1.
Jimi Hendrix
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James Marshall Jimi Hendrix was an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music, born in Seattle, Washington, Hendrix began playing guitar at the age of 15. In 1961, he enlisted in the U. S. Army and trained as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division, within months, Hendrix had earned three UK top ten hits with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Hey Joe, Purple Haze, and The Wind Cries Mary. Hendrix was inspired musically by American rock and roll and electric blues and he favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, and was instrumental in utilizing the previously undesirable sounds caused by guitar amplifier feedback. He helped to popularize the use of a pedal in mainstream rock. Holly George-Warren of Rolling Stone commented, Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as a sound source. Hendrix was the recipient of several awards during his lifetime. In 1967, readers of Melody Maker voted him the Pop Musician of the Year, disc and Music Echo honored him with the World Top Musician of 1969 and in 1970, Guitar Player named him the Rock Guitarist of the Year. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, Jimi Hendrix was of African American descent. Both his mother Lucille and father Al were African Americans and his paternal grandmother, Zenora Nora Rose Moore, was African American and one-quarter Cherokee. On June 10,1919, Hendrix and Moore had a son they named James Allen Ross Hendrix, in 1941, Al met Lucille Jeter at a dance in Seattle, they married on March 31,1942. Al, who had been drafted by the U. S. Army to serve in World War II, Johnny Allen Hendrix was born on November 27,1942, in Seattle, he was the first of Lucilles five children. In 1946, Johnnys parents changed his name to James Marshall Hendrix, in honor of Al and he spent two months locked up without trial, and while in the stockade received a telegram announcing his sons birth. During Als three-year absence, Lucille struggled to raise their son, when Al was away, Hendrix was mostly cared for by family members and friends, especially Lucilles sister Delores Hall and her friend Dorothy Harding. Al received a discharge from the U. S. Army on September 1,1945. After returning from service, Al reunited with Lucille, but his inability to find steady work left the family impoverished and they both struggled with alcohol, and often fought when intoxicated. The violence sometimes drove Hendrix to withdraw and hide in a closet in their home and his relationship with his brother Leon was close but precarious, with Leon in and out of foster care, they lived with an almost constant threat of fraternal separation. In addition to Leon, Hendrix had three siblings, Joseph, born in 1949, Kathy in 1950, and Pamela,1951, all of whom Al and Lucille gave up to foster care
2.
First Rays of the New Rising Sun
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First Rays of the New Rising Sun is a compilation album by American rock musician Jimi Hendrix, released in 1997 by MCA Records. It featured songs Hendrix had recorded for a double album before his death in 1970. Kramer selected and sequenced the songs in their form to realize Hendrixs planned album to the best of his abilities, based on the latters notes. First Rays of the New Rising Sun was an attempt to produce the studio album of the same name Hendrix was working on before his death in September 1970. During the 1970s through the 1990s, the songs appeared on other posthumous compilations supervised by producer Alan Douglas. For the 1997 compilation, Kramer instead used the master recordings. He selected tracks based on their level of completion and Hendrixs personal notes. When First Rays of the New Rising Sun was released in 1997, it charted at number 49 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, and at number 37 on the UK Albums Charts in Britain. In 2010, the album was remastered and re-released by Sony Legacy, on March 8 in the UK and March 9 in the US. Nonetheless, Christgau deemed it a successor to The Cry of Love, as well as a powerful collection by a genius whose songwriting kept growing. Sean Murphy from PopMatters believed it was successful than The Cry of Love in realizing Hendrixs vision. He highlighted the presence of bassist Billy Cox, deeming him an improvement over Noel Redding. According to Murphy, Cox allowed the band to out and chase the guitarist as he soars above, around. Rolling Stone magazine called the album a cohesive cosmic missive, writing that it illuminates what would have been a phase for Hendrix. All songs were written by Jimi Hendrix
3.
