VOODOO CHILD

JIMI HENDRIX INFORMATION MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE

590 PHEASANT RIDGE DR. LAKE ZURICH, IL 60047

voodoochild5464@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/groups/251427364936379/

ISSUE 103 SPRING, 2017

IT’S KNIGHT TIME AGAIN …Anyone who knows Hendrix

history knows that when Jimi Hendrix was in New York he played

with Curtis Knight and the Squires in late 1965-early 1966. It was

during that period that Knight introduced him to Ed Chalpin, who

signed Hendrix to a recording contract. After splitting from Knight,

he formed his own band – Jimmy James and the Blue Flames – and

was “discovered” by Chas Chandler. Embarking on a successful

career with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, on a return to New York, he

revisited Knight in the studio and they did another session. That

contract, and those sessions created an embroiled legal battle – one

that gave us the Band Of Gypsys – but also one that gave us a

plethora of low quality, pre-Experience material that Chalpin flooded

the international markets with capitalizing on Hendrix’s success.

After decades of legal entanglements, Chalpin finally relented and

sold all the tapes to Experience Hendrix LLC in 2014. The library is

said to include some 88 tracks.

Now that the Hendrix family has the tapes, they are opting to

piecemeal the material out to the Hendrix fans through their own

Dagger Records. They are choosing to credit the discs to Curtis

Knight, with this one released as Curtis Knight (featuring Jimi

Hendrix). That is causing some confusion to merchandisers who see

the release listings show up as Knight and not Hendrix, and how to

put in their bins, but at least credits appropriately.

Live at George’s Club 20 (Dagger 88985410162) is the second

release (You Can’t Use My Name released in 2015 gave us a taste

with 14 tracks) from that archive of tapes offering 16 tracks from two

shows taped at George’s Club 20 in Hackensack, New Jersey on

December 26, 1965 and January 22, 1966.

The disc does give us one minor historical correction – while it’s

always been reported the band was Curtis Knight and the Squires,

bass player Ace Hall says they were actually called the Lovelights at

that time and included drummer Ditto Edwards and saxophonist

Lonnie Youngblood.

The tapes are raw, recorded on consumer tape decks at the time

(liner notes indicated one show was recorded at 3 ¾ speed, the other

at 7 ½ - while most professional recordings at the time were taped at

15 ips – the ips being “inches per second” – the speed the tape

crossed the recording heads with faster recording times higher sonic

quality). Still, upon listening you can hear some of the evolution of

Hendrix coming through. The band was actually one of the first

where he was allowed a more prominent role in the band.

And, as Hall notes, “Jimi wasn’t someone coming and learning on

the gig. He was very seasoned. He had knowledge of all the hit songs.

He had ‘em down!” Regarding his stage presence Hall continues,

“Jimi was a leader. He would play out. A lot of guitar players are just

card shufflers. Jimi was playing it loud. He made sure that everybody

heard what he was doing. I have to give him that. He did it very

well.” (You can view more of Hall discussing Hendrix at

https://youtu.be/VpaHTX-hwLA).

While the tapes are raw, they represent an important era in

Hendrix musical history. Curtis Knight was one of the first to

recognize Jimi’s talent, and as opposed to being a “chitlin’ circuit”

sideman, Knight allowed Hendrix the opportunity to take the lead

with his guitar prowess and allowed him to front the band for part of

the sets.

With Chalpin having kept these tapes in his possession for some

50 years, he had often licensed the material to various labels

worldwide, flooding bins with inferior releases with erroneous liner

notes, overdubbing and adding effects to some of the material and

changing songs titles to confuse Hendrix collectors even more.

Here, we’re told Eddie Kramer worked from the original tapes

restoring the audio by removing “all of the various overdubs” and

“excess manipulation made previous has been removed,” from those

various incarnations.

But, upon listening and comparing to some of the Chalpin

releases, we’re not totally sure that’s true. While some tracks have

certainly been cleaned up, modern day processing has also allowed

engineer Eddie Kramer to doctor the tapes to modify the tapes

leaving us with the perception we are getting these two performances

as they occurred. This is the furthest from the truth. While the tracks

may be from those two performances, we know from previous

Chalpin releases there were other songs done, and not in order of

performance. It is readily evident that the current release interjects

audience reaction between certain tracks to leave the perception this

is a complete show.

The most complete Knight/Hendrix catalog collection came in

1996-97 collection The Authentic PPX Studio Recordings, Vol. 1-6

from the German SPV label. At that time, Chalpin licensed the tapes

to CBH Records who then released them as Vol. 1: Get That Feeling,

Vol. 2: Flashing, Vol. 3: Ballad of Jimi, Vol. 4: Live at George’s

Club, Vol. 5: Something on Your Mind and Vol. 6: On the Killing

Floor. The label then re-issued as a six disc box set in 2000 as The

Complete PPX Studio Recordings. The label promoted all the releases

as Jimi Hendrix titles, with no mention of Curtis Knight anywhere on

the covers. Live material from the George’s sessions were spread

among the last three volumes.

Over the years, Chalpin had released so many different version of

the same material, it’s difficult to tell what, if any, were the originals.

So we must rely on the Experience Hendrix release to try to set the

record straight. But, giving a listen it’s certainly difficult to tell if

even Experience Hendrix got the original tapes.

Using the SPV release for A/B comparisons, this new release

certainly seems to offer up more “dry” examples, removing the

reverb and echo effects we’ve heard on the Chalpin releases. And

Kramer has done his best to clean up tapes, although you can only do

some much with the distortion of the low generation tapes initially

overmodulated and the inferior quality of the stage equipment used.

We’ve also had some of these tracks previously available in stereo,

while we get mono mixes here. And there’s tracks such as “I’ll Be

Doggone” that sound slower than the SPV release, literally causing a

key change in this rendition. Tracks such as “Drivin’ South” and

“Baby What You Want Me To Do” have had stereo mixes previously

with the tambourine shifting positions in the mix. Here the mono mix

makes the tambourine a dominant instrument that Kramer did not

seem to be able to temper. Other releases have also included a little

stage banter missing here. At the same time, we get a little more as

Hendrix introduces “Travelin’ to California”.

In summation, Kramer has done his best to clean these tapes up

and master them to what he perceives to be the most representative of

the original shows. But in the end, while they certainly are cleaned up

as best as possible, we still cannot be convinced these are the original

performances as they were recorded. And again, we certainly know

these are not the two complete performances but what Experience

Hendrix has selected as a “best of.”

The result: This becomes just another release in the pile of Curtis

Knight releases to store away in the Hendrix library.

With knowledge of the more “complete” catalog in the six

volumes, and knowing of the low-grade quality of the material,

questions continue to rise from Hendrix collectors why the estate

would filter this material out is such a fragmented method. While it is

difficult to justify a six disc set, SPV was able to release selling for

around $30. Now, with Experience Hendrix selling in two formats for

two different purposes, collectors will be spending nearly $40 to pick

up this single release in both formats (CD $8.99 and 2LP $24.99).

The CD Live At George’s Club 20 was released in February with a

double LP version released for Record Store Day on April 22. Track

list:

1) Introduction

2) Killing Floor

3) Last Night

4) Get Out Of My Life Woman

5) Ain’t That Peculiar

6) Mercy, Mercy

7) I’m A Man

8) Driving South

9) Baby What You Want Me To Do

10) I’ll Be Doggone

11) Sweet Little Angel

12) Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go

13) Travelin’ To California

14) What I Say

15) Land Of 1000 Dances

16) Come On (Let The Good Times Roll)

17) Band Outtro

HENDRIX VS. HENDRIX – THE FAMILY FEUD RAGES

ON…Over the past 10 years, Defendants Andrew Pitsicalis and Leon

Hendrix, and a variety of individuals and entities with which they

have been associated, have continued to market various products

using the Hendrix name, with references and images specifically

relating to Jimi Hendrix and his music for their own personal gain.

Federal courts have repeatedly prohibited these activities,

upholding the Experience Hendrix LLC estate noting Piticalis and

Leon Hendrix have improperly exploited intellectual property rights.

Over the past two years, the two have renewed and expanded their

alleged infringments of Plaintiffs’ trademarks and copyrights through

the creation, development, licensing, manufacturing, promotion,

advertsing and sale of cannabis, edibles, food, wine, alcohol,

“medicines,” electronic products, and other goods.

On March 16, the law firm of Shukat Arrow Hafer Weber &

Herbsman filed sut in the U.S. District Court of New York against

Pitsicalis and Leon Hendrx and their companies Purple Haze

Properties and Rockin Artwork based on the defendants attempts to

improperly exploit the intellectual property rights of Jimi Hendrix.

The suit claims, “since their inception, plaintiffs have used federally

registered and common law trademarks, service marks, trade names

and logos to sell Jimi Hendrix related promotional merchandise and

servces to the general consuming public.” (You can read the court

filings here: www.courthousenews.com/wp-

content/uploads/2017/03/hendrix.pdf)

Current marketing by Pitsicalis and Leon Hendrix include

cannibus products called “Purple Haze” marijuana cigarettes with a

picture of Jimi on the package; Jimi’s Meds – a line of items

produced in varying dosages of CBD, THCa, and THC licensed in

the State of California as a “product line designed to help people with

Cancer, AIDS, PTSD, Depression, Alzheimer's and other crippling

ailments; and alcoholic products including Jimi’s wines and cognacs.

Earlier this year, Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. and Authentic

Hendrix, LLC, filed a lawsuit in a Georgia Federal Court charging

Tiger Paw Beverages and its principal, Joe Wallace, with unlawfully

using Jimi Hendrix trademarks in an unauthorized promotion of

Purple Haze Liqueur, which they had licensed through Leon.

The suit goes on to state that “the Pitsicalis defendants’ new

infringing conduct and their multifaceted scheme defrauds

consumers, investors and licensees.”

Attorneys for Experience Hendrix LLC say Pitsicalis has widely

claimed that he has secured the intellectual property of the Jimi

Hendrix estate for licensed products (through Leon having the family

name and therefore use). Their statement to the court – “That claim is

knowingly false.”

To review a little history of the continued legal wranglings

between the parties involved:

In September 2005, Leon Hendrix, Craig Dieffenbach and others,

including Andrew Pitsicalis, began operating Electric Hendrix, LLC

for the primary purpose of marketing vodka and merchandise, and

promoting its goods and services using a Jimi Hendrix “signature”

mark, and Jimi Hendrix “headshot” mark.

In 2007, Plaintiffs commenced an action against Dieffenbach,

Leon, their companies and employees for infringement of their

trademarks

In 2008, the Court concluded that the Electric Hendrix marks

infringed on the Plaintiffs’ marks

In 2008, Pitsicalis created HendrixLicensing.com, LTD, d/b/a

HendrixArtwork.com and began to license and sell Jimi Hendrix

merchandise.

On March 5, 2009, the Plaintiffs commenced a suit against

Pitsicalis and his various Hendrix-related companies. In that case, the

Federal Court found that Pitsicalis, who “was formerly associated

with Dieffenbach and Electric Hendrix, LLC,” was “undisputedly

aware of the prior suit between Experience and Dieffenbach.” On

May 8, 2015, that Court issued an amended permanent injunction

against Pitsicalis, prohibiting him from using the following “guitar

and headshot” logo or any similar mark, brand, or logo and from

using the Jimi Hendrix signature or any similar signature in

connection with the advertising and/or sale of posters, artwork, fine

art prints, apparel, merchandise, memorabilia, and/or novelty items.

