JIMI HENDRIX AND THE INCREDIBLE FLYING CIRCUS

They asked the question "Are You Experienced?" and made a point to blow their minds along the way. Jimi fit right into the culture he was playing to. Peace, freedom, and spirituality were on the lips of all the hippies, yippies, and freaks, and Jimi was the grand master of hippie verbage. With his loose verbal style and trippy sensibility, Jimi was able to acquire an audience that was unatainable by other artists such as Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, and the Motown stable. He dedicated songs to the soldiers in Vietnam, protestors, and the Black Panthers, and would tell audience members to go fuck themselves when they were out of line.

What was missing was his own people. The Black audience. He evolved so much, he left them behind in the hopes that they would catch up some day. He wanted them to embrace him but he simpy wasn't James Brown enough for a mid 60's Black audience who wanted something they could hum as well as dance to.

Blacks would leave the rhythmless hippy dippy dancing to Hendrix's acid consuming white audience. But they would get hip later. Until that time, Hendrix reigned as the Black hippy master of ceremonies with a screaming guitar. He also understood that elusive concept that so few people could grasp. Cool.

Each time the circus came to town everybody wanted to see the same things they heard about in magazines and the news papers. They wanted to hear "Purple Haze" and watch Hendrix set his guitar on fire. After a while that got old. It's a big planet and only one Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Months, and a few years into touring, people still hadn't got to see Jimi do his thing. When he would arrive he was already sick of the stage show. By then Jimi was ready to move on into something new.

The African American tradition is filled with innovators who moved on to explore the next thing. Hendrix was no different. He would leave the past to the historians and researchers. Change was immenient and part of that change was loosing Bassist Noel Redding and forming a different kind of Band. Hendrix called the band Gypsy Suns and Rainbows, and their first gig would be historic. Woodstock.

Hendrix was experimenting with expanding the power trio format and incorporating other instruments such as a second guitar and percussion. He had even done some recording using horn sections to fill out his ideas. It's hard to solidify musical concepts when your new manager happens to be evil incarnate. Art had to take a back seat to bringing home the bacon.

When Jimi was an unknown, he signed a contract with a producer that would come back to haunt him years later. Yes, that's right, legal problems. Jimi owed PPX Inc an album. The best way to handle this was to record it live, mix it, turn it over, and move on.

Bassist Noel Redding was already out of the picture. Though drummer Mitch Mitchell was still with Hendrix, he was out of the country. With bassist Billy Cox in as a replacement for Noel, all they need was a drummer. Buddy Miles was ready and waiting with friendship, carrying with him ample amounts of funkified grooves, and gospel drenched vocals. The Band of Gypsys was born and blurred the lines between funk, soul, gospel, and blues.

The Band of Gypsys was a motherfucker of a band, but due to pressure from Hendrix's manager and his need for creative wanderlust, Jimi had to move on. He got Mitch Mitchell back on drums, kept Billy Cox on bass, and kept on keepin' on. They toured and recorded, and witnessed the subtle changes that the year 1970 would bring.

The days of peace, love, and flower power were coming to a close and the music was changing as well. Hendrix changed with it. His music became more funky. His guitar playing utilized hip rhythmic chord voicings that ordinarily would be heard with a horn section. It was more funk than rock, and other bands took note.

Today, no guitar player in his right mind can escape the influence of Jimi Hendrix. He quite literally re-invented the electric guitar and pushed the limits as to the possibilities of what can be done with a Fender Stratocaster and a Marshall stack. He played true Fusion music. Bringing together Rock, Funk, Soul, Jazz, and R&B, with dashes of Country and Folk.

If I were to pick one song that embodies all the qualities that I just mentioned, I would have to pick the song "Machine Gun." It's all right there with it's musical virtuosity, Soul, and story telling. It has been said that their are two types of guitar players. Pre Hendrix and Post Hendrix. And even the pre Hendrix players could not escape his influence.

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