Jimi Hendrix
My Silver Saint is Jimi Hendrix because he is one of the two best blues guitarists the world has so far produced. That is electric not acoustic guitar although he was also a gifted acoustic musician. He was born in 1942 in America and died in 1970 in London. Although only 27 he was by then well past his best due to a vicious self destructive urge which found expression in gross consumption of alcohol and narcotics. So he was not at all 'saintly' in the usual sense of the word. It was the brief period of 1967 and 1968 which produced his ‘best in the world’ material when he was based in London with his band, drummer and bassist only, called The Experience. Most people have heard of him but have only a vague idea about why they have heard of him. It is probably for the wrong reasons – his excesses on stage and in private, his half a dozen Top Ten singles or because his talent is heard of as great and the hearers accept this as a necessary part of their own musical credibility. He is remembered because of his reputation rather than an understanding of his talent.
Hendrix was a vastly self indulgent musician especially in live performance of non blues material. What he indulged was his technical genius in improvisation. The technical genius produced long, faultless sequences of notes which bore little relation to the lyrics or title of the song or what the other players were doing and were without melody. For a little while this is interesting but is then simply boring. It is the medium completely erasing the message. That is why many accept his reputation but secretly cannot understand how he acquired it. He has not been well served by the record companies. In the years immediately after his death hours of unedited material was issued to cash in on the reputation. He had a habit of recording the same song a number of times to achieve the best expression of the tune and lyrics. There are many of these rather moderate experimental versions extant and they dilute the impact of the final product. He was regularly recorded live on stage when tiredness, an overused and rather limited tenor voice and, no doubt, the fuddling effect of narcotics make this material far short of his best. There were many unfinished recordings which were tidied up by a rag bag of session guitarists imitating Hendrix then released onto the saturated market.
Because of all the above great care must be taken in selecting the recordings which will convince the listener of the status I claim for Hendrix. Within the discipline of the blues musical tradition he had the emotional, vocal and technical talent to take that art form to its highest point. He sings with humour and passion. His guitar sequences interact with the lyrics so that the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts. The genius to improvise is being used to make a point about the song title or lyrics rather than to show off. The ensemble effort of The Experience completely engages the listener because there is so much going on. Every time a song is played there is something new to hear. The six tracks listed below make the case.
- 'Red House' on 'Are You Experienced?', Polydor Track record 612001
- 'Catfish Blues' and 'Hoochie Koochie Man' on 'Jimi Hendrix on Radio One', BBC Enterprises record CCSLP 212
- 'Hear My Train Coming', 'Bleeding Heart' and 'Electric Church Red House' on' Hendrix Blues', M.C.A Music record 111 060 – 2
Martin Green