In 2014, Leon, Pitsicalis and “Rockin’ Artwork, LLC” formed a

business relationship with Tiger Paw Beverages for the purpose of

creating a line of alcoholic beverages using the Hendrix marks and

other copyrights - the same activity the Federal Court had enjoined in

2008.

On January 27, 2017 the United States District Court for the

Southern District of Georgia issued a Permanent Injunction

prohibiting Tiger Paw Beverages and the other remaining defendants

from using any of the Hendrix marks, copyrights, or name signature

or likeness for any trademark or endorsement purposes whatsoever.

And last year on July 21, 2016 same court entered a preliminary

injunction by falsely suggesting endorsement by Jimi Hendrix, the

Jimi Hendrix estate or Plaintiffs, the Pitsicalis Defendants have

unlawfully promoted, packaged, marketed, advertised, licensed, and

sold their Jimi Hendrix Cannabis, edibles, food, wine, alcohol,

“medicines,” and electronic products (the “Infringing Products”)

using Plaintiffs’ incontestable trademarks in a similar manner -

unlawful actions are intentionally designed to capitalize on the

goodwill, recognition and fame associated with the Plaintiffs’ Jimi

Hendrix marks and rights.

And the battle rages on. But wait! There’s more! It doesn’t end

with this suit.

One week after the current suit filed on behalf of Experience

Hendrix LLC, on March 23, Pitsicalis and Leon Hendrix filed a

countsuit.

“We have filed this suit to show the world, once again, that Leon

and his Family have a right to Jimi’s legacy too. We have built two

great companies that produce amazing products for Jimi’s fans,”

notes Purple Haze Propertes CEO Andrew Pitscalis. “We are an

alternate source to obtain a license granting use of our

proprietary and exclusive images and other assets not available to the

estate since they belong to Rockin Artwork & Purple Haze

Properties.”

The countersuit names as defendants not only original plaintiffs

Experience Hendrix and Authentic Hendrix but also Janie Hendrix,

step-sister of Jimi and sole heir to the estate of their father, Al

Hendrix. Pitsicalis and Leon Hendrix claim that neither Janie Hendrix

nor her companies own any general publicity or personality right that

would give them control over using the likeness of Jimi Hendrix. The

plaintiffs in the countersuit also claim that the defendants have

libeled them and have engaged in defamation. (You can read the

complete legal filing of the countersuit here:

www.dropbox.com/s/dt7ey9gu0ymnj5s/1-17-

000311%20ROCKIN%202017%200323%20PL%20Complaint.pdf?d

l=0)

Pitsicals and Purple Haze Properties have licensed based on their

claim they hold intellectual property rights on to a number of

companies including Cannabis Science, First Harvest, Green Cures

and Botanical Distribution, Nutritional High and Jacksam

Corporation. Additionally, Silver State Trading, which is privately

held and based in Nevada, is a partner of Purple Haze Properties.

And the beat – or is that the beating – goes on.

MONTEREY 1967-2017…The 1967 Monterey International Pop

Festival was more than a festival – it was the birthplace of the 60’s

rock era. A fusion of California folk, the Haight-Ashbury hippie

counterculture, and a coming out party for the likes of Jimi Hendrix.

It was the gateway for the Summer of Love.

50 years later, the iconic images and music are still cornerstones

and foundation of rock. Plans are progressing for a 50th anniversary

celebration.

First and foremost, a three-day concert is being planned – to be

held in the same location on the same dates as the original festival –

June 16-18, 2017. With a goal to memorialize Monterey op’s

importance, legacy and lasting impact on contemporary culture, the

concert will be just one of the events being scheduled.

More than two dozen artists ranging from retro to modern day,

from platinum selling to up-and-coming, have been booked to

perform including the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh and The Terrapin

Family Band, Eric Burdon and the Animals, Jack Johnson, Norah

Jones, Leon Bridges, Father John Misty, Regina Spektor, Gary Clark

Jr., etal.

Other artists scheduled include The Head and the Heart, Dr. Dog,

G. Love, Langhorne Slim, Jim James, North Mississippi Allstars,

Hiss Golden Messenger, Jacob Banks, Cisco Adler, Jackie Greene,

Sara Watkins, Law, Kurt Vile & The Violators, Charles Bradley &

His Extraordinaires, Jamtown, Niki Bluhm and Booker T. S

Ticket sales will be limited to 10,000. Ticket prices range from

$295 for a three day lawn access pass, $450 for a three day reserved

bleacher seat, and $695 for a three-day premier reserved seat with

VIP lounge. For information:

https://montereypopfestival50.com/tickets/?

Lou Adler, one of the original Monterey International Pop

founders who co-produced the 1967 festival, is involved once again.

Adler said, “The Monterey International Pop Festival cannot be

duplicated but can be celebrated and will be, by the performers and

the attendees at the 50th Anniversary festival.”

The new festival will lead a wave of commemorations for

Monterey Pop’s half-century. The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles

will host an exhibition that includes items from Adler’s personal

collection titled the Monterey International Pop Festival: Music,

Love, and Flowers, 1967 exhibit, starting May 11.

Janus Films will re-release the newly restored D.A. Pennebaker

film, Monterey Pop, on June 14 in New York City, and on June 16 in

Los Angeles and across the country. The Criterion Collection is

preparing a special 50th-anniversary commemorative edition for

release this fall. In addition, an album featuring various artist performances from

the festival is slated for a June release (see story below) that will

include a Hendrix track.

As promised, the original festival distributed money to charities,

and to this day the nonprofit foundation behind it, overseen by Adler,

generates tens of thousands of dollars each year from its intellectual

property. A portion of the proceeds from this year’s show will be

handed over to the foundation for distribution.

AND THE GUITAR HENDRIX PLAYED …For most of the

Hendrix performance at Monterey, he played a black and white

Stratocaster. That was until the final song, when he switched guitars,

ultimately setting fire to the prop used for the final song.

The original Strat has been preserved, currently owned by a private

collector in the U.K. With the buzz of the 50th anniversary of

Monterey coupled with the iconic nature of the instrument itself, it is

time for that individual to cash in on his investment.

An undisputed piece of music history, Heritage Auctions will be

offering the guitar in the special Stratocaster guitar at their special

50th anniversary Summer of Love celebration June 17-18 in Beverly

Hills, California.

“This is one of the most important guitars to ever come to

auction,” said Garry Shrum, Director of Music Memorabilia at

Heritage Auctions. “In the pantheon of guitars, only a few have

changed music history and Jimi’s Black Strat is one of them. The

guitar has been on display for several years in Europe and the United

States and now a collector has the chance to add this historic

instrument to their private collection.”

Fresh off U.S. exhibitions as well as London’s Victoria & Albert

Museum, the guitar makes its auction debut at Heritage following

rigorous authenticity analysis. The Experience Music Project curators

conducted a thorough survey of the instrument before it went on

show in Seattle and Fender’s own experts have also forensically

examined the guitar.

“This is also the guitar he played at all of Bill Graham’s San

Francisco Fillmore West on that short tour,” as well as Golden Gate

Park, Shrum said. “And back in the United Kingdom the week before

he was playing this guitar when he opened his Sunday show at the

Saville Theater.”

The Salt and Pepper Black Fender Stratocaster retains Hendrix’s

upside-down and back-to-front stringing that subtly changed the

voice of the new ‘reversed’ bridge pickup. Perfectly preserved is

Hendrix’s belt wear on the guitar’s back, visible on footage taken at

the Monterey Pop Festival. Hendrix went on to use this instrument on

many additional dates, expanding the area of wear.

“Holding this instrument is tantamount to holding a mirror to the

zenith of 1960s social and cultural revolution,” Shrum said. “The

legendary music of that period would not be possible without

Hendrix’s genius and his love for this guitar.”

The guitar opens with a $500,000 bid, but bids are expected to

reach $750,000 before it’s over.

Heritage Auctions will also be offering eight garments from

Hendrix’s wardrobe in the upcoming auction. Details can be found at

www.ha.com/c/search-

results.zx?N=0+793+794+791+792+1893+1577+2088&Ntk=SI_Titl

es-Desc&Nty=1&Ntt=jimi+hendrix&limitTo=all&ic=homepage-

search-A-071316

MONTEREY POP 50 YEARS

LATER …Celebrating the 50th

anniversary of the iconic

Monterey International Pop

Festival a various artist

compilation Iconic Performances

From The Monterey International

Pop Festival will hit stores on

June 6th. The set will include

previously unreleased

performances from The Grateful

Dead and Laura Nyro along with individual tracks from The Who,

Jefferson Airplane, Simon and Garfunkel, Buffalo Springfield, The

Mamas & The Papas, and of course – Jimi Hendrix.

The new album also features a 16-page booklet, a replica of the

festival's original artist pass, a new essay penned by attendee Keith

Altham (who at the time worked for the UK’s New Musical Express

and actually travelled with Hendrix to the Monterey festival), and

special gold-foil packaging in honor of the 50th anniversary.

The project has been put together by the Monterey International

Pop Festival Foundation, with a portion of the proceeds of the album

to be channeled to charities.

The album track list:

Buffalo Springfield - "For What It's Worth"

Paul Butterfield - "Driftin Blues"

The Grateful Dead - "Out In the Cold, Rain and Snow"

Simon and Garfunkel - "Sounds of Silence"

Laura Nyro - "Poverty Train"

Electric Flag - "Wine"

Jefferson Airplane - "White Rabbit"

Big Brother and the Holding Company (feat. Janis Joplin) - "Ball and

Chain"

The Who - "Substitute"

Hugh Masekela - "Bajabula Bonke (Healing Song)"

Otis Redding - "I've Been Loving You Too Long"

Jimi Hendrix - "Like a Rolling Stone"

The Mamas & The Papas - "California Dreamin'"

IF SIX WAS – 150,000 …That’s what Melinda Merryweather was

hoping to reap - $150,000 from the recorder used on the recording of

“If Six Was Nine” at an auction at Bonham’s on March 27

(www.bonhams.com/auctions/23878/lot/70/)

According to the auction house description the instrument is, “A

Schreiber Sonata wooden recorder, two pieces (missing bell, but as

purchased and used by Hendrix), customized with lacquered green,

yellow, purple, and black string bands, engraved ‘West Germany’ to

head joint, housed in a decorative yellow and red silk cloth within a

brown velvet cloth tied with three embroidered floral ribbons. This

instrument was used by Jimi Hendrix on his song ‘If 6 Was 9’ on

his Axis: Bold as Love album. After Hendrix's death, the recorder was

given by Hendrix's manager, Michael Jeffery, to Merryweather.”

Merryweather had helped pitch the concept that became the

Hendrix film Rainbow Bridge in which she worked as an art director

on the project, as well as appearing

in the film. You can read more of

in a Merryweather interview

published in 1995 in the Jimi

Hendrix fanzine Straight Ahead -

http://newyorkcityhendrix.gobot.co

m/whats_new.html

In a recent interview, Merriweather was asked, “What is your

most prized possession?” Her response, “I do not believe we really possess anything, so my favorite things would be my shell, crystal and stone collection, and my music collection, especially a song written for me by Jimi Hendrix.” That song is “Scorpio Woman” (the track included on the Dagger Records release Morning Symphony Ideas). These days, Merriweather lives in La

Jolla, California where she is active in local

community historical preservation,

environmental issues, preservation of marine

life and protection of the La Jolla Pacific

Ocean coastline as co-founder of the non-

profit Friends of WindanSea, and a member

of California Coastal Access Trust.

