Singer Jimmy Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix. Last performances and death of the musician, cause of death of Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix (real name James Marshall Hendrix) is a legendary musician who was called a rock classic during his lifetime. His phenomenal guitar playing, as well as his constant search for new sound formats, made him one of the brightest stars of his time. Today, the legendary African American is no longer with us, but his musical legacy still continues to exist. Having become a pioneer in many industries, Jimi Hendrix expanded the concept of rock music and became a true legend of this genre. That is why today we decided to talk about it. What kind of person was he? How did his career develop? Read about all this in our biographical review.

Early years, childhood and family of Jimi Hendrix, first songs

Our today's hero was born in cold and foggy Seattle into the family of Al and Lucille Hendricks. The father of the future musician was African-American, and his mother was Indian. In addition, Irish and Native American branches can also be traced on Jimi Hendrix's paternal genealogy. Such a strange symbiosis of blood, cultures and everything connected with them largely determined the guitarist’s unique musical style, and also influenced his usual expressive style of performance.

In addition, the divorce of his parents, as well as the early death of his mother, had a significant impact on the creative and life path of our today’s hero. Due to his father's constant employment, Jimi Hendrix spent most of his childhood with his grandparents. It was they who instilled in the young guy a love of art and creativity. However, our today’s hero chose his musical path independently. As noted in many sources, the future musician chose guitar creativity almost by accident. As a teenager, he bought himself an acoustic guitar for five dollars and began to learn chords on his own. This activity captivated the young guy so much that he subsequently couldn’t imagine his life without guitar music. Having learned to play the guitar well, Jimi Hendrix began performing with several Seattle bands, but very soon was forced to leave this activity.

The reason for everything was the theft of a car, as well as the subsequent court verdict. Initially, the outrageous musician was sentenced to two years in prison, but thanks to the skill of the lawyer, the prison sentence was replaced by two years of military service.

Deprived of any other choice, Jimmy went to serve in the airborne division, but a year later he was demobilized and sent to a military hospital with a serious leg injury.

Jimi Hendrix - "Foxey Lady"

After recovering from his injury, Jimi Hendrix began making music again. Soon he, along with his then friend Billy Cox, moved to Nashville, where he began performing in clubs there. During this period, he opened for such performers as B.B. King, Curtis Knight, and Little Richard.

Star Trek Jimi Hendrix, music career

In the mid-sixties, Jimi Hendrix played with several bands and often performed on stage. Thus, he met many famous musicians, among whom was Chas Chandler (known for his performances with the group “The Animals”). It was he who became the first producer of Jimi Hendrix. Together they went to London, where they subsequently formed the group “The Jimi Hendrix Experience”. After this, the first performances of the group took place, which brought the group great fame.

In 1967, the ensemble’s first album, entitled “Are You Experienced?”, was released. During this period, during one of his performances, Jimi Hendrix set fire to his guitar for the first time, after which he was admitted to the hospital with burns to his hands. Despite this, a few months later, our today’s hero began recording his second studio album, “Axis: Bold as Love,” the release of which was almost disrupted due to the fact that the musician lost the recording of almost half of the songs. Ultimately, the musical material was restored, and already in December 1967, the band’s second album was released.

After the release of these albums, the Jimi Hendrix group went on tour. At first their destination was Scandinavia, but subsequently the group gave a number of concerts in Britain and the USA. Having settled in America, Jimi Hendrix began recording his third album in 1968. During this period, in interviews with many of his acquaintances, admiring responses began to slip through about the musician’s unprecedented perfectionism. A musician could record the same guitar part twenty times, so that in the end he could choose one single option that seemed suitable to him.

In October 1968, Jimi Hendrix's third studio album, Electric Ladyland, was released. From that moment on, the group resumed touring again, checking out London, Denver, and the Woodstock festival. This tour could have been even longer, but in May 1969, the musician was detained at a Canadian airport with a large shipment of drugs. This fact became the reason for a long trial, which prevented the holding of a number of concerts.

Last performances and death of the musician, cause of death of Jimi Hendrix

It is worth noting that problems with drugs continued to haunt the legendary guitarist. At his last performance at the London Isle of Wight Festival, he left the stage early because the audience wanted to listen to his old songs, ignoring his new compositions. After this episode, Jimi Hendrix went on stage one more time, however, booed by the audience, he left it again.

