The Jimi Hendrix Experience
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008) |
 |
This article may require copy-editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling. You can assist by editing it now. (April 2009) |
 |
This article is written like a magazine article; it does not use the direct, balanced tone expected of an encyclopedia. Please discuss this issue on the talk page. Editing help is available. (April 2009) |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience | |
|---|---|
 The Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1969. L-R: Mitch Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, and Noel Redding.
|
|
| Background information | |
| Also known as | The Cry of Love (1970) |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genre(s) | Psychedelic rock, acid rock, blues-rock, hard rock, heavy metal |
| Years active | 1966–1969 1970 |
| Label(s) | Track (United Kingdom), Reprise (North America), Polydor (Europe), Barclay (France), MCA |
| Associated acts | Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, Band of Gypsys, The Noel Redding Band, Ramatam |
| Website | www.jimihendrix.com |
| Former members | |
| Jimi Hendrix Mitch Mitchell Noel Redding Billy Cox |
|
The Jimi Hendrix Experience were an English/American rock band that formed in London in 1966. Originally comprising American vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Jimi Hendrix, bassist and backing vocalist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, the band was active until 1969, in which time they released three successful studio albums. Redding left the band in June 1969, after which Hendrix and Mitchell stayed together through other projects.
After the band split up, Hendrix and Mitchell teamed with bassist Billy Cox and other musicians to form the short-lived Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, who played at the famous Woodstock Festival. After a short spell with another band, the Band of Gypsys with Cox and drummer/vocalist Buddy Miles, Hendrix re-formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience with Mitchell and Cox. Nowadays, however, this 1970 trio is distinguished from the original Experience group as The Cry of Love.[citation needed] The Jimi Hendrix Experience is the only band with all their albums on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Contents |
[edit] History
Hendrix arrived in England in September 1966[1] and with his new manager Chas Chandler formed a backing band with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell.[2] Mitchell was a seasoned London drummer formerly with Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames who brought Jazz chops and a lead style of playing to the band. He would prove to be Hendrix's most valuable musical partner. Redding was chosen because Hendrix liked his attitude towards music and hairstyle. It was the first time that he had ever played bass in a band, as he was a guitarist. The name The Jimi Hendrix Experience was coined by their business manager Mike Jeffery.[3]
Though initially conceived as Hendrix's backing band, The Experience soon became much more than that. Following the lead of Cream, they were one of the first groups to popularize the "power trio" format, which essentially strips a rock band lineup down to the essentials: guitar, bass and drums. This smaller format also encourages more extroverted playing from the band members, often at very high volumes. In the case of The Experience, Hendrix mixed lead and rhythm guitar duties into one, while also making use of guitar effects such as feedback and later the wah-wah pedal to an extent that had never been heard before. Mitchell played hard-hitting jazz-influenced grooves that often served a melodic role as much as they did timekeeping. Redding was often seen as the eye of the storm, playing deceptively simple bass lines that helped to anchor the band's sound. Visually, they set the trend in psychedelic clothes and, following the other two's Bob Dylan 1966 style hair-do's, Mitch (briefly) got himself a permed copy (as did most of the London trend-followers, including Eric Clapton). The lineup came to prominence in the U.S. only after the June 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, one of the first major rock music festivals.[2] The band's performance ended with Hendrix famously setting his psychedelically painted Fender Stratocaster on fire.[4] The Experience's appearance was also filmed for the documentary film Monterey Pop which premiered at Lincoln Center in New York on 26 December 1968 and was only seen by the general public starting in 1969. After the festival they were then asked to go on tour with The Monkees as the opening act. They left the tour after only a few dates - Chas Chandler later said that it was all a publicity stunt.[5]
With the band, Hendrix recorded his five hit singles "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" and "All Along the Watchtower", and his three most successful albums, Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland. By April of 1969, Hendrix had decided to break up the group, and flew his old friend Billy Cox up to New York to begin working with him. Deteriorating relations with Redding had come to a head, and Hendrix also felt his musical development was hampered by the trio format. The original group held together long enough to fulfill their existing engagements, culminating in the Denver Pop Festival on 29 June where, following the infamous announcement by Hendrix, from the stage: "This is the last gig we'll be playing together", the original Experience was dissolved. Hendrix experimented with a larger band lineup known as Gypsy Sun and Rainbows for his Woodstock concert in August 1969, but would revert to the trio format with the Band of Gypsys. But by 1970, Hendrix had disbanded the Band of Gypsys - it has been claimed this was due to the desire of Michael Jeffery (now Jimi's only manager) to reform the original Experience lineup, but as Trixie Sullivan, Jeffery's assistant, testified, Jimi did exactly as he felt musically and Jeffery just handled the business side, as usual. Also, according to Billy Cox, the all-black power trio was mainly a one-off to help Hendrix fulfill an outstanding obligation to Ed Chalpin by recording a one-off live LP. Jeffery called Redding and Mitchell about reforming the Experience. Both agreed to participate in what would seem to be a great money maker of a tour; Mitchell and Redding could use the cash, and the tour would also get Jimi out of the financial problems he was in at the time partly due to the building of Electric Lady Studios. Hendrix was open to have Mitchell rejoin, but reluctant to bring Redding back into the fold.