Checking on the auction results, apparently the item did not meet

the minimum reserve as it did not sell.

JAMMING WITH HENDRIX & CLAPTON …Hash Howard

calls himself “an aging Hippie Flowerchild,” who was once a “raging

drummer in rock and blues groups.” For a fleeting couple of hours in

his musical history, Howard had the chance to sit in on as drummer

on an informal jam with Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.

As he tells the story, “We had a kick-ass band called The

Observation Balloon. We were blues-rocks, in the late 60s, who

played mostly in Greenwich Village. Robert Kulick played lead

guitar, Marty Davidoff played bass, Ron Umile played rhythm guitar

and was lead singer, and I played drums.”

Kulich went on to work with KISS (although lost the gig to Ace

Frehley although he did play on some studio tracks – and his brother

Bruce did land the gig with KISS for a time), toured with Meatloaf,

and enjoyed a stint with W.A.S.P. in the 90s. Davidoff played in a

few bands in the New York

City area, eventually

moving to California and

owned a construction

company before he was

killed in a motorcycle

accident in 2015. Ron

Umile went on to do some

production work with Dino

Valente and Quicksilver

Messenger Service.

Howard continues, “For

about a year and a half,

during the late Sixties, I

played in a band called

Observation Balloon. We

had been written up in

Billboard, the music

industry magazine,

complete with photo. For

about a year, we played four or five sets a night at the Cafe Wha? in

Greenwich Village. ‘The Wha?’ was a music club and was run by

Manny Roth, David Lee Roth’s (Van Halen) uncle.

“One night, during our continuing engagement there, a new group

came in to play. This group was led by a very tall, thin man, who

played lead guitar, named Jimmy James. His band was Jimmy James

and the Blue Flames. Another guitarist in the band was Randy

California, who later started a West Coast band with his father as

drummer, and called it Spirit.

“Both guitarists were amazingly good, but Jimi was all the more

impressive due to his height and the fact that he played lead guitar

with his teeth! He also held the guitar behind his head, under his legs,

behind his back - in short, in positions in which you would think it

impossible to play. No matter how he played it, no matter in what

position, he was incredible.

“Early in their engagement - possibly the first night they were

sharing the stage with us, Jimi came storming out, furious. It seems

that someone had stolen his guitar. He was raving about how he’d

played uptown in a disco, for a band leader named King Curtis. Jimi

said that he had worked his ass off to be able to buy this beauty of a

guitar, only to have to go crawling back (to the disco band leader) to

earn another one.

“It was a couple of weeks until the Blue Flames came back. And,

it was only for one night.

“That night, while the Blue Flames were playing and we were

taking our break, Jimi broke his E string. He asked around, and our

guitarist, Robert, was the only one with an extra. Jimi replaced his

string, and finished his set. Chas Chandler, a member of the English

band The Animals had been in the audience. He had come

specifically to see this incredible guitar player who made love to his

guitar while playing fantastic leads. The result was that he took Jimi

to England; six months or so later, Jimi Hendrix was a big hit in

England, and came storming back to America.

“A few weeks after Jimi’s triumphant return from England, I was

hanging out at the Greenwich Village club, Salvation. I saw Jimi on

the dance floor. It was like old home week; we greeted each other

like old friends, talking about what’s been going on. Then Jimi asked

if I knew anybody who had a loft, ‘where Eric Clapton and I can

jam.’ My first reaction was to say to Jimi, ‘You’re full of shit!

Clapton?’ Jimi simply pointed across the dance floor. There was

Clapton. Because I had known Jimi, briefly, as a fellow musician

from the Cafe Wha?, it hadn't struck me that he was the famous

person he’d already become. And Jimi wasn't in a hurry to act like a

Big Star; he was still just another rock musician.

“I told Jimi that I had a loft where my band rehearsed. So we all

piled into a Volkswagen microbus driven by one of his friends,

stopped at my apartment to get the keys, and went to the loft. At two

in the morning, Jimi, Eric and I sat down to play. Since they were

borrowing my group's guitars (Eric played Bob Kulick's guitar, one

of the now-valuable Lucille guitars - his was an Epiphone, I think -

from B. B. King; Jimi played Ron Umile's Fender). We waited while

Jimi switched the strings around - he was a lefty. And then the fun

began! For about two hours we jammed. We played anything that

came into their heads. As a drummer, I just went along with it all. I

was in heaven. Jimi was an incredible guitarist; Eric Clapton was

equally brilliant.

“Though we were in a loft on West Nineteenth Street, in an

industrial area of Manhattan, the police broke up the session. Seems

that we were a few doors down from a firehouse, and we had been

keeping the firemen awake. But, for two hours or so, I played with

two of the best rock musicians who ever lived!

Note: In response to a few requests about the kind of music we

played, names of songs, etc., Hash wanted to add this: “When

musicians in the late 60s got together for a jam, they frequently

started off with a traditional blues type of thing, 12 or 16-bar blues

riffs, which were similar to old tracks by B.B. King, and the like, but

really were not actual songs. So, the jam with Jimi and Eric went the

same way, starting off with something like ‘Blue Monday’, and then

taking its own feel from there. We played for a long time, with few

breaks as we didn't really stop. Eric, for example, would take the

lead, and Jimi would follow. Then as something occurred to Jimi,

he'd take the lead, and Eric would follow. It went like this for a long,

wonderful time, with nothing firm, song-wise.” In a follow up on a Hash Howard tribute website it’s noted, “A

man named Steve Paul owned a club called The Scene. Located down

the stairs off Eighth Avenue on 46th Street, it was a club where many

mid-level groups and acts played, but it was also known as a spot

where the top people in the entertainment field, especially rock

musicians, would spend the late nights, getting together often for

jams. “One night (probably June of 1968) Hash had been at the Record

Plant with Jimi Hendrix and his band the Experience: drummer Mitch

Mitchell and their bass player, Noel Redding. It was one of the first

recording studios anywhere that had thirty-two tracks and hooked

together, they could produce a sixty-four track studio. Jimi was really

proud of this toy, and wanted to show it to everyone. Having known

Hash for a while now, he almost dragged Hash along to the studio to

see this new toy while they finished a track.

“Done with the recording for the night, they walked over to The

Scene, only about two blocks away, just up Eighth Avenue from the

Record Plant, which was on 44th street, between Eighth and Ninth

Avenues. When they got there, a jam had already been going on for a

while. Larry Coryell was playing with Jack Casady - the bass player

from the Jefferson Airplane, and a few others. So, Mitch Mitchell

went up and waited for an opening and sat down to play drums.

“About 20 minutes later, they stopped for a change of personnel,

and Hash decided to jump in behind the drums. It never occurred to

him that he was going to follow the great Mitch Mitchell, in an open

jam, and probably make a complete fool of himself. But the biggest

surprise to Hash, and others, who didn’t know him, was that he fit

right in, did not make an ass of himself, and came off after the set to a

nice round of applause. To the audience, Hash was just one more top

rocker of the day, having fun with the rest of them.”

You can check him out at www.hashhoward.com

R.I.P. GUITAR LEGEND LARRY CORYELL … Larry Coryell

is considered one of the pioneers of jazz-rock. His career spanned

over five decades. Words such as inspiration, innovation and integrity

sum up his influence his playing has had on the jazz-rock movement.

Larry Coryell, the jazz guitarist known as the "Godfather of Fusion,"

passed away February 19, found in his hotel room after a gig in New

York City, according to his publicist Jim Eigo. He was 73.

Coryell, who passed away in his sleep from natural causes, had

performed his last two shows over this weekend at the city's Iridium

Jazz Club.

Coryell was still performing more than 50 years after his first

recordings. He played at New York jazz club Iridium on Friday and

Saturday night, and had plans for a summer tour with his fusion

group The Eleventh House.

Coryell's recordings in the late 1960s, first with his band the Free

Spirits, then with the Gary Burton Quartet and finally as a

bandleader, predicted the rise of jazz-rock fusion and contributed to

the sonic evolution the genre.

Known as the "Godfather of Fusion," Coryell was a pioneer of jazz-

rock. He made his mark in the music world with his highly acclaimed

solo work, releasing more than 60 solo albums in his lifetime.

Coryell performed with mid-'70s powerhouse fusion band The

Eleventh House and collaborated with jazz greats including Miles

Davis, Gary Burton, Alphonse Mouzon, Ron Carter and Chet Baker.

Though his commercial fame didn't match some of his '60s-'70s

guitar contemporaries,

Coryell continued to tour

the world and had planned

an extensive 2017

summer tour with a

reformed The Eleventh

House.

Coryell’s career crossed

paths with Jimi Hendrix

in the mid-60s, when they

were both playing the

Greenwich Village scene

in New York City.

Coryell was actually in

the studio with Jimi when

Hendrix recorded “House

Burning Down”. Coryell

jammed with Hendrix

August 6, 1968 at the

Scene Club in New York City (pictured here).

Coryell talked about the jazz presence of Hendrix on the Creative

Arts Cultural Exchange program you can watch here:

https://youtu.be/WQbN-hFz2EA

Over the last few years of Coryell’s career, he shared through

clinics his knowledge and history. Here’s a video of one of those

events, again talking about Hendrix along with Paco De Lucia, John

McLaughlin, Bill Evans and Scott Lafaro among others at the Players

School of Music Master Class Series - https://youtu.be/-yKjDhgQpig

Having been in the studio and watched Hendrix record “House

Burning Down”, Coryell offered up his own interpretation on the

2003 various artist compilation Voodoo Crossing: A Tribute To Jimi

Hendrix (Horizons HZ 017). With his son Murali providing vocals,

Coryell felt it essential to cover the song here.

“After so many years it was fitting that my son would sing a

Hendrix lyric,” he says. “When Murali was just a few weeks old, his

mother and I brought him in his little basket to the Fillmore East

(January 30-31, 1970) for my gig with Jack Bruce and Mitch Mitchell

(billed as Jack Bruce & Friends in a dual bill with Mountain), and

Jimi showed up in the dressing room and looked down on my infant

son. There was a mystic connection there.”

Coryell amended Hendrix’s arrangement with the help of

bassist/electronic percussionist Paul Santa Maria, injecting his own

electrifying jazz passages and phrasings on what we feel is the

strongest cut included in this project. Coryell’s fingers fly over the

neck of the guitar faster than the uptempo version included here.

“Jimi was a great guitar player,” says Coryell. “Clapton referred to

his ‘strong fingers.” I agreed. Jimi’s string-bending ability and his

patented Strat sound will never be matched or equaled. This is a great

honor to participate in a project involving one of the greatest

musicians of the 20th century.”

He included “Purple Haze” on the follow up tribute Gypsy Blood: A

Tribute To Jimi Hendrix, Vol. 2 (Horizons HZ023). The track was a

highlight of that various artist compilation.

In a review published in Voodoo Child, “Coryell reminds us that

the song was one of Jimi’s ‘flag wavers, replete with loudness and

distortion.’ Purposefully, Coryell turns the song completely around,

opening with acoustic guitars before sliding effortlessly into a

mélange that combines Hendrix’s original chords with his own self-

composed ‘Toy Soldiers’.”

