Mitch was a faaaaaarrrrr better drummer than Buddy Miles ever thought of being. Jimi himself grew tired of Buddy’s yodeling, one of the biggest daggers into the BOG, Jimi just didn’t care for Buddy on drums but was doing it for the black community power thing....
and on the Bill Graham story story at NYE. Jimi played two shows that night, the first one was all out Jimi with all the stops. At the end of the show Graham says yeah you did everything but actually play the guitar, how about trying that. So in the second (midnight) show is when he stood motionless and just wailed. The live recording of Machine Gun was from the 2nd performance.
Still the best ever. Sure there are guys out there now who can play faster or “better” or whatever but Jimi was the full package and had masterful control over all his elements.
Sometimes when I have time to kill and nothing to do I think alternate reality situations and my big dream would be go to back and save Hendrix from his death in London but then whisk him away to a secret hidden studio bunker equipped with modern technology. Give Jimi a locking tremolo, a modern effects rack, Pro Tools, etc, and lock him up for a few years to just clean life up and produce music that would be light years away.
We can dream cant we....
Love your thoughts and input to the conversation.
Yeah, I know that Jimi played two sets that night. I’ve got the recordings of both. I listened to the alternate set a few times, but could never get into it. It can’t even pretend to hold a candle to the legendary one.
Boy, wouldn’t we both love to go back in time to save Jimi’s life. It would have been so easy, too. If his girlfriend had snuck out to go shopping that morning, Jimi would still be with us today. He would have had an awful morning, throwing up all over himself, but he would have lived.
He’d be 73 today, and though his groundbreaking days would be long behind him, you know he’d still be performing. He lived by the bluesman’s code, so he would have played til the end of his days.
Last year I saw Robin Trower play. After the show I got him to autograph the cover of my 1974 print of Bridge of Sighs. I got to shake the hand of my second favorite guitarist in the world that night, and thank him in person for the gift of his music. I only wish I could have done the same with Jimi.
Other guitarists play, Jimi created.