The Cry of Love
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The Cry of Love is a posthumous compilation album by American rock musician Jimi Hendrix. It was released in 1971 by Track Records and featured songs he had working on for an album before his death. All of the songs were written by Hendrix and include some of his last studio work, the Cry of Love was the first in a number of other posthumous releases that were released in the following years. Critics responded favorably to the album, viewing it as an tribute to Hendrix. The Cry of Love is composed mostly of songs which Hendrix recorded in 1970 at his new Electric Lady Studios in New York City with drummer Mitch Mitchell, about half of the albums ten songs were nearly completed with mixes prepared by Hendrix. The balance were in varying stages of development and were mixed after his death, the album credits Hendrix as a producer, as well as long-time recording engineer Eddie Kramer and Mitchell, who prepared the final mixes and track selection, with input from manager Michael Jeffery. Seven of the songs on The Cry of Love were later included on Voodoo Soup, in 1997, all were included on First Rays of the New Rising Sun, along with seven other songs, in Kramers most realized effort to complete Hendrixs last studio album. They were replaced by Straight Ahead and My Friend on the track listing. The Cry of Love was released by Track Records in March 1971 and it charted at number two in the United Kingdom and number three in the United States, where it had sold 500,000 copies by April. In 1998, the Recording Industry Association of America certified the album platinum, in 2014, VH1 deemed The Cry of Love the greatest posthumous classic rock record of all time. That same year, it was reissued in both CD and LP formats by Experience Hendrix, all tracks written by Jimi Hendrix. The Cry of Love at Acclaimed Music The Cry of Love at Discogs
4.
Concert tour
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A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. A recital is a concert by a soloist or small group which follows a program, a recitalist is a musician who gives frequent recitals. The invention of the piano recital has been attributed to Franz Liszt. The performance may be by a musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir. Indoor concerts held in the largest venues are sometimes called arena concerts or amphitheatre concerts, informal names for a concert include show and gig. Regardless of the venue, musicians perform on a stage. Concerts often require live event support with professional audio equipment, before recorded music, concerts provided the main opportunity to hear musicians play. The nature of a concert varies by musical genre, individual performers, concerts by a small jazz combo or small bluegrass band may have the same order of program, mood, and volume—but vary in music and dress. In a similar way, a musician, band, or genre of music might attract concert attendees with similar dress, hairstyle. For example, concert goers in the 1960s often had hair, sandals. Regular attendees to a concert venue might also have a style that comprises that venues scene. Other Types of concerts, To plan or arrange by mutual agreement, some performers or groups put on very elaborate and expensive shows. To create a memorable and exciting atmosphere and increase the spectacle, some singers, especially popular music, augment concert sound with pre-recorded accompaniment, back-up dancers, and even broadcast vocal tracks of the singers own voice. Activities during these concerts can include dancing, sing-alongs, and moshing, concerts involving a greater number of artists, especially those that last for multiple days, are known as festivals. Unlike other concerts, which remain in a single genre of music or work of a particular artist, festivals often cover a broad scope of music. Due to their size, festivals are almost exclusively held outdoors, new platforms for festivals are becoming increasingly popular such as Jam Cruise, which is a festival held on a cruise ship, as well as Mayan Holidaze, which is a destination festival held in Tulum. Often concert tours are named, to differentiate different tours by the same artist, different segments of longer concert tours are known as legs. In the largest concert tours it is becoming common for different legs to employ separate touring production crews and equipment
5.
Noel Redding
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Noel David Redding was an English rock musician, best known as the bass player and occasional lead singer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience and guitarist/singer for Fat Mattress. There he formed the Noel Redding Band with former Thin Lizzy guitarist Eric Bell with whom he released two albums, although by the 1980s Redding had largely removed himself from the music business, he would later perform around his new hometown with wife Carol Appleby. Redding was born at Royal Victoria Hospital in Folkestone, Kent to Bromley-born Margaret and he grew up on Cliff Road, Seabrook where his mother ran a guest house, with his mother, his Swedish-born grandmother, brother Anthony and sister Vicki. He attended St Leonards Primary in Hythe and Harvey Grammar School in Folkestone, at age nine, he played violin at school and then mandolin and guitar. His first public appearances were at the Hythe Youth Club then at his school. His first local bands, in which he played guitar, were, The Strangers, with John Andy Andrews The Lonely Ones,1961 - John Andrews, Bob Hiscocks, Mick Wibley. First recordings, Some Other Guy, Money, Talking About You, the Loving Kind,1966 with Pete Carter, Jim Leverton, and Derek Knight. At 17 Redding went professional and toured clubs in Scotland and Germany with Neil Landon, in addition, The Lonely Ones reunited in September 1964, and Redding remained with them a year before taking his leave. Redding switched from guitar to bass on joining the Jimi Hendrix Experience and he was the first person to join the Experience. With the band, he helped create the three landmark albums Are You Experienced, Axis, Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland, as well as performing in some of Hendrixs most celebrated concerts. His playing style was distinguished by the use of a pick, a mid-range trebly sound and his role in the band was that of a time-keeper. This was evident in the Experiences version of Come On and Drivin South from the BBC Sessions and he would typically lay down a bass groove over which Hendrix and drummer Mitch Mitchell would loosely play. Redding wrote and sang lead on two tracks, Little Miss Strange and Shes So Fine. He played the line on Red House using the bass strings on a normal six-string guitar. In 1968, Redding formed the group Fat Mattress with another Kent musician, the band also included Jim Leverton on bass and keyboards and Eric Dillon on drums. Redding played guitar and vocals, and a key part of the Fat Mattress sound was the vocal harmonies between him, Landon and Leverton, the band initially toured in support of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, requiring Redding to play two full sets each night. He left Fat Mattress after only one album with them, though some of his compositions would appear on their second album, Hendrixs manager, Michael Jeffery, attempted to reunite the Jimi Hendrix Experience months after the Woodstock event. The three were interviewed by Rolling Stone magazine, but no shows or recordings resulted, Redding soon went on to other projects
6.
