Jimi Hendrix Reflections Of The Man Essay

Jimi Hendrix: Contemplations Of The Man Essay, Research Paper

Jimi Hendrix: Contemplations of the Man Through the Development of His Albums James McGuire UWC 4, Hampton November 4, 1996 On November 27, 1942, Jimi Hendrix was born as John Allen Hendrix in Washington at Seattle General Hospital. His childhood was non a privileged one, nevertheless, he did indulge himself in one peculiar manner: Jimi loved to play the guitar. At first he played an old acoustic, and subsequently a inexpensive Silvertone electric, which were both strung for a left-hander on a right-handed guitar, one of the specifying Hendrix traits ( Murray 34- 5 ) . As a adolescent, immature Jimi listened to the music which affected his music so greatly later: & # 8220 ; & # 8216 ; everyone from Buddy Holly to Muddy Waters and through Chuck Berry manner back to Eddie Cochrane & # 8217 ; & # 8221 ; ( Wilmer 38 ) . He played in a few sets in high school, but so dropped out before his senior twelvemonth. After working as a labourer for a few months, Jimi decided that he was non destined for that line of work, so in 1959, he enlisted into the 101st Airborne ( Murray 36 ) . Jimi & # 8217 ; s parents were of assorted descent, with Jimi & # 8217 ; s household tree had Whites, inkinesss, and Cherokee Indians. Jimi ne’er denied his cultural diverseness, but instead accepted his diverseness and publically allowed it to demo through in his music. Jimi said it best in & # 8220 ; If 6 was 9 & # 8221 ; on Axis: Bold As Love when he said & # 8220 ; I & # 8217 ; m gon na beckon my freak flag high. & # 8221 ; Hendrix & # 8217 ; first raids into professional music came after he received his honest discharge from service in the summer of 1962 ( Murray 36 ) . His background in R & A ; B, a type of music dominated by black creative persons at that clip, led him to play with many R & A ; B vocalists from the clip, such as Little Richard, King Curtis, Joey Dee and the Starliters, the Isley Brothers, and many others ( Murray 38-42 ) . The development of his ain manner of music, which would subsequently be displayed at assorted phases of its development in his four completed studio albums, came from an merger of his confidant acquaintance with the blues, cultural background, the old ages he spent as an R & A ; B sideman, and his exposure to new musical manners and scenes. The development of Hendrix & # 8217 ; music to our modern perceptual experience of it occurred after his move to New York City and the formation of Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, where a immature manufacturer named Chas Chandler discovered his act, which by so included Hendrix & # 8217 ; celebrated playing with his dentitions and behind his dorsum. Chandler brought Jimi to London, where blues-based sets such as John Mayall & # 8217 ; s Bluesbreakers, The Yard birds, and Chandler & # 8217 ; s old group, The Animals were vastly popular and on the film editing border. Hendrix and Chandler auditioned a figure of instrumentalists to be in the new set, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and decided upon a three with Hendrix on guitar and vocals, Mitch Mitchell on membranophones, and Noel Redding on bass ( Fairchild, & # 8220 ; Are You Experienced & # 8221 ; 3 ) . The first album was recorded and released as Are You Experienced? on May 12, 1967 in England and after its initial success at that place, it was released on August 26, 1967 in the United States ( Fairchild, & # 8220 ; Are You Experienced? & # 8221 ; 5-6 ) . On Are You Experienced? , Hendrix shows for the first clip in a studio album the heavy bluesy-rock and extraordinary guitar playing that Chandler observed an embryologic signifier of in Greenwich Village. However, the album decidedly has a commercial feel to it, likely necessitated by Chandler & # 8217 ; s desire to roll up on his investing and Jimi & # 8217 ; s deficiency of experience in being the leader of a set. Of the individual & # 8220 ; Hey Joe, & # 8221 ; which was the first vocal recorded for Are You Experienced? , Hendrix said: & # 8220 ; It & # 8217 ; s a commercial record, & # 8230 ; but everyone found that better for the first clip. It & # 8217 ; s merely a stage, it & # 8217 ; s merely a really little portion of us & # 8221 ; ( Fairchild, & # 8220 ; Are You Experienced? & # 8221 ; 7 ) . On the other manus, another path on the album, & # 8220 ; Red House, & # 8221 ; represented something else wholly. & # 8220 ; Red House & # 