Coryell also did a version of “Manic Depression” on his

2006 release Traffic (Chesky 322). In 2011, Larry Coryell

participated in a Jimi Hendrix 69th birthday party tribute concert at

B.B. King’s in New York City. Producer Larry Blumenthal captured

some of the pre-party warm up which we found on YouTube -

https://youtu.be/PH0XVEG-kGE doing “Blue Monk” and Hendrix’s

“Jam 292”. Coryell returned to perform at the annual event in 2015.

BOOKS (Vol. 103) …The Hendrix library continues to grow. But

remember, “As you well know you just can’t believe everything you

see and hear, can you?” We must say that because some of the

material that has come out is questionable regarding historical

accuracy. At the same time, another volume brings to light that Jimi

Hendrix played a Telecaster on the recording of “Purple Haze”.

Brokenlight: Jimi’s Last Joint

By Colin Betts

Amazon Digital Services

80 pages Kindle Digital

2016 $1.99

The first thing we have to say is please take anything in this book

with a grain of salt. While author Betts has continued to say all the

stories in his books are true, it is nearly impossible to believe he was

there. Brokenlight is the third in a trilogy of autobiographical books

of his journeys through life. This time around, he claims to have been

partying with Hendrix the night of his death. For someone who states

he no longer has his diaries and notes, it is amazing how he can

provide quoted transcripts of the conversations at the party and

unearthing another account regarding Hendrix’s death. This book

does nothing more than make the truth about how Hendrix died more

murkier as there are those who will accept his statements of “fact.” If

it was something of substance, I’m sure it would be a published work,

as opposed to a $1.99 Kindle download.

Dr. Colin Betts says he now lives quietly in rural Scotland after a

life which has taken in everything from lecturing and musical

performance to robbery and drug smuggling.

His initial memoir Frozenlight is a trip through the 1960s - how he

ran away with The Rolling Stones at age 15; was propositioned by

the Manson family in California; smuggled drugs worldwide; became

embroiled in the Paris riots of 1968 and busked with the legendary

Nick Drake in the South of France. Its sequel Burninglight delves

into his time in India and Afghanistan, setting up a smuggling route

for top quality hashish all the way to London

In Brokenlight, Betts claims he was at the party that Hendrix

attended at Philip Harvey’s house the night of his death. He claims

his name has never been brought up in any previous historical

investigation into the last hours of Jimi’s life saying he was an

international drug runner at the time and needed to stay under the

radar. He goes on to say living abroad, he was unaware of the myriad

of accounts and convoluted stories of Jimi’s death, noting it was only

recently it was brought to his attention and the time had come to set

the record straight.

Betts starts by saying that it was only recently when a friend

showed him a story of Jimi’s last hours that he “realized how

shabbily recorded history has treated the great man. Instead of truth

we are mostly offered the dubious recollections and unreliable

revisions of various witnesses with their own reasons to spin the

story.”

But that’s exactly what Betts does. He offers no corroboration of

his presence at the party. Betts says while he kept notebooks over the

years those have been lost and, “So I’ve written this account off the

top of my head…” Amazing how he could transcribe conversations

from that night over 40 years ago from memory – when he was

heavily involved in the drug trade.

And while Betts does appear to have done his research and does

paint a somewhat accurate picture of him being there from the

Hendrix information readily available, unfortunately, now that this

story is published, it will be fact. It is very disconcerting to have

stories like this come out without proof of their accounting and

accuracy, without any other individual substantiating the information.

Hendrix at Home: A Bluesman in

Mayfair

By Christian Lloyd

Handel House Trusy

ISBN 978-0-9541670-1-1

Paperback 96 pages

2016 £9.99

In February of 2016, the London flat

that became “home” for Jimi Hendrix at

23 Brook Street was restored as part of a

permanent exhibit by the Handel House

Trust

Hendrix at Home: A Bluesman in

Mayfair serves as a narrative for the

exhibit, encapsulating the time from when Kathy Etchingham took

lease on the premises in 1967 through 1969 when she realized she

could no longer live within the parameters of Jimi’s lifestyle and they

parted ways.

At one time, Jimi did call it “home,” and it was the longest period

of a permanent address for him.

As author Chrstian Lloyd outlines in the preface regarding what

we know about Jimi Hendrix, “From now on, we must rely on

successive generations of fans, musicians, historians, curators and

musicologists to make his meanings. What is today close to half a

century of documentaries, fanzines, websites, museum exhibitions,

and biographies, has settled into a detailed, but incomplete and

inevitably repetitive account of a very short life. Paradoxically, this

sedimentation of secondary material takes us both closer and further

away from the man and his music.”

Yet, as this book is a memoir of that time in Jimi’s life serving as

a momento of a visit to the Brook Street flat, ironically Lloyd poses

the question himself of the exhibit – “Memory” or “History”? He

even says of the exhibit, it is a “suggestive re-imagining rather than a

replica.”

Hendrix at Home gives us a detailed insight into that period. How

Jimi and Kathy detailed and decorated the flat. How they spent their

time. We get a view of the neighborhood, the stores and the social

environment. We find out where the couple ate, as well as what they

ate. We explore what was happening in Jimi’s career that impacted

his time at the flat, and his relationship with Kathy.

Lloyd gives us a well-constructed, adeptly written, concise time

capsule of the life and times of Jimi Hendrix at 23 Brook Street. But

even as he noted in the book’s preface, he must act as a historian

compiling information for the myriad of sources and the few

remaining souls on this earth who had touched Jimi at that moment in

time.

The book is only available by ordering through the Handel House

Trust - https://handelhendrix.org/shop/

Jimi Hendrix – All Jazzed Up!

Hal Leonard HL00174441

ISBN 978-1-4950-6992-5

Paperback 40 pages

$12.99 2017

With the All Jazzed Up! Series from Hal Leonard, “pop hits receive

unexpected fresh treatments…Uniquely reimagined and crafted for

intermediate piano solo.”

Over the years, we’ve heard various pianists serve up their

classical and jazz interpretations proving Hendrix can fit the genre.

From the jazz interpretations of Andy Cowan, Reed Robbins, Jamie

Cullen, Ken Elkinson to the classical renditions of Hendrix material

from Dietmar Bonnen, Alexandre DaCosta and Canadian Paul

Plimley; we’ve been exposed to the Hendrix guitar licks being

interpolated to the piano. And as piano bars are enjoying a

resurgence, the ability to provide charts for Hendrix to fit is ideal.

Ten songs are explored here: Castles Made of Sand, Fire, Hey Joe,

Little Wing, Purple Haze, Spanish Castle Magic, The Wind Cries

Mary, Crosstown Traffic, Foxey Lady and Manic Depression.

A photo of Hendrix by Cal Bernstein adorns the cover.

Jimi Hendrix Bass Tab Collection

Hal Leonard HL00160506

ISBN 978-1-4950-6490-6

Paperback 216 pages

2017 $22.99

Hal Leonard continues their tablature detailing of Hendrix material

with this Bass Tab Collection, exploring the recorded versions of 27

Hendrix songs. The transcriptions pull material from both the

Experience and Band Of Gypsys periods as the volume, “features the

bass lines of Noel Redding and Billy Cox.” Yet, only Redding is

featured on the cover, a photo of Noel with Jimi backstage at the

Saville Theater in London from June 4, 1967.

Songs included are: All Along The Watchtower, Bold As Love,

Castles Made Of Sand, Changes, Crosstown Traffic, Ezy Ryder, Fire,

Foxey Lady, Freedom, Gypsy Eyes, Hey Joe, I Don't Live Today, If

Six Was Nine, Izabella, Little Miss Lover, Little Wing, Machine

Gun, Manic Depression, Power Of Soul (Power To Love), Purple

Haze, Red House, Remember, Spanish Castle Magic, Stone Free,

Voodoo Child (Slight Return), Who Knows and The Wind Cries

Mary.

Unlike most other Hal Leonard tab books, there is no introduction

and packed with 214 of the 216 pages tab.

Jimi, Sly & Me

By Steve Banks

Studio 6 Art Press

ISBN: 978-0982208915

Paperback 80 pages

2010 $34.50

His name is not a renowned as the likes of Baron Wolman, Henry

Diltz or Jim Marshall, but independent photographer Steve Banks

was one of the many semi-professional photographers of the era to

have been able to gain access to press credentials and be up close to

capture some stellar pictures of Jimi Hendrix live in concert.

Jimi, Sly & Me is his photo journal of the concert May 10, 1968 at

the Fillmore East in New York. In his summary of the performances

of the two acts, it was an electric evening with Sly & the Family

Stone, who at the time were enjoying Top 10 success with “Dance to

the Music” and mesmerizing audiences with their dynamic

performances, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, who had become

one of rock music’s major concert draws and a favorite of Fillmore

fans, were teamed up for this double bill.

Describing the Experience performance, Banks says, “It felt like a

small sonic boom resounding around the Fillmore walls. Jimi was

twisting and mixing the melody into his blender; his Stratocaster

pouring out distorted, overdriven, fuzz-toned reverberations of wah-

wahs, flanging, and pitch shifting. This guy was channeling his

melodies just like Mozart did centuries before him,” going on to note,

“Hendrix had the whole place under his spell with volley after volley

of candy colored rainbows and never before heard harmonics pouring

over us.”

But, it’s not about his brief two-page description of the concert

that is the key to this book. It’s the stellar 14 images of Hendrix that

the volume contains. Art quality reproductions that capture the pure

essence of Hendrix live.

Unlike many other photo books, this is not a coffee table edition.

The paperback book format size is only 8”x8” – with the photos

measuring 6”x4 ½” (for the eight vertical images published) and 5”x6

½” (for the six horizontal images published).

Banks notes in his final coda, “I’ve photographed a lot of music

since that concert and I can tell you nobody before or since has come

close to what I heard and saw this Friday evening.”

We’re glad he’s decided to share it with us.

London Live

By Tony Bacon

Miller Freeman / Balafon Books

ISBN 0-87930-572-X

Paperback 192 pages

$19.95 1999

What was the London club scene like? Author Tony Bacon traces the

history of the London music scene and the clubs that existed.

Subtitled “the inside story of live bands in the capital’s trail-blazing

music clubs,” the book takes us from the early 1900’s dance halls and

jazz clubs through the skiffle era, evolution of rock in the 1960’s to

the pub-rock and punk scene of the 70’s.

While this is not a Hendrix-specific book, a portion of it does give

us insight to the music scene that was evolving when Jimi landed in

London, and gives us some of the vibe of the clubs and atmosphere of

the era to better understand the emergence of the Jimi Hendrix

Experience.

The scene at the time had recently seen the progression of the folk

music clubs, heading in a new direction when “(Bob) Dylan’s visit to

Britain with The Hawks and a selection of amplifiers in May 1966

had alerted British folk musicians to the possibilities of electric

instruments.” And the progression of British R&B musicians and

venues with the recognition of the need for the post-war youth for

musical outlets coupled with their newly found freedoms that evolved

into the artistic creativity of psychedelia.

Then Jimi Hendrix emerged on the scene. And suddenly R&B,

psychedelia and rock were all fused into one explosive new genre.

Hendrix actually only passes through the

book in a few brief pages, but maintains an

important position in the progression of musical

styles.

The book touches on his landing in London

and first appearance at the Scotch of St. James, a

review of the Experience’s appearance at Blaises

on December 21 and gigs at the Marquee.