Hendrix himself had begun to experiment with depressants and other psychadelic drugs, his own performance had become erratic, resulting in inter-band conflicts that contributed to the first breakup.[6]
In early February 1970, it seemed as if the original Experience was reformed. Manager Michael Jeffery even set up an interview with Rolling Stone magazine to announce the return of the group, published on 19 March 1970 in Rolling Stone as J.H.: The End of a Beginning Maybe (and reprinted in Guitar Player magazine five years after Hendrix's death). While the interview gave the impression that the old wounds were healed and the future seemingly bright for the Experience, it was far from the truth. Redding was waiting for weeks to hear back about rehearsals for the upcoming tour when he finally spoke with Mitchell's girlfriend only to learn that he had been replaced by Billy Cox. Before it started Jimi "called this tour The Cry of Love, because that's what it is" in an interview; this is the only mention of that name, prior to the posthumous LP of that name (1971), and the group itself was still referred to in all ads, articles, promos, bookings, introductions etc. as the "Jimi Hendrix Experience" or just "Jimi Hendrix". So after a break of nearly ten months (during which he only played six dates) the "Jimi Hendrix Experience" hit the road for one last tour. Dates in Europe, notably at the Isle of Wight Festival in August of 1970, and in Sweden and Denmark, were musically disappointing; Mitchell reported that Hendrix was not even doing sound checks before the performances.
During a break in the tour later that year, Hendrix died on September 18, 1970 from drug-related complications.[2] In 1992, The Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[1]
Mitch Mitchell was found dead at approximately 3 AM on November 12, 2008 in his room at the Benson Hotel in downtown Portland. He was the last surviving member of the original Jimi Hendrix Experience.
[edit] Band members
- Jimi Hendrix – lead vocals, guitar[1]
- Mitch Mitchell – drums, percussion, backing vocals
- Noel Redding – bass, backing vocals[2] (1966–1969)
- Billy Cox – bass (1970)
[edit] Original discography
- Are You Experienced (1967)
- Axis: Bold as Love (1967)
- Electric Ladyland (1968)
[edit] Notes
- 1. ^ As well as his regular position on lead vocals and guitar, Jimi Hendrix also played bass on Electric Ladyland; backing vocals on "Foxy Lady", "She's So Fine", "Long Hot Summer Night", "Mastermind", "Changes" and "We Gotta Live Together"; piano on "Are You Experienced?", "Spanish Castle Magic" and "Crosstown Traffic"; glockenspiel on "Little Wing"; flute on "If 6 Was 9"; harpsichord on "Bold as Love" and "Burning of the Midnight Lamp"; mellotron on "Burning of the Midnight Lamp"; and percussion on "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)".
- 2. ^ As well as his regular position on bass and backing vocals, Noel Redding also played electric guitar and acoustic guitar on "Little Miss Strange" and lead vocals on "She's So Fine" and "Little Miss Strange".
[edit] Sources
- Lawrence, Sharon (2005), Jimi Hendrix: The Intimate Story of a Betrayed Musical Legend (2006 ed.), New York, N.Y.: Harper, ISBN 006056301X
[edit] References
- ^ a b "The Jimi Hendrix Experience". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 2008. http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/the-jimi-hendrix-experience. Retrieved on 2009-03-19.
- ^ a b c Unterberger, Richie; Westergaard, Sean. "Jimi Hendrix > Biography". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hnfexqr5ldte~T1. Retrieved on 2009-03-19.
- ^ Lawrence 2005, p. 56
- ^ Lawrence 2005, p. 78
- ^ Lawrence 2005, p. 84
- ^ Mitch Mitchell and John Platt, The Hendrix Experience,(London: Hamlyn, 1990), pp. 88-96, 48-149.
[edit] External links
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