8221 ; is a more traditional blues figure, written by Jimi Hendrix, which is a perfect illustration of what Jimi began his musical experimentation with. Jimi showcases his blues guitar playing and singing on & # 8220 ; Red House. & # 8221 ; The wordss tell the narrative of a adult male who loses his adult female but who manages to maintain his guitar, and if his adult female won & # 8217 ; t love him any more, he says & # 8220 ; I know her sister will. & # 8221 ; With & # 8220 ; Red House, & # 8221 ; Jimi extended his individuality in relation to start civilization to include non merely sway star position, but great musician & # 8212 ; both blues and otherwise & # 8212 ; every bit good. In a 1967 Rolling Stone article titled & # 8220 ; Hendrix and Clapton, & # 8221 ; Jon Landau provinces: & # 8220 ; He [ Jimi Hendrix ] is & # 8230 ; a great guitar player and a superb organizer. On & # 8216 ; Red House, & # 8217 ; the lone heterosexual blues he recorded, & # 8230 ; he establishes himself as an absolute maestro of that musical signifier & # 8221 ; ( 18 ) . Another Hendrix melody from Are You Experienced? was & # 8220 ; Purple Haze, & # 8221 ; that Jas Obrecht described as & # 8220 ; the set & # 8217 ; s break-through individual in America & # 8221 ; ( Obrecht 29 ) . Beyond the surface reading of the vocal mentioning to drugs ( the lines & # 8220 ; Purple haze, all in my encephalon & # 8221 ; and & # 8220 ; Got no money, don & # 8217 ; Ts know why & # 8221 ; are brought to mind ) , Harry Shapiro and Caesar Glebbeek in Electric Gypsy suggest that the inspiration may hold come from Hendrix & # 8217 ; Native American background and more specifically reading The Book of the Hopi ( Fairchild, & # 8220 ; Axis: Bold As Love & # 8221 ; 7 ) . The Indian reading of & # 8220 ; Purple Haze & # 8221 ; and the traditional blues & # 8220 ; Red House & # 8221 ; are the two best illustrations of Hendrix paying court to his lineage on Are You Experienced? The construction and wordss on most of the vocals on Are You Experienced? organize the footing upon which it is possible to mensurate the alteration in the manner of Hendrix, both lyrically and musically, that were to happen until his ill-timed decease in 1970. The commercial success of the album and the assurance that Jimi must hold gained from reappraisals which called him things like & # 8220 ; an absolute maestro & # 8221 ; allowed Jimi to do smooth passages to whatever he felt like experimenting with or altering. The importance in Are You Experienced? lies in the fact that it was successful, and that the Jimi Hendrix that everyone heard on that album would be acceptable whether he was playing straight-forward blues, playing & # 8220 ; Stone Free & # 8221 ; or covering & # 8220 ; Hey Joe. & # 8221 ; Are You Experienced? represents the get downing point from which Jimi Hendrix would take his new manner of music and do himself into one of the most influential musical figures of his clip. The true reaching of Jimi Hendrix occurred with the release of The Jimi Hendrix Experience & # 8217 ; s 2nd studio attempt, Axis: Bold As Love. With this album, production costs were estimated at 10 thousand lbs, leting Jimi the valuable studio clip he needed in order to more wholly get the hang his trade. Approximately three 1000 of those lbs were exhausted production costs of the album arm, which picture Jimi and his bandmates in and surrounded by Indian imagination, to which Jimi responded: & # 8220 ; The three of us had nil to make with that Axis screen. When I foremost saw the that design I thought, & # 8216 ; It & # 8217 ; s great, they have an Indian picture about us, but possibly we should hold an American Indian & # 8217 ; & # 8221 ; ( Fairchild, & # 8220 ; Axis: Bold As Love & # 8221 ; 5 ) . Axis: Bold As Love marks a more obvious return to Hendrix & # 8217 ; Native American heritage. Where Are You Experienced? was more captive on making the mass market, Axis & # 8217 ; s aim was as much for Hendrix himself as it was for his audiences. When asked about the difference between the two albums, Hendrix said: & # 8220 ; The alterations in music between the two records are for you to make up one’s mind. We & # 8217 ; re merely playing the manner we feel & # 8221 ; ( Wenner and Wolman 13 ) . As for the significance of the rubric, Axis: Bold As Love, Hendrix said: & # 8220 ; The Axis of the Earth turns about and changes the face of the universe and wholly different civilisations come about or another age comes