Jimi Hendrix - 70th birthday

Happy Birthday Jimi Hendrix

If Jimi was alive today 11.27.12 he would be 70 years of age. Jimi was simply captivating and quite frankly is still  as relevant and compelling as he was over forty years ago. Jimi was an extremely dynamic and creative person; flamboyant on the stage, quiet off the stage, weld the guitar like a sword, play it like a Stradivarius, play a gentle melody, and sting the ear of the audience with searing guitar tones. It will be a long time before someone comes along that will affect us as Jimi has for decades.

Bill Graham once criticised Jimi after a performance backstage at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Bill told Jimi that he did all the moves but forgot to play. Albeit a bit taken back, Jimi came out for the second show that night and played in a manner that left Bill Graham almost speechless and for a New Yorker, and Bill Graham - that is unusual.

It is not my place to hypothesize as to what Jimi would be doing today if he was still alive. Nobody knows and that is just a waste of time. What is true, Jimi did more for the guitar than anyone to date. He's top 5 even in a mixed crowd of jazzers, classical, and country. I think of him as a great blues player and if you think the blues are easy and I just cut down Jimi - I am not implying that and I believe the opposite even though for many years I would only play jazz. To this day, people are still imitating Jimi's style, tone, guitars and timbre. Nothing more really needs to be said as imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Jimi played his own and covered everybody's music. Here he covers the Beatles!


Happy Birthday Jimi!

Here Jimi plays Woodstock. Jimi carries the show and if the band got up and left the stage I don't think the audience would have noticed.

Fly on little wing!