Mitch Mitchell
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John Graham Mitch Mitchell was an English drummer who was best known for his work in the Jimi Hendrix Experience. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2009, Mitchell was born in Ealing, Middlesex to Phyliss C and Thomas J Mitchell. As a teenager, he starred in a television programme, Jennings and Derbyshire. Mitchell became a musician working at Jim Marshalls drum shop on Saturdays while still at school. In 1965, he also replaced temporarily Viv Prince as drummer in the Pretty Things, from December 1965 until October 1966, Mitchell was the drummer of Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, appearing on their 1966 album, Sweet Things. In a 2015 interview, Fame recalled, His main hero was jazz drummer Ronnie Stephenson and if you look at early film clips of Mitch, he had that Ronnie Stephenson look, the way he set his jaw. And he loved crashing around on the cymbals like Ronnie, when he started splashing around Id say, Just play the hi-hat. Mitchell auditioned for Hendrixs band in October 1966, edging out drummer Aynsley Dunbar on the flip of a coin, Mitchells fast, driving, jazz influenced playing meshed well with Hendrixs open-ended, revolutionary approach to the electric guitar. Mitchell came from a background, and like many of his contemporaries in the London scene, was influenced by Elvin Jones, Max Roach. He played in Hendrixs Experience trio from October 1966 to mid-1969, in the Woodstock band, in December 1968, Mitchell played with the Dirty Mac, an all-star band assembled for The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. Others included John Lennon as vocalist and rhythm guitarist Winston Leg-Thigh, Yoko Ono providing improvised primal screams, Eric Clapton as guitarist, the group recorded a cover of Yer Blues as well as a jam called Whole Lotta Yoko. Mitchell also took part in Miles Davis demo sessions for the 1969 album Bitches Brew, after Hendrixs death, Mitchell finished production work with engineer Eddie Kramer on incomplete Hendrix recordings, resulting in the releases The Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge. In 1972, he teamed up with guitarists Mike Pinera and April Lawton to form Ramatam and they recorded the first of Ramatams two albums and were an opening act for Emerson, Lake & Palmer at a number of concerts. Mitchell and Hendrix had been offered spots in the band Keith Emerson and Greg Lake were forming, Ramatam never achieved commercial success and Mitchell left the act before their second LP was released. Mitchell also performed in concerts with Terry Reid, Jack Bruce, Mitchell drummed alongside John Halsey in the 1970s jam band, Hinkleys Heroes, the only time he played alongside another drummer. Michael Jeffery, Hendrixs manager, had relegated Mitchell and Noel Redding to paid employees without a share in future revenues. This had limited their earnings, since Mitchell and Redding had been excluded from sharing in revenues generated from the Experience. Financial hardship pressured Mitchell in the mid-1970s to sell a prized Hendrix guitar and he also sold his small legal claim to future Hendrix record sales for about $200,000
7.