approximately. & # 8230 ; Well, the same with love ; if a cat falls in love or a miss falls in love, it might alter his whole complete scene: Axis, Bold as Love & # 8230 ; & # 8221 ; ( Werner and Wolman 13 ) . The presence of Native American imagination is dually noted in the paths & # 8220 ; Little Wing & # 8221 ; and & # 8220 ; Castles Made Of Sand. & # 8221 ; & # 8220 ; Little Wing & # 8221 ; was & # 8220 ; based on a really, really simple American Indian manner & # 8221 ; and Hendrix added one of the most memorable debuts of all time ( Fairchild, & # 8220 ; Axis: Bold As Love & # 8221 ; 13 ) . & # 8220 ; Little Wing & # 8221 ; & # 8217 ; s best property is its delighting incorporation of Native American belief with guitar playing which could in no manner be considered scratchy. The authorship and production of & # 8220 ; Little Wing & # 8221 ; seems to tag the development of Hendrix & # 8217 ; assurance in both his lyrical and compositional accomplishments. As for & # 8220 ; Castles Made Of Sand, & # 8221 ; Michael Fairchild states that & # 8220 ; stone music reached its sensitive delicate deepnesss when Jimi & # 8217 ; s Indian lullabye whispered & # 8216 ; Castles Made Of Sand & # 8217 ; & # 8221 ; ( Fairchild, & # 8220 ; Axis: Bold As Love & # 8221 ; 17 ) . On the path & # 8220 ; If 6 Was 9, & # 8221 ; Hendrix sings & # 8220 ; White-collared conservative blinking down the street/Pointing their plastic finger at me & # 8230 ; /I & # 8217 ; m gon na beckon my freak flag high. & # 8221 ; & # 8220 ; If 6 Was 9 & # 8221 ; is Hendrix & # 8217 ; statement for musical and societal freedom. About & # 8220 ; If 6 Was 9, & # 8221 ; Hendrix states & # 8220 ; How could & # 8216 ; If 6 Was 9 & # 8217 ; be anger? I don & # 8217 ; Ts say nothin & # 8217 ; bad about cipher, it merely says, adult male, allow them travel on and screw up theirs, merely every bit long as they don & # 8217 ; t muss with me & # 8221 ; ( Fairchild, & # 8220 ; Axis: Bold As Love & # 8221 ; 16 ) . Jimi & # 8217 ; s alteration of assurance in himself between Are You Experienced? and Axis: Bold As Love did non travel unnoticed by critics of the clip. Hendrix had clearly stated himself as an single instrumentalist, non merely a adult male defined by his group or by his manufacturer and record label. In Jim Miller & # 8217 ; s April 6, 1968 reappraisal of Axis: Bold As Love for Rolling Stone, he said: & # 8220 ; Axis: Bold As Love is the polish of white noise into physchedelia, and ( like Cream ) it is non a timid occurrence ; in the whirl of this revelatory transcendency stands Hendrix, crushing off on his guitar and rebelliously proclaiming & # 8216 ; if the mountains fell in the sea, allow it be, it ain & # 8217 ; t me. & # 8217 ; Such cocky dad doctrine shall non travel empty-handed & # 8221 ; ( 21 ) . Axis: Bold As Love represented the alteration of Hendrix from non merely Top 40 hit-maker, but besides complete credence by those who judge most harshly, the critics. Miller besides called Axis: Bold As Love & # 8220 ; the finest Voodoo album that any stone group has produced to day of the month & # 8221 ; ( 13 ) . The term & # 8220 ; Voodoo, & # 8221 ; as applied to Hendrix & # 8217 ; music, brings to mind Hendr

ix’ mixture of African and Native American influences. Axis: Bold As Love was Are You Experienced? minus the commercial appeal, but plus the “real” Hendrix that gave him his true appeal. The next album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience was titled Electric Ladyland, which Hendrix said was a reference to “…groupies, but I prefer the term ‘Electric Ladies.’ My whole Electric Ladyland album is about them” (Fairchild, “Electric Ladyland” 5). Some of the songs on Electric Ladyland, such as “Crosstown Traffic” and the cover of Bob Dylan’s song “All Along the Watchtower, mark a departure from the Jimi Hendrix established by Axis: Bold As Love. “Crosstown Traffic” is more along the vein of songs included in Are You Experienced? and Hendrix was frustrated that it was released as a single. “See, that LP was in certain ways of thinking. …They always take out the wrong ones. You find yourself almost running away. People, they don’t give me inspiration except bad inspiration, to write songs like “Crosstown Traffic,” ‘cause that’s the way they put themselves in front of me, the way they present themselves,” Hendrix said (Fairchild, “Electric Ladyland” 9). Despite Hendrix’ aversion to the commercialization of “Crosstown Traffic,” he must have been happy