September 18, 1970: The Dream Child.
... you enter the legend through the flames of a burning guitar on stage, a wide-brimmed black hat with feathers and bright clothes. Then the short-lived, few records - essential! - Some exhibits that pass through the collective imagination as "The Star Spangled Banner" played, the Fender Stratocaster in a white version visionary and irreverent, at the Woodstock Festival of 1969, do the rest.
legend Jimi Hendrix. Mancino, the standard model used to play guitar with his right hand and bought in normal stores of instruments which, subsequently, change the order of the strings. This solution, with the strings reversed compared to that covered magnets in the pickups swapped positions, he gave a lighter tone of the bass strings and a fuller sound for the treble. Moreover, with the reverse grip, the tremolo and tone and volume knobs were more accessible. Le chitarre strapazzate da Hendrix, suonate con denti o dietro le spalle, con l’asta del microfono o contro l’amplificatore, mimando rapporti sessuali o infiammandole o lanciandole in aria, erano bianche o nere o sunburst – con sfumature che virano dal nero al tabacco -, e solo la stratocaster data alle fiamme al Monterey Pop Festival era originariamente rossa dipinta con colori psichedelici da Hendrix. Al gesto di dare alle fiamme la chitarra fu attribuito il simbolismo della sacralità delle fiamme che bruciano il passato e rinnovano: la chitarra, da Hendrix in poi, sarebbe stato un altro strumento.
Dopo aver suonato con i King Kasuals Southern blues circuit in the States - with which he perfected his technique-blues began his career with the consecration of the Isley Brother Band which recorded Testify, a song that would become a radio hit. He worked subsequently with Little Richards (a highly confrontational relationship, made up of continuous reconciliation, for which Richards had poor tolerance to the theatricality of Hendrix), with Ike and Tina Turner (Ike sent him home after a performance in Atlanta where the guitarist "stole" the scene ...) and Curtis Knight and the Squires. In this period Jimi Hendrix got his first recording contract which caused considerable problems as to its future “libero” impegnarsi con Joey Dee and the Starliters, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers, Tommy Taylor & Tommy Chong: tutti gruppi sotto contratto con altre case discografiche.
Nel 1966 fondò i Jimmy James and the Blue Flames con cui “conquistò” una New York assonnata e lontana dalla febbre di risveglio culturale e sociale che animava la costa est degli Stati Uniti. Qui, Frank Zappa lo introdusse all’uso del wha wha e Linda Keith gli fece conoscere il produttore dei Rolling Stone e Chas Chandler degli Animals, incontro che si rivelò decisivo. Se con Oldham non ci fu feeling, con Chandler magic is created that tension can produce great things, the bond between the artist and his producer, who can guide and advise, which produces only one thing: success.
Hendrix had in mind a new sound. Sound a loud, aggressive, sour, taking the sounds that moved from Africa, of which the blues is full, the acid was grafted with the sounds of India: Hey Joe, became, by a soft and delicate blues - that interpreted and proposed by Billy Roberts - a sad song and aggressive and visionary at the same time.
The single topped the UK charts (Hendrix moved to London) and was included in Are You Experienced? with other hits such as Stone Free (B-side of the 45), Purple Haze and The Wind Cries Mary all tracks effectively present in live performances of the Hendrix Experience.
A curiosity: Are You Experienced? was second in the English and hit the first place was Sgt Peppers Lonely Art Club Band, the Beatles' concept album, whose cover, designed by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, does nothing but play clothes that Hendrix used in his live performances in England. Hawort was struck by Hussar jackets used by the guitar and try and find the shop which had been bought by London: The Beatles dressed thinking of Hendrix.
Hendrix's guitar returned to the U.S. at the Monterey Pop Festival (it was Paul McCarteney to convince him) in which the Jimi Hendrix Experience left a fiery sign in the historical memory of all concerts, the exhibition turned echo long.
The album that followed, Axis: Bold As Love, though intriso di una fortissima vena acida e sperimentale, contiene un forte richiamo alla realtà musicale americana: troviamo brani proiettati verso funk, blues e R.& B. Little Wing, If 6 Was 9, You Got Me Floatin', sono parte del patrimonio musicale di chiunque e le loro sonorità furono riproposte nei dischi di Betty Davis, alcuni anni più tardi.
Il terzo ed ultimo disco di Hendrix fu figlio di una gestazione complessa e travagliata. Hendrix era stressato, stremato dalla stessa aggressività che metteva nelle sue esibizioni live. Faceva uso di alcool e di tranquillanti e aveva un rapporto malato con il sonno: dormiva poco e male and not resting. In addition, his presence was required in concerts, on television, in any event, and was surrounded by fans that left little space. His relationship with his partner was solid but was holding on the understanding, by itself, the "necessity" of Hendrix's not taking away from the fans.
Electric Ladyland was born with the abandonment of Chandler, exasperated by the constant quarrels with Hendrix songs that he wanted longer and longer to reach trance states in which the guitar while the production was looking for the marketability music on 45 rpm and then tracks a brief and clear, and instability mental guitarist. Hendrix also made a habit, even for its instability, to play in long jam sessions involving the most diverse musicians on numerous recordings of the songs alternate take, contrary to the interests of production. Electric Ladyland are memorable Voodoo Chile, Little Miss Strange that announce what most of us will offer music until the present day and Gypsy Eye, recorded 45 times during the session.
Hendrix's guitar, an object of worship for the fans, it was another great inspiration for the music of the last century. An accomplice Woman desperate fan of Jimi, Miles Davis, after playing with the guitarist in several sessions - a rumor of the existence of a take of recording sessions - also pushed by Columbia who asked him to draw fans to Hendrix boost the sales, he began the study that led to the creation of Bitches Brew. Muse of the meeting was Betty Mabry, and Betty Davis, Hendrix and wife in love with Miles. And it is her voice that the existence of take registration Miles / Jimi arrives.
Not many records, in fact, produce a narrow, focusing mostly on esibizioni live, un look trasgressivo, che mischiava tendenze e colori, un carisma impressionante: sono questi gli elementi che hanno portato Hendrix alla leggenda.
Poi la morte giunta la notte del 18 settembre 1970. Soffocamento da vomito, recita il referto medico. Hendrix aveva miscelato, ancora una volta, Vespartax, 9 pasticche quando ne sarebbe bastata mezza, vino rosso e anfetamine. Monika Dannemann, compagna occasionale, si accorse tardi di quello che stava succedendo: Jimi vomitava nel sonno e non respirava, e Monika chiamò i soccorsi che arrivarono quando non c’era più nulla da fare.
The legend is linked to great little things, a curiosity, a sign of fate that are seen everywhere. In those years, after a little, they died: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison. Music icons of those years. Children of the same fate: 3 lives, 3 artists, 3 big stars, three twenty-seven, 3 names that start with "j", 3 dead at night.
The end of an era, the beginning of the myth.
Good music.
Marco Assanti
