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Jimi Hendrix
Jamming Live at the Scene Club, NYC
QED283
1. Woke Up This Morning And You Find Yourself Dead
(Hendrix) (C) Warner Chappell Music
2. Outside Woman Blues
(Reynolds) (C) Chicago Music
3. Sunshine Of Your Love
(Bruce/Brown/Clapton)
4. Morrison's Lament
(Morrison) (C) Rondor Music London
5. Tomorrow Never Knows
(Lennon/McCartney) (C) Northern Songs
6. Uranus Rock
(Hendrix) (C) Warner Chappell Music
7. Red House
(Hendrix) Warner Chappell Music
8. Bleeding Heart (Blues In C Sharp)
(James) (C) Chappell Music
Recorded live at the Scene Club
New York City, July 3rd/4th 1967
Jimi Hendrix - Guitar/Vocals
Mitch Mitchell - Drums
Noel Redding - Bass
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It is extremely unlikely that the music world will ever forget (or be allowed to forget) Jimi Hendrix. In a little under five years he established himself as one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time and developed a style that has been often copied but never bettered. Jimi Hendrix fitted the 1960's perfectly; predicting his own death, entering into contracts he would have been better advised to avoid (although by the time the real problems began he was already dead) and enduring numerous brushes with the law.
He was born in Seattle on 27th November 1942 and christened John Allen Hendrix by his mother, although four years later his father renamed him James Marshall Hendrix. He bought his first guitar at the age of 12 for $5 and, being left-handed, turned the guitar upside down in order to learn how to play, strumming along to records by Muddy Waters, Elmore James and Chuck Berry, among others. Although he joined his first band in 1959, music was not initially a serious consideration and he enlisted in the US Army in 1961 for three years, being posted to the 101st Airborne Paratroopers in Kentucky. A little over a year later he was honourably discharged after breaking his ankle during a parachute jump. In the absence of a formal trade, Jimi returned to music and began touring with the likes of Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions and the Marvelettes, later linking with package tours by Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson.
By 1964 Jimi had relocated to New York and had teame up with the Isley Brothers, appearing on a number of hits by the group (and ultimately influencing one of the younger brothers, Ernie, in his guitar style), Curtis Knight and John Paul Hammond. The following year Jimi signed a three-year recording contract with Ed Chaplin, head of PPX Productions, a contract that would eventually lead to numberous litigation problems in the years to come. In return for his signature, Jimi received an advance of $1 and a 1% royalty guarantee!
In June 1966 he formed his own group, Jimmy James & The Blue Flames, playing a mixture of standard R&B and original material. The following month he was spotted by ex-Animal Chas Chandler performing in Greenwich Village, an encounter that led Chandler to suggest Jimi come to London.
Jimi duly arrived in London in September 1966 and was quickly linked with Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding as the Jimi Hendrix Experience. If Jimi’s career had been moving relatively slowly until he met Chas Chandler, it went into overdrive thereafter. By the year’s end the Experience had signed with Polydor and released their debut single, a cover version of The Leaves’ US hit “Hey Joe.” Just as they had done with the Beatles, Decca turned the record down, only to watch it hit the Top Ten in February 1967!
The Experience scored three further Top Twenty hits that year but single success was only the tip of the iceberg, for Jimi’s growing reputation as the Wildman of rock (he would set fire to and smash his guitar at the end of a live show), his commanding and engaging live performances, album success and a triumphant return to the U.S. had catapulted Jimi ahead of most other rock artists.
This particular album was recorded during those halcyon days at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, the Jimi Hendrix Experience played two nights at the Scene in New York with the Seeds and Tiny Tim! In fact, the Experience were merely warming up for the slot Chas Chandler secured for them; supporting The Monkees on their forthcoming American tour. Of course, Jimi Hendrix Experience were entirely unsuitable for supporting the Monkees, a fact realized by Chandler. The Experience were thrown off the tour after only eight dates, with Chas claiming that protests from the Daughters of the American Revolution had been responsible. In reality, the whole thing was a publicity stunt carefully engineered to gain Jimi Hendrix further notoriety.
The attendant publicity did much to propel Jimi’s American career with the debut album Are You Experienced? finally hitting the charts and reaching #5 during a chart run of almost two years (in the UK the same album had got to #2, only held off the top spot by the Beatles and Sgt. Pepper) and the follow-up Axis: Bold As Love went two places better. Indeed, such was Jimi’s growing reputation at the time a collection of both sides of his singles coupled with four tracks from his first album, entitled Smash Hits made the top ten, whilst Get That Feeling, something of a ‘econtractual obligation’ album under the deal originally signed with Ed Chaplin, also charted.
The official third album is, of course, the album by which Jimi is best known. Electric Ladyland was six months in the making, conceived as a double album and also featured numerous outside musicians, including Steve Winwood, Al Kooper and Buddy Miles. Then there was the sleeve; Jimi surrounded by a bevy of naked women. There were some stores in the UK that refused to stock the album; the American’s changed the sleeve (and this created something of a collectors item in the process) but once again the publicity only aided the cause as Electric Ladyland topped the US charts for two week and hit #6 in the UK.
Electric Ladyland represented the pinnacle of the Hendrix/Mitchell/Redding line-up, for by the end of the year the divisions between them individually and with the group’s management were beginning to widen. In June 1969, the trio played their last concert together at the Denver Pop Festival. By the time of the infamous Woodstock festival Jimi (who was paid the highest fee of any performer, $125,000 and closed the festival) was joined by Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Jerry Velez, Juma Sultan and Larry Leeds and performed under the moniker Gypsy Sons & Rainbows.
Hendrix and Cox were subsequently joined by drummer Buddy Miles in the Band of Gypsys, a line-up that released only one, eponymous album. Indeed, by the time the album made its chart debut, the Band of Gypsys had dissolved. By then Hendrix had other things to concern himself; his own recording studio Electric Ladyland had cost a considerable amount of money to fit and continued drug problems had made him an erratic and at times unreliable live performer.
His last UK performance was made at the Isle of Wight Festival on August 30, 1970, finally appearing on stage at 3 o’clock in the morning. The following month he made his final concert appearance in Germany before returning to London. After leaving a call for help on Chas Chandler’s answering phone, he was found dead on the 18th September. A later autopsy gave the cause of death as inhalation of vomit due to barbiturate intoxication and an open verdict was recorded.
Jimi Hendrix’ popularity has seldom waned since. He scored a #1 single in the UK with Voodoo Chile, an achievement that proved just beyond him whilst he was alive. During his lifetime he released only five albums, yet over 300 albums have appeared since, not including bootlegs. And these albums continue to sell; it is estimated his back catalogue sells over 3 million units a year. Even the circumstances surrounding his death continue to make the headlines from time to time, with Scotland Yard re-opening the case in 1993!
There are only a handful of artists who have been as popular in death as they were alive, John Lennon and Elvis Presley are two obvious examples; Jimi Hendrix is undoubtedly part of the holy trinity.
Graham Betts