More importantly in the theme of this volume

we get to sense more of the vibe of the scene and

the clubs. The Marquee, Roundhouse, UFO,

Saville, Speakeasy and others. We get to

understand better the importance of The Beatles, Pink Floyd and even

Geno Washington on the scene. We find out a little more about the

happenings of the era including events at the Roundhouse and the

Experience’s performance at the Christmas on Earth event December

22 (1967).

The Guitar Grail

by Chris Adams

Rowman & Littlefield

ISBN 978-1-4422-4679-9

208 pages Hardcover

2016 $35

Chris Adams was guitarist with the Scottish folk-rock band String

Driven Thing. Sometime around 1973 Adams visited the Sound City

music store in London in search of a new guitar. He took a liking to a

used Fender Telecaster. The guitar was well worn with scratches and

dents, Fender logo missing from the headstock, along with pickups

and machineheads changed – the latter modifying the guitar for a left-

handed player. Still, to Adams, it felt right. Then he asked the store

salesman why the left-handed tuners. The response, “One of

Hendrix’s roadies brought the guitar in.”

Some 40 years later, Adams was prompted to go on a historical

search to find out if this guitar was really owned and played by Jimi

Hendrix.

Sleuthing, internet searching, interviewing, questioning,

documenting.

Adams tracks down surviving musicians (some who actually died

during the years of the book’s research) and people who worked with

the Experience members to shed light on the fate of the guitar. He

follows a trail that found the guitar was in Noel Redding’s possession

a couple of times during its travels, and ultimately – if this guitar was

truly Hendrix’s – inherited by Mitch Mitchell when Jimi died who

then sold it off a couple years later deeming it didn’t have much

worth.

The book is fascinating, especially in light of the number of alleged

Hendrix guitars that have come up for auction in the past few years

that have sold for extraordinary prices considering they have been of

questionable covenance with little to no collaboration of their

authenticity.

And while the primary premise of the book is to document

the guitar as Hendrix’s, what we ultimately get is one of the

best biographies of the Jimi Hendrix Experience . That’s right,

the Experience. More than just Hendrix, in following the trail

of the guitar Adams has to spend a lot of time tracing the

history of Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell.

One of the most interesting details Adams has unearthed in the

book is that Hendrix actually played a Telecaster, not his usual

Stratocaster, on “Purple Haze”. As the story goes, he had damaged

his guitar at a gig earlier and they needed a guitar for the session.

Redding had already traded the guitar to his former bandmate Trevor

Williams of The Lonely Ones. As it turned out, they were gigging

nearby and Redding borrowed the needed guitar for the session.

As mentioned, while this is a history of the guitar, it is truly a

biography of the band. Detailed travels of Noel Redding during his

pre-Experience years. Rare interviews tracking history with Linda

Keith, Roger Mayer, Eric Barrett and a host of others. Mitch

Mitchell’s possession of Hendrix gear after Jimi passed.

As Adams tracks down the surviving musicians and

acquaintances, they shed light on the fate of that Telecaster

leaving Adams to decipher the details. Throughout, Adams

weaves his own story as a rock musician and tells how, against

the odds, he managed to hold on to this remarkable instrument.

Adams follows trails until he reaches dead ends, and then doubles

back to make sure there is no other route to traverse. The path snakes

and winds, twists and turns, and at times feels like it’s going in

circles. Undaunted, Adams continues to move forward.

He finds the guitar has been modified, shaved, refinished, painted,

with hardware modifications. He talks to Fender guitar factory

historians and luthiers. He leaves no stone unturned.

In final summary, he feels he is 99% sure the guitar in his

possession is the one. Yet in the end, he has to leave that 1% of

doubt.

And while that result matters to Adams, what matters to us is the

detail and documentation of Hendrix history making this an

indispensable addition to any Hendrix library.

Jimi Hendrix: 50 Years On – The Truth

By Rod Harrod

PROmpt Press

ISBN 978-1519027672

102 pages paperback

2016 $5

Author Rod Harrod was on the inside of the evolution of rock and

roll in the U.K. From his teenage years, when he became the Welsh

correspondent for Melody Maker magazine covering all the major

acts who came through the region. When he was just 18 he relocated

to London and became a leading music gossip columnist for Melody

Maker’s sister publication Disc. That lead him to a management job

at the London club Scotch of St. James.

The theme of the book is “I was

there.” And he certainly was on the

night of September 26, 1966 when

Jimi Hendrix made his debut public

appearance in the U.K., sitting in with

the V.I.P.’s as he was managing the

club and graced Hendrix manager

Chas Chandler with the opportunity

for Hendrix to hit the stage.

Harrod approaches his story with

the premise, “Jimi is the most

maligned and lied about performer,”

in rock history. “There have been

cover-ups, re-inventions, mangles and

simple changes in stories,” going on

to note that even the “whispers and

recollections get adopted as the truth.”

What he set out to do with this book is to reveal the truth – because,

“I was there.”

What he does present is an encapsulation of that one night in

Hendrix history and the events that led up to the performance and

dispel some of the other stories of legend.

He prefaces his story with an introduction that puts the British

social, media and music scene in perspective for us to understand

how Chandler was able to bring Hendrix to market. He describes the

favors Chandler was calling in to get Hendrix the gig. And he

provides in depth detail of that given night.

Regarding the myths, he points to one published piece that

indicated Chas quit managing Jimi because he found him in bed with

Lotta (Chas’ wife). “This wasn’t just inaccurate, it was repugnant.”

He also makes claim Chas, not Noel Redding, played bass on “Hey

Joe” noting, “This isn’t a criticism of Noel but indicates Chas had a

specific sound in his head. It was an admirable first production

decision. After all Noel had only switched to play bass a few weeks

earlier.”

One interesting story he brings to the table in that the Jimi Hendrix

Experience almost never was. He says while Hendrix was sitting in

with the V.I.P’s on this particular evening, Chandler actually solicited

the band to be Jimi’s permanent backup band. Howver, they would

have had to fire their lead singer and they opted to decline the offer.

But then the book starts to fall apart. Harrod starts providing details

of Hendrix when he headed back to New York after enjoying success.

The problem is Harrod wasn’t there. He confuses the New York

“cosmic ladies” to the Plastercasters and involvement with women

including Carol Shiroky and Linda Keith. Then he goes on to put his

perspective in on how Hendrix died. Again, he wasn’t there.

The first part of the book telling the tale of Jimi’s first appearance

in the U.K. would make a great magazine article, or even a couple

pages in a book. 46 pages of the book are valid in the documentation

of Hendrix history, but the other 56 should have been deleted. Still,

since the book is only $5, less than if he would have given the story

to a magazine to publish to add to the Hendrix archives.

And there’s more books to come. At press time, we understand the

fifth volume of Ben Valkhoff’s Foxy Papers is out offering press

clippings covering October 1968 through January 1969…The fine art

archives publishing creative Iconic Images has teamed with ACC

Editions to offer a coffeetable edition Burning Desire: The Jimi

Hendrix Experience Through the Lens of Ed Caraeff with over a

hundred pictures capturing the Experience at Monterey, 8/10/67

Hollywood Bowl, 2/9/68 Anaheim Convention Center, 2/13/68

Ackerman Ballroom at UCLA, 9/14/68 Hollywood Bowl, 10/19/68

Whisky A Go-Go, and Jimi’s two appearances the weekend of 6/20-

22/69 at Newport…The Monkees’ Mike Nesmith has come forward

with his stories in his new memoir, Infinite Tuesday, where he recalls

his days with The Monkees, forming his own group, creating one of

the first music videos, writing novels and becoming friends with the

likes of John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix.

COMPACT DISCS (Vol. 103) …The Gypsy Eye Project is a

Japanese label that continues to crank out unauthorized product. It

has been difficult to find releases from the Japanese Gypsy Eye

Project label, and have to rely on the reviews published in the

excellent Jimi Hendrix fanzine Jimpress which we’ve encapsulated

some of them here. Check them out at www.jimpress.uk

One we have to mention from a Jimpress posting, but don’t

necessarily include in the Hendrix archives is Praying Silently For

Jimi (Empress Valley) crediting Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. It’s

a Japanese 5CD box set of which the first four discs feature two live

Led Zeppelin shows that day after Jimi died at Madison Square

Garden. The last disc is Hendrix – a copy of the rare Electric Hendrix

(Track) album.

ALIVE ON FIRE *

(Gypsy Eye Project GEP-223)

3/18/67 TwenclubNDR Funkhaus, Hamburg, Germany

9/5/67 Radiohuset, Stockholm, Sweden

5/18/69 Miami Pop Festival, Miami, Florida (4 songs)

9/2/70 Vejlby-Risskov Hallen, Arhus, Denmark

7/4/70 Atlanta Pop Festival, Byron, Georgia

Five performances on 2CDs. Nothing new, and bootlegged to death.

Plus, the Radiohuset is presented in the wrong sequence of

performance; the Miami Pop is the original Univibes release of only

four songs (the complete show now commercially available), and

ditto on the Atlanta Pop Festival (although this release includes “Hey

Baby” which is not on the official release). Still nothing really new to

get excited about. (2016)

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED SESSIONS **

(Gypsy Eye Project GEP-229)

Disc one: Disc two:

Hey Joe (3:44) Red House (10:46)

Can You See Me (8:42) La Poupee Qui Fair Non

51st Anniversary (4:58) Manic Depression (9:37)

Fire (7:33) Remember (17:45)

Red House (4:10) May This Be Love (3:11)

Hey Joe (8:56) Stone Free (3:38)

Hey Joe (3:24) Can You See Me (2:33)

Purple Haze (2:58) Are You Experienced (2:41)

Fire (2:32) Look Over Yonder (2:53)

The Wind Cries Mary (3:30 Taking Care Of No Business

I Don’t Live Today (15:42) Cat Talkin’ To Me (2:35)

Another hodgepodge compilation of outtakes from material for the

debut release of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. While interesting, has

been done before. Nothing new on this release. Only of interest if you

are just starting to explore the music and seek some of the studio

outtakes to initiate your experience to Hendrix.

AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL **

(Breakdown 474)

Introduction/Tune Up (7:07)

Are You Experienced (5:51)

Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) (814)

Red House (9:59)

Foxy Lady (4:56)

Fire (3:47)

Sunshine Of Your Love (5:45)

I Don’t Live Today (5:21)

Little Wing (3:38)

Star Spangled Banner (2:52)

Purple Haze (5:25)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience were returning to the Hollywood Bowl

as headliners after nearly being booed off the stage a year earlier

when they opened for The Mamas and The Papas. Decades ago,

Hendrix fans got the first taste of this 9/14/68 concert at the

Hollywood Bowl on the vinyl release Live At The Hollywood Bowl

(TMOQ). But the release was missing songs from the set. Still, other

versions continued to get recycled over the years, still missing those

tracks. Finally, Electric Shock At The Hollywood Bowl (Rattlesnake)

gave us the complete show including the introduction and tune up.

This is a copy of that release.

BALLROOM ON FIRE *

(Breakdown 595)

Killing Floor (5:05)

Foxy Lady (4:10)

The Wind Cries Mary (3:41)

Fire (2:35)

Red House (4:53)

I Don’t Live Today (4:37)

Purple Haze (6:25)

Wild Thing (3:50)

A new unauthorized Japanese label has emerged, and actually given

us something worth adding to the collection.

