Hendrix making music 30 years after death

Hendrix prolific guitarist

September 8, 2000
Web posted at: 6:35 PM EDT (2235 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Virtuoso rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix may have died 30 years ago but enough of his unreleased recordings survive for a new release to be aired each year up to 2015.

While the world may have lost the most influential rock 'n' roll guitarist at the age of 27, Hendrix left behind three groundbreaking studio albums and a treasure trove of unreleased recordings.

After a battle between his family and former producer for the rights over his music, his stepsister Janie Hendrix and 81-year-old father Al are now in control of his music.

A raft of new releases are expected to be released.

On September 12, six days before the anniversary of his death, his family will release 56 rare tracks in a 4-CD boxed set, "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" (Experience Hendrix/MCA Records), the name of Hendrix's first trio.

The set aims to give fans "a window into a genius' life," said Janie Hendrix, who co-produced the project with Hendrix expert John McDermott and the musician's onetime engineer, Eddie Kramer.

The set kicks off with an out-take of his 1967 signature tune "Purple Haze" and ends with an incomplete tune studio jam called "Slow Blues," recorded a month before his death.

Hendrix died in London, choking to death after overdosing on sleeping pills.

He set the standard for rock, soul, blues, and jazz to become an icon of the 1960s.

The studio albums released in his lifetime, "Are You Experienced?," "Axis: Bold As Love" and "Electric Ladyland" -- recorded with bass player Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell -- redefined the possibilities of the electric guitar.

"Jimi's music is so universal," said Kramer. "And kids who are getting into rock 'n' roll guitar, who's the go-to guy? It's Jimi. That's the first place you start and everything else comes from that."

But two decades after his death, his family said the Hendrix canon had been undermined by poor re-issues masterminded by Los Angeles producer Alan Douglas and attorney Leo Branton Jr.

Janie Hendrix and Al regained the rights to his catalogue several years ago and set about restoring his legacy via their Seattle-based Experience Hendrix banner.

The studio albums were re-issued in re-mastered from with their original artwork, followed by brand-new compilations such as the double-CD sets "BBC Sessions," "Live at the Fillmore East" and "Live at Woodstock."

Work on the boxed set began as early as 1997. The three producers recovered tapes from a variety of sources including a recording studio that had used 66 multi-track tapes as collateral for a $7,000 phone bill unpaid for more than 25 years, says McDermott.

The estate of Chas Chandler, the Animals bass player who discovered Hendrix and produced his first two albums, provided tapes that yielded about 10 of the tracks on the boxed set.

"I don't know whether he (Hendrix) had an eye for the future or whether he used it as a writing tool, but we're fortunate that every day that this guy was alive he was essentially keeping tape of what he was doing," said McDermott, who wrote a detailed track-by-track annotation.

Hendrix: Tapes in excellent condition

So there is plenty more in the vaults.

"There's gonna be one nice piece of product coming out every year for about the next 15 years. There's enough good stuff there, trust me," Kramer said.

Remarkably, all the tapes were in excellent condition despite rough handling over the years. Live versions of "Hey Joe" and "Killing Floor," originally recorded for French radio in 1966, required "some trickery that I managed to get up to," said Kramer. "But the basic stuff was there."

A subsequent studio take of "Hey Joe" features Hendrix talking over the instrumental tracks as he tries to come to grips with the unwieldy arrangement, and one can also hear him shuffling his lyrics sheet.

The sessions were relaxed affairs, as is evident in a version of "Third Stone from the Sun" where sci-fi buffs Hendrix and Chandler cackled as they traded extraterrestrial references that later ended up on the final version.

"We always joked and kidded around, every day and every moment," Kramer recalled. "We weren't too serious.

"Life was but a joke and a dream, quite frankly. We were having a good time, and we were working very hard and the sessions were very light-hearted."

In addition to "Slow Blues," previously unreleased new tracks include "Title .3," "It's Too Bad" and "Country Blues."

"Title .3," a 1967 outtake from sessions for the "Are You Experienced?" album, was shelved in favour of "Title .4," which became known as the album's title track.

"It's Too Bad" is a poignant, jazz/blues-influenced tune Hendrix wrote in 1969 after his brother, Leon, had asked him for money.

Hendrix plays the role of both himself and Leon. "It think it's very clever, and very, very emotionally charged," Kramer said. "It has a tremendous wallop, I think."

A brief excerpt of 1970's "Country Blues" was aired on a National Public Radio special in 1979, McDermott said. Loosely based on blues giant Howlin' Wolf's "Forty Four," the eight-minute track builds to "a great crescendo," he added.

After they have finished the boxed set, Hendrix fans can look forward to plenty more releases, including DVDs of the Jimi Hendrix Experience's U.S. debut at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and of his last concert, at the Isle of Wight in 1970.

McDermott's planned list also includes a 4-CD boxed set from Hendrix's 1968 shows at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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