Billy Cox
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William Billy Cox is an American bassist, best known for performing with Jimi Hendrix. Cox is the surviving member of Jimi Hendrixs three main bands, including the original Experience lineup, he was in the Band of Gypsys. Cox was also in the short-lived Hendrix band Gypsy Sun and Rainbows which played Woodstock, Cox continues to perform dates with the Band of Gypsys Experience and the Experience Hendrix Tour. Born in Wheeling, West Virginia, Billy Cox was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Cox met Jimi Hendrix when they were serving in the Army at Fort Campbell, Kentucky in 1961. While using the bathroom at Service Club #1 during a sudden rainstorm, impressed with what he heard, he introduced himself, told Hendrix he played bass, and they were jamming soon after. They became, and remained, fast friends and they left the military around the same time and they played clubs around Clarksville, Tennessee, finally moving to Nashville. They formed a group called the King Kasuals and they played at Nashville clubs, mostly the Del Morocco, and occasional outlying gigs in the southeast, once as far north as Indianapolis playing what was called the Chitlin Circuit. Cox and Hendrix played in the band for Marion James around this time. Chandler took Hendrix to England, but before Hendrix left, he called Cox, Cox Only had three strings on my bass and no money to travel to New York, so he thanked Hendrix and wished him well. From 1962 to 1968 Cox gained musical experience and developed his expertise, Cox played bass on the pioneering R&B television shows, Nashville’s “Night Train” and then the “The. Beat” from Dallas, Texas, working closely with Hoss Allen, Billy Cox has played behind many famous artists. In 1969, several months before bassist Noel Redding left the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Hendrix called his old friend Cox, following the break-up of the Experience, Cox became a member of Hendrixs experimental group, tentatively titled Gypsy Sun and Rainbows. This group went on to play at Woodstock and two low-key New York gigs before being disbanded, Hendrix then formed another short-lived group with Cox and Buddy Miles, the Band of Gypsys. They recorded the eponymously titled live LP that he owed former manager Ed Chalpin as part of a legal settlement, following their demise, Cox played a series of shows with Hendrix and Mitch Mitchell in the reformed New Experience, formerly called The Cry of Love. On September 8,2006, Cox mentioned in an interview on the KQRS-FM morning show that he can be playing bass on five of the first notes of Jimi Hendrixs famous Woodstock Star Spangled Banner. The rendition was completely impromptu according to him and he said he thought to himself at the moment, I realized we had not rehearsed this, I had better lay off. He toured with Hendrix, usually billed as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cox lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where he remains active in music, and acts as an ambassador for Jimi Hendrix, his music and philosophy. In 1971, Cox released his album Nitro Function with Char Vinnedge and Robert Tarrant, Cox played with others, including the Charlie Daniels Band, as well as session work and live dates
8.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
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The Jimi Hendrix Experience was an American-English rock band that formed in Westminster, London, in September 1966. Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Jimi Hendrix, bassist and backing vocalist Noel Redding, and drummer Mitch Mitchell comprised the group, during this time, they released three studio albums and became one of the most popular acts in rock. In April 1970, Hendrix, Mitchell, and bassist Billy Cox performed and recorded until Hendrixs death on September 18,1970 and this later trio was sometimes billed as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, but the title was never formalized. Highly influential in the popularization of hard rock and psychedelic rock, the Experience was best known for the skill, style, in 1992, the Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Jimi Hendrix arrived in England on September 24,1966, and with his new manager and former Animals bassist, Chas Chandler, formed a band with bassist Noel Redding. Mitchell was a seasoned London drummer formerly with Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, Hendrix chose Redding because of his attitude towards music and his hairstyle. Redding had been a player until that time, but played bass in the band. The name The Jimi Hendrix Experience was coined by their business manager Michael Jeffery, the first official appearance of The Jimi Hendrix Experience was at the Novelty in Évreux, France, on October 13,1966. Six days later the band played their first UK gig at a showcase at the Scotch of St James. Though conceived as back-up band for Hendrix, the Experience, as a unit, gained fame and critical acclaim. Following the lead of Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience was one of the first groups to popularize the power trio format, which limited a rock bands line-up to guitar, bass and drums. Hendrix combined lead and rhythm guitar styles and used special effects to modify his guitar such as feedback. Mitchell sometimes utilized jazz-influenced grooves, while Redding played simple bass lines that helped to anchor the bands sound, visually, they set the trend in psychedelic clothes and hairstyles. The Whos Pete Townshend admitted, changed the sound of electric guitar. Clapton agreed, after Pete Townshend and I went to see him play, I thought that was it, the group came to prominence in the US after the June 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, one of the first major rock music festivals. The bands performance ended with Hendrix famously setting his psychedelically painted Fender Stratocaster on fire, after the festival they toured with the Monkees, but left the tour two weeks later, reportedly due to lack of audience response. By April 1969, however, Hendrixs deteriorating relations with Redding were coming to a head, the original group held together long enough to fulfill their existing engagements, culminating in the Denver Pop Festival on June 29,1969. After hearing that Hendrix was planning to expand the Experience lineup without first consulting him, Redding quit the group, Hendrix and Mitchell experimented with a larger ensemble that included bassist Billy Cox
9.