That interrupted performance ultimately became the artist's last appearance on stage. On September 18, 1970, he was found dead in a room at the Samarkand Hotel in London. According to his then-girlfriend Monica Charlotte Daneman, who was with the musician at the time of his death, Jimmy died by choking on vomit caused by taking nine sleeping pills. Seeing how her friend was dying, the girl still did not dare to call an ambulance, since various drugs were scattered throughout the room at that moment.

After the death of the musician, his friends and acquaintances released about fifteen more concert recordings of the guitarist. Jimi Hendrix's posthumous discography includes more than 350 different compositions.

Born Johnny Allen Hendrix on November 27, 1942 in Seattle, Washington, he was later given a different name by his father: James Marshall Hendrix. The man who elevated guitar skill to the rank of a high art, picked up the instrument early and learned to play like a man possessed. He was self-taught and was excellent at playing the guitar with both his right and left hands.

Jimi became acquainted with the blues heritage of the American south by learning the recordings of numerous artists - from (Robert Johnson) to (B.B. King). While still a schoolboy, he began playing in local R&B groups, which quickly followed one after another. Higher education was replaced by the army, where Jimi mastered the wisdom of the parachute service. It was here that he met Billy Cox, a bass player in civilian life, with whom he was to meet more than once at various stages of his career. In the meantime, they are creating a group called King Kasuals, which they will try to revive for a short time when they return to civilian life. Hendricks was discharged in July 1962 after injuring his right ankle.

Music becomes the source of existence and the meaning of his life. As a live guitarist, he travels extensively, accompanying the Impressions, Sam Cooke, Valentinos and other bands. He only half used the chance to learn something from masters like the Isley Brothers, Little Richard and King Curtis: it was not in his character to maintain disciplinary boundaries for a long time. In any case, the musician gained enormous professional experience, invaluable for his future solo career.

By 1965, Jimi Hendrix was already firmly established in New York. In October, he began backing up soul singer Curtis Knight and signed a very tight contract with his manager, Ed Chalpin. This ill-considered agreement will come to light in the future. And in June 66, Hendrix, now calling himself Jimi James, formed the Rainflowers group, which he soon renamed Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. The quartet occasionally performed at the Wha Cafe in Greenwich Village, where they were noticed by Chas Chandler, bass player of the disbanding Animals. He convinced Hendrix to move to London and start a solo career.

In September 1966, ANIMALS bass player Chas Chandler brought the phenomenal guitarist he had found in the USA to London and began searching for musicians for his future group. And from that moment began the countdown to the history of THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE - a group that was destined to change the face of pop music. The drummer of the new project was Mitch Mitchell, a little-known but already quite experienced musician, selected from a dozen applicants. The bass player, whose name was Noel Redding, was found completely by accident. As Mitchell recalled: “They took him only because he had a decent haircut, and, in general, he did not look like a rogue.” When the group began rehearsals, it turned out that Noel was holding a bass guitar in his hands almost for the first time. However, they decided to leave him.

After rehearsing for several weeks, the newly formed group went to France to warm up the audience before Johnny Holiday's performances. Immediately after returning from this tour, the group recorded their first single, "Hey Joe", which reached number 6 on the charts by early 1967. The next single, "" surpassed the success of the first, reaching third place. In the winter of the same year, the debut album “Are You Experienced?” was recorded, which gave the impression of a bomb exploding. Suffice it to say that according to a critics' poll conducted in the UK in the same year, the album took second place, losing only one point to the legendary "Sgt. Pepper" THE BEATLES. By this time, THE EXPERIENCE were already quite famous among connoisseurs, but managers They weren’t yet sure that the group would “pull” solo performances and constantly “attached” it to all sorts of dubious, from the point of view of THE EXPERIENCE fans, performers like Engelbert Humperdinck and THE MONKEES.

It was during this period that Jimi especially clearly showed himself as a great showman. He performed in bright, extravagant outfits, which was not yet quite familiar to the English public (remember the stage costumes of the Beatles or early Pink Floyd). Hendrix demonstrated virtuoso playing, using spectacular tricks from his arsenal: he played the guitar with his teeth, elbows, and threw it behind his back, achieving a sound unheard of at that time from his Fender Stratocaster. And on March 31, 1967, at a concert in London's Finsbury Park Astoria, he set fire to a guitar for the first time. All these tricks, coupled with good material, brought THE EXPERIENCE fame as one of the best live bands.