The disc captures the first show from the Experience performance

3/10/68 at the International Ballroom in the Hilton Hotel in

Washington, D.C. where they resided for three days. This is not the

first time we have seen this concert released, but does provide

significantly better audio fidelity then the only other complete release

on the Major Tom label. (2016)

ELECTRIC LADYLAND SESSIONS *

(Gypsy Eye Project GEP-199)

Disc one: Disc two:

My Friend (4:39) Rainy Day Shuffle (5:15)

My Friend (4:35) Rainy Day Shuffle (1:31i)

Little Miss Strange (3:28) Rainy Day Shuffle (5:54)

1983 (4:18) Rainy Day Shuffle (2:11)

Somewhere (3:59) Rainy Day, Dream Away (3:15)

Somewhere (4:01) Rainy Day, Dream Away (5:20)

Somewhere (3:57) Rainy Day, Dream Away (7:38)

Somewhere (3:47) Rainy Day, Dream Away (7:32)

Long Hot Summer Night (3:29) Jazz Jimi Jazz (12:10)

Long Hot Summer Night (3:27) Electric Ladyland Blues

Little Miss Strange (2:55) (Have You Ever Been

Little Miss Strange (2:50) To Electric Ladyland) (6:11)

Little Miss Strange (2:50)

1983 (4:33)

1983/Moon Turn the Tides (14:40)

Gypsy Eyes (2:01)

Gypsy Eyes (2:08)

Walking Through the Garden (4:43)

Disc three:

Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) (1:30)

Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) (4:54)

Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) (3:26)

Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) (0:42)

Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) (2:11)

Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) (2:11)

…And the Gods Made Love (1:08)

…And the Gods Made Love (0:51)

…And the Gods Made Love (1:24)

…And the Gods Made Love (1:23)

Room Full of Mirrors (1:25)

Come On (Part One) (1:15)

Come On (Part One) (2:55)

Come On (Part One) (2:52)

Come On (Part One) (4:26)

Come On (Part One) (4:08)

“As we surmised, this is simply a copy of the first three discs of

Naked Ladyland, once more demonstrating the lack of imagination

evident in all the Gypsy Eye Project’s releases,” notes Jimpress in

their review. While a nice compilation, all tracks have been

bootlegged to death. (2016)

THE CRY OF LOVE SESSIONS ***

(Gypsy Eye Project GEP-209)

NEW YORK MIXING SESSIONS

(Gypsy Eye Project GEP-217)

Night Bird Flying (1035)

Dolly Dagger (4:54)

Freedom (9:20)

Drifting (41:29)

From a review in Jimpress, these four tracks, “come from reference

tapes made by Jimi during the various mixing sessions and, while

they contain many fascinating moments, they are very fragmented

and therefore not an easy listen.” But they go on to say, “On the

upside, if you are a completist, all sessions appear here in complete

form, as complete as is circulating that is, marking a first release for

the complete ‘Night Bird Flying’ and ‘Freedom’ sessions.” At the

same time, the label tries to suck buyers in with things like this –

basically the same 2CD set released less than a year apart under

different titles, cover art and label number. (2015/2016)

HELL’S SESSION *

(Gypsy Eye Project GEP-211)

Driving South (12:32)

Drone Blues (8:59)

It’s Too Bad (4:52)

Jimi/Jimmy Jam (7:53)

Young/Hendrix (14:44)

On one hand, this is a digitized copy of the album Hells Sessions. On

the other hand, that album has been long out of print and for newer

Hendrix fans, while most of this material has seen the light of day on

various releases, it is a chance to move from vinyl to CD. Because it

is transferred from an album, its only about 48-minutes of material,

so one may feel shortchanged.

The disc opens with “Driving South” from a session 3/25/68 at the

Record Plant with John McLaughlin and Buddy Miles. “Drone

Blues” is from a 4/24/69 Record Plant session. “It’s Too Bad” is from

a 2/11/69 Record Plant session with organist Larry Young and Buddy

Miles. And the “Young/Hendrix” jam is from 5/14/69 Record Plant.

All released numerous times on other titles.

JIMI HENDRIX LIVE 0 *

(TDM30)

Purple Haze (3:56)

Fire (2:50)

Wild Thing (3:43)

Hey Joe (4:02)

Voodoo Child (Slight Return) (7:26)

Burning of the Midnight Lamp (3:55)

Foxy Lady (3:26)

Can You See Me (2:37)

Like A Rolling Stone (6:25)

Star Spangled Banner (3:15)

Aagh! Stop the pain with unauthorized titles like this. This one from

Italy Yes, this is Jimi Hendrix live. But a hodgepodge of tracks in no

particular order of chronology, and pulled from various concerts

(some incomplete) that have been widely circulated.

Still let’s at least list the running order: “Purple Haze”, “Fire”,

“Voodoo Chile” and “Star Spangled Banner” (1/9/69 Konserthuset,

Stockholm); “Can You See Me”, “Like a Rolling Stone” and an

incomplete “Wild Thing” (6/18/67 Monterey); along with “Hey Joe”,

“Burning of the Midnight Lamp” and “Foxy Lady” (9/5/67

Radiohuset, Stockholm). They didn’t even put the tracks from each

concert together in the release. Stop the pain!

THE LAST CONCERT IN SWEDEN ***

(Breakdown 621)

Disc one: Disc two:

Spanish Castle Magic (5:35) Hey Joe (5:05)

Killing Floor (4:46) Foxy Lady (5:43)

Hear My Train A Comin’ (13:37) Red House (10:21)

Message To Love (10:13) Room Full of Mirrors (3:48)

Hey Baby (New Rising Sun) (7:12) Straight Ahead (5:02)

In From The Storm (4:10) Purple Haze (12:45)

This ultimately turned out to be the final leg of the 1970 European

tour with a stop 9/1/70 at the Stora Scenen, Liseberg Nojespark in

Goteorg (Gothenburg), Sweden as 17 days later Jimi Hendrix was

dead.

With that, as Jimpress notes, “While not the best performance of

the tour and not the best quality audience recording, you will find this

is a show worthy of a listen any time. In common with many shows

on the final European tour it has a refreshing mix of the old and new

from ‘Hey Joe’ and ‘Killing Floor’ to five tracks that wouldn’t be

released until after Jimi’s death.”

While this concert has seen the light of day previously on Warm

Hello Of The Sun, that disc is long out of print for newer fans to be

able to find.

MIGNIGHT LIGHTNING SESSIONS **

(Gypsy Eye Project GEP-219)

Disc one: Disc two:

Midnight (6:00) Crash Landing (4:51)

Midnight Lightning (615) Midnight Lightning /

Hear My Train A Comin’ (3:28) Stoop Down Baby (6:16)

Gypsy Boy (3:18) Izabella/Machine Gun (8:12)

Blue Suede Shoes (11:34) Further Up The Road (1:38)

Machine Gun (12:17) Astro Man Jam (12:22)

One I Had A Woman (7:48) Country Blue (7:04)

Beginning (2:22) Lord, I Sing The Blues (4:39)

Midngiht Lightning (2:42) Message To Love (3:47)

Blue Sued Shoes (3:52) Stone Free (4:04)

Once I Had A Woman (5:29) Rock and Roll Jam (1:28)

Izabella (3:10)

In 1975, producer Alan Douglas reworked Hendrix material to give

us the commercially released Midnight Lightning. Over the years,

tracks from those and the original sessions have surfaced. And while

this might be a nice collection for newer Hendrix fans to study, there

is nothing new here for anyone longtime Hendrix collector to add to

their library as it is basically a combination of a 1990s release Gypsy

Suns, Moons and Rainbows (Sidewalk) and Midnight Ligthning

Revisited.

As a matter of fact, this exact set was released on colored vinyl a

couple years back under the same title.

NUREMBERG 1969 ****

(Breakdown 619)

Intro (2:22)

Fire (4:11)

Hey Joe (4:39)

Spanish Castle Magic (5:38)

Red House (4:09)

Foxy Lady (6:00)

Sunshine Of Your Love (8:19)

Little Wing (3:31)

Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) (10:12)

All Along The Watchtower (5:49)

Purple Haze (4:28)

In 2015, a tape of this second show from 1/16/69 at the 3,000-seat

Meistersingerhalle in Nuremburg, Germany started making the

rounds in collector’s circles. Here it is on CD.

PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE ****

(Breakdown 554)

Introduction (3:30)

Tax Free (8:54)

Fire (3:32)

Hey Joe (5:51)

Foxy Lady (4:59)

Red House (10:59)

Purple Haze (6:52)

Outroduction (0:08)

As noted in Jimpress, “The most surprising thing about this is that it

is a first release for the May 30, 1968 show at Hallenstadion, Zurich

as part of the Beat Monster Konzert shows.” They note, “The

recording quality is not great but we have seen much worse on many

a bootleg,” noting the source as an audience recording taped by

Arnold Soder (see Jimpress #99 for more detail).

The Experience were performing as part of the mammoth two-day

Beat Monsters concert that included The Move, Traffic, Small Faces,

The Koobas, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Eric Burdon’s New

Animals.

A riot breaks out during the show with the audience throwing beer

mats and chair legs on to the stage. Jimi stops playing during “Stone

Free” and emcee MC Giorgio Frapolli comes on stage to warn the

crowd that if the disruption continues Jimi will stop.

RAW BLUES *

(Gypsy Eye Project GEP-242)

Disc one: Disc two:

Red House (7:20) Jam 292 (6:37)

Born Under A Bad Sign (820) Voodoo Chile (9:17)

Once I Had A Woman (818) Strato Strut (1:51)

Easy Blues (4:38) Country Blues/Astro Man

Mannish Boy (5:52) Things I Used To Do (5:45)

Villanova Junction Jam (27:37) Bleeding Heart (3:31)

Hear My Train A Comin’ (8:13)

Belly Button Window (2:29)

Villanova Junction Jam (19:50)

While a nice compilation of Hendrix blues-flavored studio takes, this

is a copy of the recently released :Blues Outtakes (Eat A Peach).

Another non-creative Gypsy Eye Project, even copying the style of

artwork on the commercially released :Blues.

SUNSHINE MAGIC ISLAND **

(Breakdown 622)

Introduction (1:35)

Lovers Man (4:43)

I Don’t Live Today (8:20)

Red House (12:38)

Hear My Train A Comin’ (8:25)

Spanish Castle Magic / Earth Blues / Sunshine Of Your Love (9:23)

Foxy Lady (4:08)

Purple Haze / Star Spangled Banner (4:00)

Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) (9:39)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience headed to Providence, Rhode Island for

this concert on their 1969 U.S. tour 5/17/69. An audience recording

of a lackluster show, part of Hendrix history that needs to be in the

archives, but not one to go back to very often. And, it’s already seen

the light of day as One Night At The Arena (Venue) and Rhode Island

Red House (Major Tom). Don’t know where Breakdown came up

with the title for this one.

COVERS (Vol. 103)…We continue to pay homage to those who

keep the spirit of Jimi alive and honor Hendrix with their inspired

interpretations of his music.