that his single of “All Along the Watchtower” was The Experience’s most popular U.S. single ever (Murray 51). “All Along the Watchtower” was written by Bob Dylan, about whom Hendrix said: “Sometimes I do a Dylan song and it seems to fit me so right that I figure maybe I wrote it. I felt like “Watchtower” was something I’d written but could never get together. I often feel that way about Dylan” (Fairchild, “Electric Ladyland 20). “All Along the Watchtower” is a protest song, pure and simple. During this period of the late 1960’s, music had become a popular medium for protest against the Vietnam War, the draft, and the government in general. Hendrix recorded “All Along the Watchtower” after a period in 1967 in which he wore a military jacket to all of is performances (Fairchild, “Electric Ladyland” 3). The military jacket represented both Hendrix’ support of soldiers in the then on-going Vietnam War, and served as a type of protest against the war. “Come On,” another cover, this time from Earl King, was included on Electric Ladyland and was inspired by five days of anti-Vietnam protesting and rioting in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention (Fairchild, “Electric Ladyland” 12-13). Despite those tracks, Electric Ladyland also contained many Hendrix originals that were completely ground-breaking. Perhaps the most representative of the changes that were taking place in him was the almost epic-length blues number “Voodoo Chile.” “Voodoo Chile” is Hendrix statement of his own heritage, his refusal to deny himself and, as he said it, “dedicated to our friends from West Africa” (Fairchild, “Electric Ladyland” 22). Hendrix biographer Charles Shaar Murray said this of “Voodoo Chile” in his book Crosstown Traffic: “The relationship between the blues and Voodoo as a hold-over from West African religious and mystical practice and philosophy has been the subject of at least one first-class book- length study…, but in the context of the life and work of Jimi Hendrix, it is worth reiterating that his self- identification as the Voodoo Chile functions as his statement of black identity: a staking of claim to turf that no white bluesmen could even hope to explore, let alone annex. Whether Hendrix intended ‘Voodoo Chile’ as an explicit challenge to the hegemony of Western rationalism and black American Christian culture is ultimately not the point. That Hendrix was announcing, explicitly and unambiguously, who he thought he was, is” (Murray 147). “1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be),” the eleventh track on Electric Ladyland, is called by Murray: “rock’s premier work of science fiction; Hendrix was the music’s first and funkiest cyberpunk” (216). “Merman” marked the pinnacle of Hendrix’ producing skills, and Electric Ladyland was the first album that he himself produced. “Merman”’s lyrics indicate Hendrix’ increasing agitation with the world. In Tony Glover’s November 9, 1968 review of Electric Ladyland for Rolling Stone, he describes “Merman”: “Hendrix’ vision of the future shows a world torn by war, on the verge of destruction as he and his lady go for a walk by the sea, and dream of living in the water” (20). The songs on Electric Ladyland show a marked turn for Hendrix that indicates that as his comfort in his own abilities and heritage grew, the faith that he once had in the world was being torn apart by the Vietnam War and his increasing realization that everything in the world is not necessarily made better by his own success. The social awareness shown on Electric Ladyland was nearly unprecedented, with both of his two earlier albums only hinting at social and cultural malcontent in songs like Axis: Bold As Love’s “If 6 Was 9.” By the time that the next album was ready to be recorded, The Jimi Hendrix Experience was broken up, with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell moving on to different projects. Hendrix’ new band, Band of Gypsys, included Buddy Miles on drums and Billy Cox on the bass (Alterman 10). The album that they recorded , titled Band of Gypsys, , represents the least amount of development Hendrix made between any two albums. Band of Gypsys, the last album that Hendrix would cut and release as a whole during his life, Murray reports that: “Hendrix was always ambivalent about the…album, Band of Gypsys.” (54). Band of Gypsys was a collection of new songs that were recorded at the 1969 New Year’s Eve party at the Fillmore East in New York City (Murray 54). Lorraine Alterman, a