In 1967, the performance at the Monterey Pop Festival was a triumph, and the final song, during which Hendrix burned his guitar, stunned everyone present. The next day Jimi was already a superstar. (The guitarist's performance at the Monterey Festival was included in the documentary "Monterey Pop".)

At this time, THE EXPERIENCE had already begun recording their second album, "Axis: Bold As Love". The musicians worked on it much longer than on the first one. It was then that friction first began between the band and Chas Chandler regarding the production of the record. Chas insisted that he retain complete control over the recording and mixing process. This did not suit the musicians, who, having already accumulated some experience in studio work, wanted to determine their own sound. It was then that Jimi and Noel first began to conflict with each other. Noel did not like to hang around in the studio for a long time and sometimes it happened that he left there in the middle of work. Jimi was distinguished by his phenomenal efficiency and demands on himself. Sound engineer Eddie Kramer talked about it:

"Jimi would stick his head out of the booth and ask, 'Is everything okay? Are you sure?" I said, "Yeah, Jimi, it was great this time," and he said, "Okay, I'll try again then." And we kept recording takes, each one better than the last, but They never seemed perfect enough to him anyway."

Shortly after finishing work on "Axis", THE EXPERIENCE went on tour to Sweden, where Jimi began to have his first troubles with drugs. In Gothenburg, after a pogrom organized by Hendrix in a hotel, he was detained by the police, as a result of which his tour schedule was disrupted.

In April 1968, work began on Electric Ladyland, the group's third album, at Record Plant Studios in New York. The recording process lasted until September, breaking all duration records. The main reason for this was that at the same time as working in the studio, THE EXPERIENCE was conducting an American tour. “It was very taxing on us,” said Jimi, “because we were constantly having to go back and redo things that we should have finished days before, and recording like that is always very tiring. Very hard. ", interrupting work, rushing somewhere, playing concerts, and then getting on a plane and rushing back to the studio. With all this, we wanted our performance to be at the proper level." By mid-1968, Hendrix's performances became less extravagant, the guitarist focused exclusively on music, experimented a lot in his New York studio "Electric Lady Land", and played jam sessions with the Traffic musicians. It was the long sessions that caused the group to break up with Chandler, who “slammed the door” after one of them, which was especially long. The relationship between Jimi and Noel also deteriorated to the limit. Noel reacted very painfully to the fact that a large number of “guests” participated in the recording, and he was constantly left out of work.

But still, despite all the troubles, by the fall the album was finished and was released in September 1968. The result exceeded all expectations. In the US, the album received gold status a week after its release. Critics gushed with delight, and public polls regularly placed Hendrix and THE EXPERIENCE in first place among the most popular performers. Now, after many years, it has become clear that this album has become the pinnacle of not only THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE's creativity, but also of all world rock music in general. It was after the release of "Electric Ladyland" that Hendrix became a cult figure.

On October 25, the English edition of the album went on sale, the cover of which was decorated with a crowd of naked women (photos of the band members were placed on the sleeve of the American edition). As the fan club newsletter THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE reported, Jimi's design option "didn't make it to England in time for printing. So the guys had to come up with something of their own. They found the idea very funny." Jimi said about this: “People in Britain don’t like this cover, and I completely understand them. I myself would never put this photo on there, but it wasn’t up to me. In general, the English cover of this album really got the band into trouble: The album was even banned from sale in California. It is not surprising that Jimi hated it so much. However, later this design option, thanks to the scandal fanned by the press, became a kind of symbol of “conceptuality”.

According to photographer Dave King, he conceived her as something exactly the opposite of the image of a woman cultivated by Playboy magazine:

“The original photo had all these natural pink tones, but the cheap printing made the image dark, cavernous,” and the girls, according to one of them, “looked like old prostitutes.”

The unprecedented success of "Electric Ladyland" turned THE EXPERIENCE into superstars, and for the first time they had the opportunity to choose when and where to tour. The group was simply in great demand among promoters: for just one 45-minute performance at the Newport Pop Festival, the musicians received an unheard-of fee of one hundred thousand dollars. They were even invited to perform at the New York Philharmonic Hall, an honor that no other rock band had ever received.

It seemed like golden times had arrived for the band, but, as often happens, the high point of the band's career became the beginning of its end. Not the least reason for this was the hysteria that arose around THE EXPERIENCE. Mitch Mitchell said about THE EXPERIENCE's latest tour: "We were always playing big venues with terrible sound. If we had our way, we would have preferred small clubs where the audience would have had a chance to hear something, although they didn't seem to "They were having a good time with it. These guys, for the most part, wanted as much equipment as possible to be crushed and as many guitars as possible to be set on fire. We were all slowly starting to get sick of it, especially Hendrix."