Phil Brown – Live in Seattle

(Grooveyard GYR096)

“Manic Depression”

“Purple Haze”

“I Don’t Live Today”

“You Got Me Floatin’”

“One Rainy Wish”

“Love or Confusion”

“Fire”

“If Six Was Nine”

“Voodoo Child”

“Spanish Castle Magic”

Phil Brown may not be a household name, but his music is. This Los

Angeles-based songwriter has penned songs for Cher, Tower of

Power, Pat Benatar, Bonnie Tyler, Kim Carnes, Steve Perry, Lou

Graham, etal. He’s collected numerous gold and platinum awards.

His career includes a period as a roadie for Studio Instrument Rentals

and the Whiskey A-Go-Go; a tour with Little Feat after Lowell

George had passed away to fill in; and as a songwriter for Warner

Brothers and A&M Records.

Brown once declared Electric Ladyland was the album that

“changed the world forever.” Since that time, the acclaimed Los

Angeles-based songwriter has kept the spirit alive in his personal

music (having included a version of “If 6 Was 9” on his 2003 release

Cruel Inventions with Phil Brown & The Apaches From Paris). In

2006 he took his Hendrix tribute one step further with The Jimi

Project, an album of interpretations of Hendrix music that at the time

we commented, “This is Phil Brown meets Jimi Hendrix, not Phil

Brown is Jimi Hendrix as so many other tribute acts pretend to be.

We have to commend Brown for one of the most exploratory

evolutions of Hendrix we’ve heard to date.”

This disc captures Brown live at the Columbia City Theatre in

Seattle, Washington on June 29, 2006 in support of The Jimi Project

(Apache From Paris 25003) release. And while we get some live

flourishes of Brown’s guitar on some brief extensions of the album

tracks, we would have to say if you are going to invest in Brown’s

catalog, try to find the original studio release. (2012)

(www.philbrownguitar.com)

Jack Bruce – You Burned All

the Tables 1969-1992 (Crimson)

Uli Jon Roth – Das Jimi

Hendrix Konsert 1991(Crimson)

“Spanish Castle Magic”

“Who Knows”

“One Rainy Wish”

“The Wind Cries Mary”

Since his days with Cream, Jack

Bruce is a legendary figure in

rock music history with a career

that crossed paths with Jimi

Hendrix and the Experience clan

over and over. Unfortunately,

we lost Bruce in October of 2014, but he has left an indeliable stamp

with the music he left us with.

This disc offers a piecemeal compilation of performances from

Bruce. It opens with four Hendrix songs dated 1992. It was actually

1991 when on April 25, 1991 in Cologne, Germany, Scorprions’

guitarist Uli Jon Roth hosted a tribute concert in homage to Jimi

Hendrix. Gathered for the event were 16 renowned musicians

including the likes of Jack Bruce, Simon Phillips, Randy Hansen,

John Wetton, Zeno Roth, etal. The original project was broadcast on

German TV. The concert is available on CD as The Spirit Of Jimi

Hendrix Live In Concert (HQ 01/2) and was released on DVD as The

Spirit Of Jimi Hendrix Live In Concert (Global Premium TKLB

50141).

Pulled from that set we get four songs – “Spanish Castle Magic”,

“Who Knows” (faded out 1/3 the way through), “One Rainy Wish”

and “The Wind Cries Mary” with all arrangements staying on course

with the original Hendrix versions.

The remainder of the disc delivers tracks from four other concerts

dated 1969, 1971, 1975 and 1990. We’ve always envisioned Bruce as

a bass player, but he takes more of a frontman/vocalist roles on most

of these tracks. Of minor interest to Bruce fans, although a

hodgepodge of material. Most interesting is his solo version of

“Theme for an Imaginary Western” with just piano accompaniment

and an acoustic version of “Rope Ladder to the Moon” from the 1971

concert. (2015)

Brett Ellis Band – Electrified Live (Grooveyard GYR141)

“Freedom”

A mainstay on the hard rock music scene in the San Diego area for

over 20 years, the Brett Ellis Band is a power trio that has mastered

the art of fusing hard rock with the blues. One of the goals of the

band is “Keeping the Rock Alive,” the lead song on Electrified Live

setting the tone for their hard-edged sound.

Midway through the set they dig into Hendrix’s “Freedom”

staying true to his arrangement with a straight ahead, metal-edged

rock flavor with Ellis’ growling in-your-face rendering.

Ellis first emerged in 2008, serving up two albums of acoustic

classical guitar compositions by Fernando Sor. His catalog quickly

moved to bluesy Stratocaster expressionism, and continued to emerge

into a heavier rock sound with a hard blues edge.

This live set captures the energy of the band , but unfortunately,

their sound never became distinctive enough to break out any further

than the local music scene, albeit being called on regularly as an

opening act for national touring artists coming through. (2015)

(www.brettellisband.com)

Jan Gerfast Trio – Electric Blues Power (Grooveyard GYR 068)

“Voodoo Chile”

Over the years, Swedish guitarist Jan Gerfast has developed his own

style and sound dubbed “groovy blues.” His career spans over four

decades emerging from being a European vagabond and Parisian

street busker, to a period playing experimental rock music while

living the hippie life in the woods, to becoming a session player in

the 80’s. It was the end of that decade when he formed his own blues

band which has been his foundation ever since.

Impressed with his work, Grooveyard Records was

commissioning a compilation of Gerfast material from the 90s and

had requested an unpublished track. With that “Voodoo Child” is

included as a “bonus track.”

“I’ve had ‘Voodoo Child; in my repertoire since the 70’s,” Gerfast

says. While he doesn’t play it every night, “I play it on and off, when

I feel like it or when the audience requests it – and they do a lot.”

Various Hendrix songs have always been part of Gerfast’s

repertoire. “When I play his songs I don’t just try to make a cover. I

try to play them with my own feeling and improvise a lot. Just like

Jimi did from the beginning.”

Of the track, Gerfast says, “The version of ‘Voodoo Child’ on this

release is a wild version we did on a Scandanavian tour.” The year

was 1993, and Gerfast was then touring with two Texans - drummer

“Uncle John Turner (original drummer with Johnny Winter) and

Leland Parks on bass.

“It was recorded in Osby, Sweden where I was born.” The

homecoming stop was to a private audience. “The sound engineer

recorded it, so it is a live recording with the live energy.”

The disc features Gerfast at various points in time, but stands out

to demonstrate he was one of the most progressive players of the time

in the region. The disc opens with a song that could have come from

P-Funk, incorporating the rock-and-funk groove while introducing

rap decades before it became known. Other tracks leave the tastes of

Peter Green and Jimmy Page, along with Hendrix. And it only makes

righteous sense he closes the disc with “Voodoo Child”.

But it’s not just a close. It’s a statement! Raw and live, Gerfast

serves up a seven-minute earthy, electric paean. And he doesn’t end

there, extending the track another three minutes as the bass line

morphs into “Third Stone From the Sun” but Gerfast himself takes

off on a high-powered extended free form jam. It closes the disc with

an exclamation point.

“The biggest influence Jimi Hendrix has had on me is the way

he’d take a groove and improvise on it from his heart. Even if it’s just

one chord or a riff. That’s what I like to do and still do.” And that he

does. (2012) (www.jangerfast.com)

S.A. Harris – Steel Horse (Harris Music)

“Red House”

“The Wind Cries Mary”

Oregon native Sean Harris got his first job playing music in front of a

music store when he was just 10 years old.

“The first time a crowd gathered around me, I knew that this was

what I was born to do.” He continues, “In my teens I started a 50s-

70s rock review band that played all the hits.” But it was the likes of

Peter Green from Fleetwood Mac and Jimi Hendrix that first inspired

him.

Harris tell us, “Although I was born in 1968 (too young to discover

Jimi Hendrix while he was still living), the historical performances of

Monterey and Woodstock put Jimi Hendrix in the playlist of AM &

FM radio all across the world. I was blessed to discover Jimi

Hendrix listening to KYJC AM radio in Medford, Oregon in the mid-

1970s. His feel and how expressive his playing was what inspired

me to become a musician, and 40 years later I wanted to pay tribute

to Jimi by recording a couple of classic Hendrix pieces for my

homage to the Legend.”

On this Steel Horse project, the bulk of the material is original

although he does offer up versions of Mark Knopfler’s “Sultans of

Swing”, Billy Gibbons “Blue Jean Blues” and two pieces from

Hendrix – “Red House” and “The Wind Cries Mary”.

“Red House was a collaboration with fellow musician, Bobby

Beausoleil, via a set of guitar rhythm rifts I wrote for an original

composition on my first album Funny Farm titled ‘Drunken Six-

String Blues’.” Harris explains his arrangement. “Bobby just started

singing the lyrics to ‘Red House’ over the instrumental of ‘Drunken

Six-String Blues’ and we decided to slightly modify the song to fit

‘Red House’ and record our version of the song. “ Thus, we get an

alternate melody line to the slow blues drenched rendition Harris

serves up.

“I had been playing around with ‘The Wind Cries Mary’ for a while

and decided to record it and have vocalist Christian Hawkins sing it.”

You can check out the version on YouTube -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1lt91GKkUg&feature=youtu.be

"Red House" was also released on Bobby BeauSoleil's label as a

single. We are now cosmically linked to the spirit of Jimi.

Harris’ life is one of a survivor, and not always on the right side of

the law. He says, “The interesting part of producing the covers of

‘Red House’ and ‘The Wind Cries Mary’ is that Bobby and I are both

lifers who were serving time at the Oregon State Penitentiary together

in 2014 producing the songs from our respective prison cells.”

Bottom line is to Harris, “Music is the internal rhythm that drives

my soul.” (2014) (www.s-a-harris.com)

The Janeys – Get Down With The Blues (Grooveyard GYR113)

“Beginnings”

“Third Stone From The Sun”

A father-son duo from Iowa, Billy Lee and Bryce Janey serve us a

Midwest boogie-woogie edged blues-rock style. The disc opens with

their take on “Beginnings” putting their own four-minute voodoo

spell on the Hendrix track, while closing the disc with an interesting

read of “Third Stone From the Sun”. With drummer Eric Douglas

laying down a straight ahead percussive underlayment, Janey opens

with an dual-octave overlayment of the Hendrix lead lines eventually

progressing into a Texas/Southern rock twinged take, a bit of echo-

enhanced whammy bar bending, into a hard rock edged refrain as

Bryce and his father trade off licks. An impressive seven-minute

journey.

In 2011, Bryce won the Iowa Blues Challenge and was an IBC

semi-finalist in Memphis in 2012.

His catalog includes releases with the family, as well as a solo

career which dates back to 1995 through his most recent releases

including the electric Delta Road in 2015 and acoustic Organic Man

in 2016. (2013) (www.thejaneys.com)

Various Artists – The Many Faces of Jimi Hendrix (Music Brokers

MBB 7242)

Fourth Stone – “Hey Joe”

Monks of Doom – “Spanish Castle Magic”

Trick Bag – “Fire”

Freedom Searchers – “All Along the Watchtower”

Thee Hypnotics – “Can You See Me”

Bleeding Hearts – “Purple Haze”

501 Spanish Verbs – “Ain’t No Telling”

David Dreams – “Third Stone From the Sun”

The Corn Dollies – “I Don’t Live Today”

Styler and Baldwin – “You Got Me Flating”

The Membranes – “Voodoo Chile”

The Stretch Heads – “Spanish Castle Magic”

Obsequious Cheesecake – “If Six Was Nine”

The Mock Turtles – “Are You Experienced”

OK, we’re not quite sure where to place this 3CD Mexican budget

($11.99 for 3CD set) gatefold set in the Hendrix library – whether in

the Hendrix section or in the covers section. Only the last disc of the

three is truly covers of Hendrix songs.

