Interesting stuff LS. I had somewhat similar experiences as a guitarist and pianist.
You mentioned Mitch Mitchell. At the 1968 Hendrix concert I went to see Jimi on guitar but was surprised how much time I spent watching Mitch Mitchell on drums! Lots of energy.
Incredible that you played with Jim McCarty. Most people don’t even know who he is. What an influence and a player. Wore out the Devil with a Blue Dress 45.
Thanks for sharing all that.
My Mitchell story: I saw Hendrix 2x, first time at Sun Devil Gym, maybe 2000 people there. He had just started his post-Monkees tour.
Anyway, first Eire Apparent came out. Didn’t remember anything about them.
But the next act before Hendrix was a Scandinavian group called “Soft Machine”: keyboard, bass, drums. The drummer only had ONE cymbal other than the high hat, but had double basses. He was good, but then the power to the whole Sun Devil Gym went out . . . and rather than stop, he just played a drum solo! Pretty soon power came up, lasted a while, then I guess they blew circuits again and he did another solo. Was a great drummer. Mitch came out and just filled up the whole band. I always thought Hendrix was a fool to get rid of him. But Noel Redding had a big head and wanted to do his own stuff, and I guess Mitch was caught in the “crosstown traffic.”