In addition, the relationship between Jimi and Noel was already completely damaged. Noel believed that Hendrix was undeservedly getting all the laurels and did not want to put up with the role of an extra. He organized his own group, FAT MATTRESS, and even got it to open THE EXPERIENCE's shows in Europe. THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE's last concert took place in late June 1969 at Mile High Stadium in Denver. After the concert, one of the journalists asked Noel: “What are you doing here? I thought you had already left the group.” Noel reacted very violently to this, flew to England and announced his departure from the group.

Mitch played with Jimi at the Woodstock festival (the band that accompanied Hendrix was called Electric Sky Church) and at a charity concert, after which they went their separate ways. Later, in the fall, Jimi formed the Band Of Gypsys, which included his army friend Billy Cox on bass and drummer Buddy Miles. The group's debut took place on the eve of 1970 at the famous New York Fillmore East (this concert was recorded on a record). A few months later, Hendrix, frustrated with his new band BAND OF GYPSYS, attempted to revive THE EXPERIENCE. The musicians gave a press conference and promised a big tour, but then Jimi and Mitch decided to leave Noel's servants. The bassist of the group, which was called CRY OF LOVE, was Billy Cox. This lineup recorded Jimi Hendrix's last lifetime album, First Ray of the New Rising Sun. All this time the guitarist was in great demand. Fellow musicians, the record company, the management team all had their own ideas about him as to what he should do first. Two years have passed since the release of the third studio album "Electric Ladyland" and, although the musician constantly returned to studio work, the release of the long-play was postponed many times. But it was not only external circumstances that were to blame for the fact that the upcoming album stalled for a long time. Hendrix himself had a hand in this. The musician seemed to be caught in a vicious circle, unable to find regular musicians, decide in which direction to move, or bring the recording to its logical conclusion, instead of endlessly jamming. The trio - Hendrix, Mitchell and Cox - toured country after country with concerts shortly before the musician's death. The last performances of the guitarist and singer often became a disappointment for his fans: the expectations of the audience and his own goals were too different. And yet, Jimi Hendrix's final appearance on stage in the UK - at the Isle Of Wight festival - according to eyewitnesses, was a breathtaking spectacle.

The creative fate of Jimi Hendrix is ​​inextricably linked with numerous rumors and speculations that haunted him throughout his “star” life. If you believe the testimonies of people who knew (or claim to have known) the musician closely, then individual stories emerge into an extremely contradictory portrait. First of all, this concerns his state of mind and creative plans in the last year of his life. According to some critics, Jimi intended to play jazz, according to others, he was attracted by the blues, others believed that he was going to continue what he had started long ago, and others insisted that he did not understand what he was doing at all. Anyone who tries to understand the circumstances of his death faces the same discrepancies. Ultimately, the culprit was - as in many cases before and since - drugs. Hendrix remained in England and on the morning of September 18, 1970, was found dead in a room at the Samarkand Hotel in London. He spent the night with his then-girlfriend, German Monika Danemann, and died in bed, choking on vomit, after taking 9 sleeping pills. Daneman noticed that something was wrong with Jimmy, but was afraid to call an ambulance because of the drugs that were everywhere in the apartment. Several years later, Daneman claimed that Hendricks was still alive when he was transferred to the ambulance, but her comments on the case were very inconsistent and varied from interview to interview. In the film biography of Hendrix, the doctor on duty at the ambulance said that by the time Jimmy was taken to the hospital, it was no longer possible to save him.

Jimi Hendrix was buried at Greenwood Memorial Park in Renton, Washington, USA, contrary to his wishes to be buried in England.

Jimi Hendrix Memorial (Greenwood Memorial Park in Renton, Washington, USA). Photo - Glenn Watkins, date: 8 April 2007, 11:02

Over the course of his 27-year life (he was two months shy of turning 28), Hendrix left an incredible number of studio recordings. Much of his legacy, including concert material, was eventually published. Some of the live albums turned out to be exceptional in quality, but as for the studio material, there was no consensus from the very beginning. The first posthumous releases were chaotic (debuting with the collection "The Cry of Love"), and from the mid-70s producer Alan Douglas took control of these projects. He handled Hendrix's legacy quite freely, re-recording his compositions and supplementing them with new instrumental parts with session musicians. In the eyes of Jimi's devoted fans, this looked like sacrilege, an attack on the very spirit of his work. Until 1995, Douglas continued his efforts, inviting drummer Bruce Gary (ex-Knack) to record new parts for the last of his low-profile compilations, "Voodoo Soup." After years of litigation and endless hearings, the right to dispose of the musician's entire creative heritage returned to his father, Al Hendrix. This happened only in July 1995.