writer for Rolling Stone who attended the party, wrote: “Only one number, ‘Machine Gun,’ stands out as truly exciting. Hendrix dedicated it to all the soldiers in Detroit, New York, Chicago and, oh yes , Vietnam.” Of the other songs, she wrote: “The rest of the songs…tend to sound very much alike. Stylistically they aren’t far from ‘Purple Haze’ days” (Alterman 10). Through “Machine Gun,” the “towering, explicitly anti-war” song, one can begin to interpret Hendrix’ mentality as he planned that track. The title itself gives away the meaning of the song, and Hendrix had given up all hopes of subtlety. The combination of this song, along with Hendrix’ new all black band, made it seem to Mike Jeffery, his current manager, that “Hendrix was about to sign up with the Black Panther Party” (Murray 54-55). There were many rumors going around at the time that seemingly substantiated this myth. Lorraine Alterman reported “…Hendrix is involved with militant blacks and perhaps this is why he now has an all-black group and has thrown away the gimmicks of his act” (10). After a few shows with his new band, Hendrix called it quits. He said : “The Band of Gypsies was outasite as far as I’m concerned. It was just…going through head changes is what it was, I really couldn’t tell – I don’t know…. And here I’d been fighting the biggest war I ever fought. In my life. Inside, you know? “ (Burks 42). Hendrix got together with The Experience midway through 1970, but they never recorded another album (Burks 40). The Band of Gypsys was Hendrix’ failed attempt to become a black rock superstar in an all-black band, the only way in which he could fully be recognized for his greatness at that time in which black superstars were few and far between, especially the rock music. His success in his previous three albums was not as important if the praise that was lavished upon him was because his band included two other white members. Through the filter of history, though, the praise that Hendrix has been given has been both color- blind (as far as his influence on modern-day rock musicians) and based on his ethnicity (when he is praised as a blues and R&B guitarist). The evolution of the albums of Jimi Hendrix was influenced by multiple occurrences: his early affinity for the blues, the years he spent as a R&B guitarist, his life in Greenwich Village, his trip to London, the Vietnam War, and the years of rioting and protest against war and racial injustice all infused themselves into Jimi’s albums. The early commerciality and an undeveloped form of Hendrix’ later song-writing and playing are displayed on Are You Experienced? On the second album, Axis: Bold As Love, Jimi expressed his ethnic individuality, he expanded his musical repertoire, and he began his first voicings of malcontent. Electric Ladyland and Axis: Bold As Love mark the apogee of Jimi Hendrix’ short career. Electric Ladyland combines the pure perfect blues found earlier in “Red House” on “Voodoo Chile,” It also shows the pinnacle of his lyrically and musically creative side, with songs like “1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be).” Despite the fact that his next album, Band of Gypsys, was a relatively lackluster effort, it does, without a doubt, show a period of Hendrix’ development in which the pressure of being a star and the many social and societal ills that surrounded him caused a major change. His death in 1970 seemed to indicate a feeling of apathy from Hendrix; he died choking on his own vomit (Anonymous 1). Looking back on his albums, there is definite pattern of personal growth and decay, all influenced by everything that happened around, and inside, the legendary musician we know as Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix’ music can serve as an accurate interpretation of what was occurring around him, and inside of him, in the music he made at any given time. He went from a shy R&B sideman to an showboating, behind-the-back- playing guitarist to a man troubled about what was going on around him in the world, societal, cultural, and his own personal forums. The evolution of Jimi Hendrix as an individual contained an increasing acceptance of his racial heritage — which included culture and music – as well as Jimi’s broadening awareness of the problems of his day. This chain of events eventually led to his death, but it can be traced by all of us today though the intricate and sublime music of this incredible visionary in the four completed albums he left for us.