Woodstock
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Billed as An Aquarian Exposition,3 Days of Peace & Music, it was held at Max Yasgurs 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel. Bethel, in Sullivan County, is 43 miles southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, during the sometimes rainy weekend,32 acts performed outdoors before an audience of 400,000 people. It is widely regarded as a moment in popular music history. Rolling Stone listed it as one of the 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock, in 2017 the festival site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Woodstock was initiated through the efforts of Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Roberts and Rosenman financed the project. Lang had some experience as a promoter, having co-organized a small festival on the East Coast the prior year, the Miami Pop Festival, where an estimated 25,000 people attended the two-day event. Early in 1969, Roberts and Rosenman were New York City entrepreneurs, in the process of building Media Sound, unpersuaded by this Studio-in-the-Woods proposal, Roberts and Rosenman counter-proposed a concert featuring the kind of artists known to frequent the Woodstock area. Kornfeld and Lang agreed to the new plan, and Woodstock Ventures was formed in January 1969, the company offices were located in an oddly decorated floor of 47 West 57th Street in Manhattan. Burt Cohen, and his group, Curtain Call Productions. When Lang was unable to find a site for the concert, Roberts and Rosenman, growing increasingly concerned, took to the road, similar differences about financial discipline made Roberts and Rosenman wonder whether to pull the plug or to continue pumping money into the project. In April 1969, newly minted superstars Creedence Clearwater Revival became the first act to sign a contract for the event, the promoters had experienced difficulty landing big-name groups prior to Creedence committing to play. Creedence drummer Doug Clifford later commented, Once Creedence signed, everyone else jumped in line, given their 3,00 a. m. start time and omission from the Woodstock film, Creedence members have expressed bitterness over their experiences at the famed festival. Woodstock was designed as a venture, aptly titled Woodstock Ventures. It famously became a free concert only after the event drew hundreds of more people than the organizers had prepared for. Tickets for the event cost $18 in advance and $24 at the gate. Ticket sales were limited to record stores in the greater New York City area, around 186,000 advance tickets were sold, and the organizers anticipated approximately 200,000 festival-goers would turn up. The original venue plan was for the festival to take place in Woodstock, New York, after local residents quickly shot down that idea, Lang and Kornfeld thought they had found another possible location in Saugerties, New York. But they had misunderstood, as the landowners attorney made clear, in a meeting with Roberts
10.
Band of Gypsys
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Band of Gypsys is a live album by Jimi Hendrix and the first without his original group, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was recorded on January 1,1970, at the Fillmore East in New York City with Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums, frequently referred to as the Band of Gypsys. The album mixes funk and rhythm and blues elements with hard rock and jamming and it contains previously unreleased songs and was the last full-length Hendrix album released before his death. After his appearance at Woodstock with an group that included Cox, Hendrix began developing new songs. When Miles became involved, he and Cox agreed to record an album with Hendrix to be used to settle a contract dispute with a former manager. The new material, influenced by Coxs and Miles musical approaches, songs such as Power of Soul and Message to Love still maintain the dominant role of Hendrixs guitar, but show funk and R&B influences. Lyrically, they explore new, more humanistic themes for Hendrix. The two numbers written and sung by Miles bear the stylings of soul music, the anti-riot/anti-war Machine Gun, draws on Hendrixs earlier blues aspirations, but incorporates new approaches to guitar improvisation and tonal effects. As the albums producer, Hendrix had a difficult time completing the task, presented with the sometimes problematic recordings and resigned to turning it over to a different record company, Hendrix expressed his dissatisfaction with the final product. Shortly after its release, Band of Gypsys reached the top ten of the charts in the US. Although it was as popular as his albums with the Experience, some faulted the performances as tentative and underprepared, additionally, Miles contributions on drums and vocals have been characterized as plodding and obtrusive. However, Machine Gun is generally regarded as the albums highlight, the influence of Band of Gypsys is heard in the funk rock developments of the 1970s and has been cited as an inspiration by various later rock musicians. Reissues of the album on compact disc included three songs recorded during the Fillmore East shows and additional material has been released on later albums. In 1969, Jimi Hendrix was under pressure from his manager and he was also required to produce an albums worth of new material for Capitol Records in order to satisfy a contract dispute with former manager Ed Chalpin and PPX Enterprises. Capitol had released two misleading Chalpin-produced Curtis Knight albums with Hendrix on guitar, which competed directly with his own Experience albums, additionally, Hendrix was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the limitations of bassist Noel Redding and the Experience format. During the recording of Electric Ladyland, he and producer Chas Chandler parted ways and Hendrix explored recording with new musicians, a concert film for which he had performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London in February 1969 was wrapped up in legal disputes and its release was uncertain. In May, while en route to a performance in Toronto. If convicted of the felony, he faced as many as 20 years in prison, on June 28,1969, Hendrix announced he planned to work with new musicians, including a new bass player