Jimi Hendrix Memorial (Fehmarn/Schleswig-Holstein, Germany). Photo - Joachim Mullerchen.

With the continued support of Janie Hendrix, Jimi's half-sister, the late musician's father created Experience Hendrix and began organizing the archives and entire catalog of his son. On his behalf, producer John McDermott and engineer Eddie Kramer, who worked with Jimi, supervised the remastering process. They were able to find all the original masters, including those that had never been processed for CD release. Finally, in April 1997, on the 30th anniversary of his debut album Are You Experienced?, Jimi Hendrix's first three albums were released in a new, much improved version. Then the compilation “First Rays of the New Rising Sun” (that’s what the musician was going to call his last album) appeared, which was prepared based on the track list compiled by the guitarist himself. This was followed by all new publications: collections of the best songs, selections of unreleased tracks, recordings of radio sessions and concerts, including a performance on the Woodstock stage. The almost completely reissued catalog of the outstanding musician, prepared by Experience/MCA Records in 1997, summed up the acquaintance with the complete works of Hendrix.

In the fleeting four years that Jimi Hendrix lived as a world star, he enriched the vocabulary of guitar technology with so many innovations and improvements that his predecessors had never dreamed of. However, so do the followers. Hendrix had no equal in his ability to extract from his instrument an incredible palette of sounds, often unheard of and completely unexpected. His hurricane sound attacks, designed with all virtuosic brilliance - he could play holding the guitar behind his back, pressing it between his legs, setting it on fire and even plucking the strings with his teeth - sometimes obscured his talent as a composer and vocal skill, making it difficult to see in him a performer with a keen sense of the wide range of genres: blues, rock, R&B. When Jimi became an overnight international superstar in 1967, he seemed like a Martian who had fallen from the sky. But the reality was more prosaic: he had to undergo many years of study while playing in dozens of R&B groups. In the first half of the 60s, he worked with such giants of rhythm and blues and soul as Little Richard, the Isley Brothers, and King Curtis, touring and performing duties as a session musician.

Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock 40 years ago, on Monday morning, August 18th, 1969. Photo: © Henry Diltz / Courtesy Rhino Entertainment, pressphoto by Warner Bros. for the publishing of Woodstock 40"

Audio and video (for reference purposes)

Studio albums

Are You Experienced (May 1967)
Axis: Bold as Love (December 1967)
Electric Ladyland (October 1968)

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; b. November 27, 1942, d. September 18, 1970) is the universally recognized king of the electric guitar and one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century. His stellar career lasted only four years, but this was quite enough to write the artist’s name in golden letters in the history of rock and provide an example for subsequent generations to follow. Although Hendrix could neither read nor write music, his innovative style, combining fuzz, feedback and controlled distortion, gave birth to previously unheard of musical forms. As a child, James imitated playing the guitar with a broom, and when his father noticed his interest, he slightly improved the “instrument” by giving his son an old one-string ukulele. At the age of fifteen, the guy received a used acoustic guitar from his parent, after which he immediately joined the band “The Velvetones”. The following summer, my father was generous with a full-fledged power tool, the Supro Ozark 1560S, and Hendrix’s new team was The Rocking Kings.

In 1961, James was drafted into the army, but even during his service he did not give up his hobby, and when his division was stationed in Kentucky, he and bassist Billy Cox organized the ensemble “The King Casuals”. After being injured in a parachute jump, Hendrix was discharged and began working as a session guitarist under the name Jimmy James. By the end of 1965, he had already played with many musicians, among whom were such famous personalities as Ike and Tina Turner, the Isley brothers, Sam Cooke and Little Richard. After leaving the last of them, James put together his own band, “Jimmy James And The Blue Flames,” and thereby turned from a simple accompanist into the lead guitarist and leader of the group.

