TIGERX.COM Memorials: Fond Farewell to Jimi Hendrix

Fond Farewell

James Marshall Hendrix

November 27, 1942 - - - September 18, 1970

Jimi Hendrix was one of the most innovative and influential rock guitarist of the late 60's and arguably the important electric guitar player of all time. As a teenager Hendrix taught himself to play guitar by listening to records by blues guitarists Muddy Waters and BB King and rockers such as Chuck Berry and Eddie Cochran. By 1961 Hendrix began work under the pseudonym Jimmy James. By 1964, when he moved to New York City he had played behind Sam Cooke, BB King, Little Richard, Ike and Tina Turner, and Wilson Pickett. In New York City he played the club circuit with King Curtis, the Isley Brothers and John Paul Hammond. In 1966 he formed Jimmy James and the Blue Flames to play around Greenwich Village. In the Fall he went to London and there he formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
In 1967 the released the first single "Hey Joe" which went to #6 on the UK charts. Shortly after "Purple Haze" was released and then their first album. Hendrix fast became the rage of the London pop scene. Although word of Hendrix made it to the US he did not appear here until at Paul McCartney's insistence he play the Monterey Pop Festival in the summer of 1967. His performance there climaxed with him burning his guitar. He fast became a star in America, but Hendrix insisted he be considered a musician. In 1968 he drop the extravagances of his stage show and simply performed his music. Hendrix believed his best music came out in the informal settings of studios and Clubs, so Hendrix began construction of Electric Ladyland Studios in New York City. By the WoodStock Festival in 1969 the Experience was all but defunct, in fact Hendrix performed at Woodstock with band he called the Electric Sky Church. Later that year he formed the Band of Gypsies with ex-Electric Flag drummer Buddy Miles. Their debut concert at the Fillmore East on New Years Eve 1969 provided the material for their only album.
After releasing his next album Cry of Love he performed at the 1970 Isle of Wright Festival which would be his last. A month later he was dead. The coroner's report listed the death as accidental choking by vomit following barbiturate intoxication.

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