Disc one features a

mixed bag of Hendrix

pre-Experience material

sprinkled in with tracks

from Hendrix bandmates

when they were in other

bands – Billy Cox,

Buddy Miles and Mitch

Mitchell when they did

sessions with Bruce

Cameron; Noel Redding

with Cork; Buddy Miles

from his Electric Flag

days; and then closing

with two tracks from Betty Davis, although not tracks from the album

Mitch Mitchell played on. Then disc two offers a hodgepodge of

material from the pre-Experience Curtis Knight/Lonnie

Youngblood/Little Richard era.

Once we got to disc three, the track list of covers looked vaguely

familiar. Pulling out the 1990 tribute disc If Six Was Nine (Imaginary)

we find most of the tracks were pulled from that release including the

Monks of Doom, Trick Bag, Thee Hypnotics, 501 Spanish Verbs,

David Dreams, The Corn Dollies, Styler and Bladwin, The

Membranes, The Stretch Heads, Obsequious Cheesecake and The

Mock Turtles.

We do get three new covers not in the Hendrix library, which the

disc credits courtesy of Countdown Media, although we can find no

information about any of these artists. Fourth Stone does “Hey Joe”,

Freedom Searchers do “All Along the Watchtower” and Bleeding

Hearts do “Purple Haze”. (2017)

NOTES FROM THE THIRD STONE…The February, 1969 Royal

Albert Hall footage legal battle between the Hendrix estate and the

film producers Gold & Goldstein continues as we await the

commercial release of the film. According to a report from Law360,

Experience Hendrix LLC is urging a California state appellate court

to reverse a lower court’s determination it couldn’t rescind its deal

with a filmmaker, saying his “unreasonable” decision to block Sony

Music Entertainment’s distribution plans for a 1969 concert film

violated their implied good faith covenant in a motion filed April. 20.

The dispute stems from footage defendant Gerald Goldstein

possesses of Hendrix performing two concerts at the Royal Albert

Hall in London in 1969. Goldstein and the estate formed a joint

venture in 2010 to complete and distribute the film.

Italian Hendrix historian Roberto Crema unearthed a reel of video

from the 8/16/68 Merriweather Post Pavlion concert in Columbia,

Maryland

and acquired

it on Ebay

(paid a little

over $100).

An amazing

price for the

find. Says

it’s about 9

minutes of

silent

footage.

Here’s a 30 second snippet:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9sSupfLixE&feature=youtu.be

Jimi Hendrix on the charts – Taking a look at Billboard

magazine’s charts on how successful Hendrix was in the United

States, while he was hitting Top 10 consistently in the U.K. – His

biggest hit was “All Along the Watchtower” which peaked at #20

10.19/68 and stayed on the charts for 9 weeks. “Crosstown Traffic”

peaked at #52 12/21/68 and was on the charts for 8 weeks.

Surprisingly, “Purple Haze” only made it to #65 10/14/67, lasting two

months on the charts. Other singles that charted included “Freedom”

peaking at #59 5/8/71 with 8 weeks of chart action, “Foxey Lady”

peaking at #67 1/13/68 but only on the charts for four weeks, “Up

From the Skies” peaking at #82 3/30/68 also only lasting four weeks,

and “Dolly Dagger” peaking at #74 11/27/71 staying around for

seven weeks…

The vision for Seattle’s Jimi Hendrix Park can now be realized, as

the final funding needed to create the "Shadow Wave Wall" art piece

has been acquired. Sony Music Entertainment, which has a major

licensing deal with Experience Hendrix LLC, is donating $300,000

toward the wave wall, a key focal point for the new park and part of

its Phase II construction. The wave wall is in three pieces at the north

end of the park, representing sound waves, with silhouette images of

Jimi Hendrix on the two outside walls and his face on the middle

section. “This magnificent structure, crafted and sculpted to create a

moving experience for those who view it, is one of the most

impressive jewels of the Park,” states a Jimi Hendrix Park

Foundation new release. During a late-February meeting between

three Friends of Jimi Hendrix Park members and King County

Councilmember Larry Gossett, who advocated including $35,000 for

Phase II in the county budget, project manager Maisha Barnett said

estimates were for the Shadow Wave Wall had increased

significantly. “We would like to thank Sony Music for this enormous

contribution,” the release states, “demonstrating their continued

dedication to the legacy of Jimi Hendrix.”

A central shelter in the park’s plaza that will serve as a performance

and community space will be installed this month, according to

Barnett.

Will you ever play that new Hendrix album you just bought – you

know, the limited edition 180-gram one? Or the one you got at

Record Store Day? Last year vinyl sales reached a 25-year high, yet

the BBC published a survey that stated half the people who purchase

vinyl have no intention of ever playing it, while seven per cent of

vinyl buyers don’t even own a record player. This year, Hendrix fans

got the Curtis Knight release Live at George’s Club 20 (see review in

this issue). But since the CD had been released two months earlier,

how many bought the CD first, and then as a completist had to buy

the vinyl just to put in the collection? For collectors who couldn’t get

to the record store to buy the already overpriced album, Ebay scalpers

are already asking two to three times the price for the limited edition

release.

Speaking of this year’s Record

Store Day on April 22, Buddy Miles

could also be found in the new

release bins. A 2LP set from the

Electric Flag Live From California

1967-1968 with material when

Miles was part of the progressive

blues-rock entourage that included

Michael Bloomfield, Harvey

Brooks, Barry Goldberg, Nick

Gravenites as part of the group. The

first album is a live set from the Whisky A Go-Go in Hollywood

from September, 1967 which the second captures the band live May

18, 1968 at the Carousel Ballroom in San Francisco.

Another limited edition collector’s

item comes from the U.K. Classic Rock

magazine. A “fan pack” that includes a

116-page magazine with “rare and

never-before-seen photos,” art cards and

a copy of the CD People Hell and

Angels…

In 2009, the toymaker Funko gave us

a Jimi Hendrix Purple Haze pop figure

as part of their Legends series. They

return in 2017, once again give us

another Hendrix cartoonish 3 3/4” vinyl figurine in their Funko Pop!

Series. The Hendrix Pop! comes

with signature bandanna and

Fender Stratocaster, held upside

down to accommodate his left-

handed playing.

When you’re trying to sell

perfume that promises “a view into

the eyes of a man” and is designed

for “a man who knows his freedom

has no limits,” who can you turn to for your commercial soundtrack

Jimi Hendrix, of course. Hendrix’s take on “All Along the

Watchtower” has been licensed to Chanel for the fragrance giant’s

latest commercial campaign for its Bleu scent, providing a soundtrack

for the one-minute “film” you can watch above, which stars French

actor and model Gaspard Ulliel: https://youtu.be/A8FvBrIKfDY

Hendrix’s Woodstock Gypsy Suns and Rainbows percussionist

Jerry Velez made a rare appearance with the Hendrix tribute band

Kiss the Sky on March 24 at The Vault at Victor Records (150 S.

White Horse Pike in Berlin, New Jersey) for a special concert and

storyteller session. “It was my Birthday, and my first professional

performance, and I was playing with the greatest guitarist in Rock

and Roll History Jimi Hendrix….what a weekend!!” From there,

Velez went on for a stint with the jazz-fusion group Spyro Gyra,

toured with the likes of Chic and Marc Anthony, and recorded with a

who’s who of music greats. Velez now lives in Hawaii where he has

started a chapter of the American Society of Young Musicians to help

the youth of today become the leaders of music into the future. For

Velez, his career is one of being in the right place at the right time.

Velez went on to perform with such luminaries as David Bowie,

Elton John, Stevie Wonder,

Destiny’s Child, Stevie Nicks,

Chaka Khan, Marc Anthony and

countless others. His event

company Gerardo Velez

Productions (GVP) continues to

produce concerts and private

events. He is the Executive of the

Board of Governors for American

Society of Young Musicians New

York Chapter, and has just opened

a chapter in Hawaii. His range in

Music continues as a musical supervisor and director for Conde Nast

Travelers Awards. And he has been involved in creating the concepts,

music, choreography, as Artistic and Music Director for several

entertainment venues. You can check out a montage of the many

artists Velez has performed with https://youtu.be/6goDP9Yp2us

Kenny Wayne Shepherd paid special tribute to Chuck Berry

during the Experience Hendrix tribute tour on March 18 as they were

scheduled to play at the Peabody Opera House in St. Louis after

hearing the news of the death of Chuck Berry, who lived in the St.

Louis suburbs. During the concert, in a video he posted to his

Facebook page, Shepherd said “I think we all know that we lost a

legend today. All of us on this stage have been influenced by Jimi

Hendrix, and Jimi Hendrix was influenced by Chuck Berry."

Shepherd said he wanted to perform Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode”

though they hadn’t rehearsed it, because Hendrix used to perform it

as well. “We want to do it honor of the late great Chuck Berry,” he

said. Noah Hunt handled lead vocals during the rip-roaring version of

the classic. Bassist Billy Cox said in a statement just before the start

of the show: “This is a sad day for all of us I am sure because we lost

Chuck Berry today. But I believe he lives on since Chuck Berry was

about the music and fun. Let’s have some fun and play some music.”

Ironically, Cox said in a post on his Facebook age, “Wow, Chuck

Berry's transition is a double whammy for me...Tonight we play St.

Louis, Chuck's home town...I had just asked our tour producer, to see

if he could get Chuck out tonight...Of course I was hoping that we

could play "Johnny B. Goode"...However the news soon hit that he

had just died...Ladies and gentlemen, we have lost a pillar of Rock &

Roll...Chuck Berry was the foundation upon which many would

launch their musical careers...Thank you Chuck Berry, your influence

will continue to transcend generations...”

Cheryl Watkins, the creative/business partner to classic rock

photographer Ron Raffaelli and curator of the Raffaelli Archives

photo library is finishing up work on an a book, sharing 50 personal

stories and a treasure trove of his photographs. “This is one of the

photos of Jimi when he was dining with Ron,” from 1968, Watkins

says, that will be included in the volume. The book should be

released in 2018. We’ll keep you posted.

50 years ago, on May 12th, Jimi Hendrix's first record Are You

Experienced was released to the world. This year, the Rochester

(New York) music scene will celebrate Jimi's legacy by performing

music from all of his albums. Some three dozen area musicians are

listed in the performance lineup for the event. The show will be held

at the Anthology Club (336 East Avenue). For additional

information: www.anthologylive.com/event/1459001-jimi-hendrix-

50th-rochester/

Speaking of upcoming projects, Italian movie director Gianni

Leacche with working with Hendrix historian Roberto Creama on a

film documentary of the Jimi Hendrix Experience tour of Italy. They

hope to have the project completed for distribution in cinemas in

2018.

As a matter of fact, we understand there s a preview of the film

upcoming. In Bologna, Italy, the sixth annual Jimi Hendrix tribute

concerts will be held May 19-20. Highlighting the event will the the

release of a Hendrix documentary film

by Roberto Crema and Enzo Gentile

about the Jimi Hendrix Experience

performance in Bologna on May 26,

1968. Also appearing over the two-day

event will be Giorgio Cavalli aka Mr.

Blue Experience, the

Scarpato/Santisi/Zanotti power trio, pollini, Easy 3 and Fulvio Felicicano.