In 1966, while the musician and his crew were hanging around small clubs in Greenwich Village, Chas Chandler noticed him. Struck by the talent of the black guitarist, the bassist of "Animals" turned into Hendrix's manager, persuaded him to change his name to Jimi and move to London. There, the Jimi Hendrix Experience group was assembled especially for the newly-minted genius, which included drummer Mitch Mitchell and bass guitarist Noel Redding. The debut "experimental" single "Hey Joe" spent 10 weeks on the UK charts, reaching number six in early 1967. Even greater success awaited the full-length “Are You Experienced?”, which appeared on store shelves in May of the same year. The record spent eight months on the lists and stopped at the second step only because Beatle’s “Sergeant Pepper” was sitting at the first. Anyway, "Are You Experienced?" became one of the fundamental rock albums of all times, and such things as “Purple Haze”, “Foxey Lady”, “Fire”, “The Wind Cries Mary” were included in the golden fund of psychedelics.

And although England immediately recognized the genius of Hendrix, America refrained from excessive emotions until the Jimi Hendrix Experience showed up at the Monterey International Pop Festival. At this festival, Jimi demonstrated not only his outstanding musical abilities, but also his extraordinary talents as a showman. He did all kinds of things with the guitar: he played behind his back and plucked the strings with his teeth, and then he completely set fire to his Stratocaster. Literally overnight, JHE turned into real superstars, and as a result, the label demanded the speedy release of a second record. However, yielding to the wishes of the publishing company, Hendrix undertook to personally control the studio process, and any pressing of a button or switch of a toggle switch was subject to his close attention. In principle, "Axis: Bold As Love" retained the psychedelic direction of its predecessor, but songs like "Little Wing", "Castles Made Of Sand", "One Rainy Wish" also reflected the lyrical side of "Experience".

As the popularity of the “experimenters” grew, Hendrix’s drug addictions also increased. Quarrels with colleagues (and especially with Redding) became commonplace, and when previously perfectionistic sessions turned into chaos, Chandler resigned as manager. However, the group returned in October 1968 with the powerful double album Electric Ladyland, which topped the Billboard list for a couple of weeks. The program featured various style compositions: the psychedelic "Burning Of The Midnight Lamp", the blues jam "Voodoo Chile", the New Orleans R&B "Come On", the studio epic "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)", Britpop "Little Miss Strange", and the most famous were the avant-garde reworking of the Dylan classic "All Along The Wathtower" and a magnificent example of guitar work "Voodoo Child ("Slight Return"). One way or another, Electric Ladyland became the last album for JHE, and the group disbanded in 1969.

That same summer, Hendrix performed at the legendary Woodstock, where he was accompanied by The Gypsy Sun & Rainbows. However, this formation did not last long, and soon the ensemble “Band Of Gypses” appeared in its place, in which bassist Billy Cox and drummer “Electric Flag” Buddy Miles became Jimi’s partners. Hendrix held a number of performances with the “gypsies” and released a live album, but then he returned Mitchell to the group and decided to revive the “Jimi Hendrix Experience”. Locked in the studio, the trio began preparing the album "First Rays Of The New Rising Sun", but the guitarist never saw the end of the project - on September 18, 1970, Hendrix was found dead in the London Samarkand Hotel. However, Jimi left plenty of unreleased material and all sorts of rarities, and over the next few decades posthumous albums were released based on them.

Last update 06.06.11
      Date of publication: June 02, 1998

The undisputed musical authority of the 20th century, Jimi Hendrix, was one of the first to contribute to the explosive growth in the popularity of the electric guitar. His unique, inimitable style and innovative approach gave a powerful impetus to the development of new musical forms and directions. The black guitarist did not know the notes and implemented many of his ideas spontaneously, on a whim. His songs, created over a short career (only 4 years), have become the anthems of an entire generation. And not only. Among those who call Jimi Hendrix their guru are many modern musicians, such as George Clinton, Steve Vai, Jonny Lang and others.

Jimi Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix) was born on November 27, 1942 at the Seattle District Hospital (USA). A little later, the child's father, James Al Hendrix, will give him a different name - James Marshall.

At a young age, Jimi became interested in music. Among his idols are almost all the famous artists of that period: B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Buddy Holly and Robert Johnson. Self-taught Jimi did not know musical notation. This probably made him concentrate much more on his music. Even more than he could hear.

One day, dad Al noticed that his child was showing a keen interest in the guitar. “I often made Jimi clean the room,” he recalls. “And I kept finding broom rods under the bed. I asked: “Jimi, did you sweep the floors?” And he answered with an innocent look: “Oh, yes!” But it soon turned out that little Jimi would just sit on the edge of the bed and strum his broom as if he were playing a guitar."

