performance of September 2, 1970 (Arhus) is even worse: Hendrix left the stage after only a few titles. Hendrix seems very depressed, and consumes a lot of drugs. [50] He said in an interview that "I'm not sure I reach 28 years. I mean that as musically, I feel I have nothing more to give, I am no longer with us. "[51]

The tour is not as bad as these two events might suggest: the first concert (Gothenburg) and September 3, 1970 (Copenhagen) are remarkable [52].

Billy Cox's health requires, however, the group's management to cancel the rest of the tour: a concert given in the Fehmarn Love And Peace Festival September 6, 1970 will be the last of the trio.

Hendrix returned to London and gave his last interview September 11, 1970.

On September 16, 1970, Hendrix joined War, the new group Eric Burdon at Ronnie Scott's and played on two tracks, which are the ultimate fans of the guitar recordings. [53]

On September 18, 1970, Hendrix was found dead in Samarkand Hotel (London). The exact circumstances of his death are still controversial, even if the main thesis that it would be suffocated by his own vomit due to barbiturate abuse (Vesparax) linked to alcohol intake seems to be the most likely . [54]

He is buried in Seattle, his hometown, on 1 October 1970.



    "To play the Rhythm & Blues, Hendrix was by far the biggest expert I've heard in the style of music developed by Bobby Womack, Curtis Mayfield and Eric Gale, among others. I feel that there was no guitar style he has heard, or studied, including steel-guitar, Hawaiian guitar and dobro. "