In order to stop the abuse of household equipment, Al gave the young talent a ukulele with one string stretched. However, having seen the progress, in the summer of 1958 he was generous with used acoustics, bought from a friend for five dollars. Thus, already a “horse peasant” Jimi joins a group of enthusiasts - “The Velvetones” - and breaks up with them after 3 months. Al’s next gift is the first real electric guitar Supro Ozark 1560S, with which young Hendrix was accepted into the group with the loud name “The Rocking Kings"

In '61, Jimi decides to leave his father's home and volunteers to join the US armed forces. Already in November of next year, he receives the right to wear the Screaming Eagles division stripes. During the Eagles' quarters in Kentucky, they met bass guitarist Billy Cox. Their joint project was called "The King Casuals". Hendrix's war epic does not last long: during a parachute jump, he is injured and sent to demobilization. In civilian life, taking the pseudonym Jimi James, he works as a session musician. Who didn’t he outplay with? And Ike & Tina Turner, and Sam Cooke, and the Isley Brothers, and Little Richard... They say that the reason for the breakup with the latter was the shirt with frilly frills that Jimi dressed up in before going on stage, which terribly enraged Little Richard . However, this is nothing more than rumors and idle speculation. But the facts are as follows: there were no tears during the parting, and Jimi, full of creative strength, assembled his own group, “Jimmy James & The Blue Flames,” where he sang and soloed on guitar.

During the last half of 1965 and the first half of 1966, Hendrix and Co. gave concerts in Grinchich Village (an area of ​​New York, at that time one of the cultural centers of the country). At one of these performances (in the cafe "Wha?") a meeting took place that became the beginning of the musician's star journey. He meets The Animals bassist Chas Chandler. Chandler was so shocked by Jimi's performance that he offered a contract under which he would have to move to London to assemble a new line-up.

First of all, it was proposed to abandon the creative pseudonym in favor of a real name. According to Chandler, the name “Jimi”, as sharp as a shot, was to become synonymous with the generation of the sixties. The position of drummer was filled by Mitch Mitchell, bass guitarist by Noel Redding, and the trio itself was simply and tastefully called “The Jimi Hendrix Experience”. Rumors about the new team spread across London at the speed of the Orient Express.

The first single "Experience" - "Hey Joe" - immediately entered the British charts and by the beginning of 1967 it reached number 6. Following the “forty-five”, a full-length LP “Are You Experienced?” was released. This album is still considered one of the best albums of all time. Let's remember "Purple Haze", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Fire", "Foxey Lady" or "Are You Experienced?". There is only one step left until global recognition.

The "Experience" trio is invited to America to perform at the Monterey Pop Festival. The morning after it, Jimi woke up as a “star”: a video of the famous song “Wild Thing” (during its performance he burned his Fender Stratocaster on stage) was broadcast by television stations all over the world.

The line of the first record was continued in "Axis: Bold As Love", which appeared on the shelves of record stores in 1968. Here the musician concentrates his attention on directing the compositions. Jimi spends a significant amount of time in the studio at the console, checking every turn of knobs and switches.

Upon returning to America, he built the Electric Ladyland studio in New York. This project served as the idea and gave the name to the next imperishable album, another double LP. The year 1969 was spent traveling and painstaking studio work, which could not have any effect on the moral climate in the team. "Experince" is canceled as a creative unit.

Summer of '69. "Summer of Love". A time of emotional and musical growth for Jimi. To perform at the Woodstock Music and Fine Arts Festival, our hero collaborates with the eclectic ensemble "Gypsy Sun & Rainbow", which, in addition to himself, included Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Jirma Sultan and Jerry Velez. The highlight of the program was a free version of the American anthem "Star Spangled Banner", which plunged the audience of thousands into a state of trance.

1969 also marked collaborations with old army buddy Billy Cox and former Electric Flag drummer Buddy Miles. The line-up, called the "Band of Gypsys", gave four brilliant performances on New Year's Day - December 31, 1969 and January 1, 1970, which were captured on vinyl. The album "Band of Gypsys" was released in the mid-70s.

Mitch Mitchell rejoins Jimi, and with Billy Cox on bass, the trio return to their original name, "The Jimi Hendrix Experience". They are recording several songs for a new album, tentatively titled "First Rays Of The Rising Sun"...

Unfortunately, the plans of the brilliant musician were not destined to come true. A tragic incident resulting from an overdose of sleeping pills ended his life on September 18, 1970. The recordings themselves, intended for release, were presented to the public only in 1997.

The creative legacy of Jimi Hendrix is ​​priceless. And after his death, he continues to “release” records. The number of reissued recordings and their circulation cannot be counted. Jimi's music, which absorbed blues, ballads, rock and jazz, made him one of the most popular figures in the history of rock music.

Now let's remember those who helped him: bass guitarist Noel Redding, drummers Mitch Mitchell and Buddy Miles.

Noel Redding
(annotation from the album "Are You Experienced?")

Since leaving school five years ago, Noel Redding has played guitar with many bands. And in October 1965 he decided to put together his own - “The Loving Kind”. Unfortunately (or maybe not), the group was not successful. Ambitious Noel took a different path. This path led straight to Jimi Hendrix, who in October 1966 held auditions for musicians.

Noel was hired, but on the condition that he would play bass guitar. The result was an excellent basis for the extravagant sound of Jimi's guitar.

Mitch Mitchell
(annotation from the album "Are You Experienced?")

Mitch Mitchell is a graduate of the Royal School of Performing Arts. The first ensemble in his career was "The Coronets" under the direction of Chris Sanford. "Not Too Little, Not Too Much" - this song performed by The Coronets becomes a hit, but due to some mysterious circumstances the group breaks up.

Mitchell has been playing for a year with George's Fame's Blue Flames. Cooperation with him ends in October 1966. A chance encounter with Chas Chandler. And as a result, Mitch takes the vacancy as a drummer in The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

A young but certainly experienced musician with fresh ideas, Mitch plays a key role in the sound of this trio.

Buddy Miles

Over a more than 30-year career, Buddy Miles has released about fifty records, recorded screensavers and commercials for TV. With his tours, he traveled the globe 6 times. At different times, many celebrities invited him to collaborate.

At the age of 12, Buddy took a place at the drums in his father's jazz band, The Bebops. In subsequent years, his attention switched to rhythm and blues groups. Replayed with "Ruby & The Romantics", "The Delophonics", "The Ink Spots" and "Wilson Pickett". After a Wilson Pickett performance in New York, Buddy receives an offer from guitarist Mike Bloomfield to participate in the newly minted blues-rock project Electric Flag. “It was the best team I’ve ever played in,” says the musician.

15 months later, under the strict leadership of Miles, “The Buddy Miles Express” assembled, recording a number of successful records such as “Expressway To Your Skull” and “Electric Church”. They were produced by Jimi Hendrix.

Express tours last much longer than the Durassel battery lasts. Buddy and K not only open the concerts of the giants “Cream” and “The Jimi Hendrix Experience”, but also perform as “headliners” at many concerts. Miles was also featured on such classic albums as Hendrix's Electric Ladyland and Muddy Waters' Farthers And Sons.

In 1969, Buddy and Jimi Hendrix founded the legendary trio "Band of Gypsys" with Billy Cox on bass. Unfortunately, before the untimely death of Jimi Hendrix, they managed to record only one album - "Band of Gypsys".

Then The Buddy Miles Express reformed and recorded a very successful album, Them Changes, which spent 74 weeks on the Billboard charts. The absolute highlight of this record are such “action films” as “Them Changes” and “Down By The River” (by Neil Young).

The next great success came after the recording of Carlos Santana's live album. In five years, Buddy will take a permanent place at the microphone stand in this guitarist's band.

In 1986, Buddy Miles recorded the accompaniment to a TV commercial - the song "I Heard It Through The Grapevine". It becomes the most successful in the history of TV, and the California Raisins label will offer Buddy a position as a producer.

Over the years, he has continued to collaborate with many famous artists, including Stevie Wonder, David Bowie and John McLaughlin. The year 1992 was marked by work with former Parliament-Funcadelic member Bootsy Collins. And the following year, the line-up "Buddy Miles-Slash-Billy Cox-Paul Rogers" recorded the track "I Don`t Live Today" for the dedication album to Jimi Hendrix.

In 1994, another reincarnation of “The Express” took place. The revived line-up records "Hell And Back For Rycodisc". 1997 - release of the collection "The Best Of Buddy Miles". And tireless old Buddy continues to tour, record records and produce other performers.

The musician is rightfully recognized and respected throughout the world as an innovator, whose approach, to varying degrees, contributed to the embodiment of the ideas of his contemporaries Jimi Hendrix or Sly Stone.